Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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102 of 105 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good workout for those less intense days..., June 5, 2005
This workout is led by Ellen Barrett, who is best known for her appearances in the Crunch Pilates workouts. She is back with two fellow exercisers in this workout filmed on a beach in Mexico.
This workout is about 30 minutes long and contains 3 segments. I would describe it as more of a toning video with pilates inspired movements. The first segment is more toning, you will see 3 giant sets of exercises, each performed slightly different. The first includes traditional bicep curls, side lateral raises for shoulders, then squats some of which include some of which include some standing ab work. The second set has more biceps, this time hammer curls, side lateral raises for shoulders but with a slightly different twist, and step squats. The third set has angled bicep curls, overhead presses and pulsing squats.
The second segment has more pilates inspired moves, plenty of standing ab work using light weights such as torso circles and ribcage reaches. This segment also includes more toning exercises for arms, but ones that are more commonly seen in pilates work like the zipup, half moons, arm slices, lat pulldowns, figure 8 arms, etc. You will also see some plies, pushups and static lunges in this segment.
The third segment is the shortest of the three and does not use any weights. You start with plyo jumps, basically jumping from one leg to the other, then you will do another set of jumps this time holding briefly and then returning to standing while on the one leg. While you are standing on one leg you will do "figure 8 knees" which are pretty self explanatory. One legged squats follow, and then you repeat the series a few more times. Then you finish off with standing knee cross crunches before cooling down.
There is also a bonus pilates abs routine that Ellen teaches on her own. It is short and sweet, not particularly challenging though.
Overall, not a bad workout. I would recommend it for beginner/intermediate levels mostly or it would be good for days you are not up to anything strenuous. There is a nice variety of exercises, plus some new ones that are interesting. Ellen as always is a very pleasant instructor. The scenery of the video is pleasing to the eye as well.
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33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Toning workout combines high rep/low weight format with Pilates principles, September 26, 2005
This is a toning workout led by Ellen Barrett, a Pilates instructor who is well-known for her Crunch Pilates videos (Pick Your Spot Pilates, Fat-Burning Pilates, and Burn & Firm Pilates). Here, she combines more traditional weighted moves with Pilates principles to provide a light full-body toning workout with an upper body emphasis.
Ellen works out with two background exercises on a beautiful beach. They begin with a quick (3 minutes) warm-up that includes plies combined with upper body movements; there are a few static stretches to finish. In the first segment of the workout, Ellen does "giant sets," doing a series of mostly upper body weighted exercises and then repeating the entire series three times, each time with a slightly different twist on the movements. Exercises included in this segment are bicep curls, side raises, squats, and a sort of 1-armed scoop move that is supposed to work the abs in a standing position. For most of the exercises, Ellen does one set of eight and then a second set of smaller pulsing moves. This entire segment was about 6 minutes long, and Ellen finishes with some back stretches.
Next Ellen moves into a second toning segment that seems inspired by the Pilates upper body series; this segment is taught in two separate sequences. In the first sequence, you do another 1-armed scoop moves for abs; again, I didn't really feel it in my abdominals, and Ellen doesn't give much instruction here. Other exercises included are rib cage slides, flies, tricep French press, a "splice" move (stepping to the side and raising your arms to the side with your thunbs up), a torso circle, and a half moon stretch, all performed with the weights for a total of about 6 minutes. In the second sequence, Ellen does single arm figure 8s, "butterfly" arms, upright rows, a lat pull, and lunges for another 6 minutes.
In the final segment, Ellen begins with plyometric jumps to the side, first fast, and then slower, holding for balance. She also includes a single-thigh figure 8 and then a single leg squat, and finally, she repeats the series, substituting a knee lift crunch for the thigh work. This segment comes in at about 5 minutes, and then there is a very brief (<2 minutes) series of cool-down stretches for the upper body only, which brings the entire workout in at less than 30 minutes.
Throughout the workout, Ellen and one of the other exerciser used 2-3 lb. weights, while the third woman used 5 lbs. I used 5 lbs. also, and while this sometimes felt too light (I'm an intermediate exerciser who sometimes does heavier weight work), I'm not sure that I could have gone higher with the weights given the type and pace of some of the moves featured (eg, the pulses). Therefore, I think that this workout is likely to provide a light toning effect at best, mainly for the upper body; I felt the moves very little in my other "bikini" areas, including my hips, buttocks, thighs, and abs. The DVD does include a very brief (<5 minutes) Pilates abs workout with Ellen working solo; this was enough to get the abs warm, but that's about it. Also, I was very surprised to see that Ellen wore her sneakers for this segment, as sneakers are not traditionally used for Pilates matwork and definitely are not used by Ellen in her other videos.
If you like high rep/low weight format workouts and have enjoyed Ellen Barrett's other videos--particularly Crunch Burn & Firm Pilates, which shares many moves with this workout--or are a beginner to weight work, you might like this DVD, but others will probably want to look elsewhere. Overall rating: three and half stars for a decent workout but with limited applicability.
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32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fast Results, September 30, 2005
This video is exactly what I needed to break my excercise slump. After just three weeks of use, (only 2x a week) my jeans which were too snug are now big. I've seen a very noticible difference in the hip and lower abdomen areas and my love handles have begun to shrink. My arms are more toned and my legs are tightening up. After three just three weeks, I've been able to go from my tight size 10's to some of my old size 8 jeans.
I have a very short attention span when it comes to working out, so the fact the the video is only 30 minutes long helps to keep me motivated before starting and during the workout.
There is a bonus ab workout too, but it is very short and not as challenging as some of the instructors other videos.
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