Review: The Firm Super Cardio

The Firm Super Cardio is a rarity in the world of Firm videos, it is a pure cardio workout from the BBH-era Firms. It is lead by four Firm instructors: Jen Carman, Carissa Foster, Allie Strickland, and Dale Brabham.

Allie opens the workout with a 3 min warmup using no equipment. Shoulder rolls, squats, steto taps, etc. This is followed by a brief (1 min) standing stretch. Allie also leads the first cardio 'grouping':

Allie:
Four-limb step work (the DVD participants use the Firm short box, I used an 8" high step-worked perfectly!!) this segment felt longer than it was, but I think it's a good way to open the program – 3 min
'Oof ball' aerobics – 3 min
Plyometrics, jumps, bunny hops – 2 ½ min

Carissa

Low impact aerobics (squats, lunges, kick-ball-changes) – 2 ½ min

Step – 2 min

Mixed impact aerobics (toe taps, kicks side to side) – 2 min (love this section!)

Dale

4-limb aerobics – 2 ½ min

Mixed impact aerobics – 2 ½ min

Low impact aerobics with hop steps, skips, etc – 2 ½ min

4-limb aerobics (weighted plyo jumps) – 2 min

Jen

'Oof ball’ aerobics – 2 min

Low impact aerobics – 4 ½ min

Step – 2 ½ min

4-limb aerobics – 3 ½ min

Mixed impact aerobics – 3 ½ min (this section makes me feel like a cheerleader!)

4-limb aerobics – 3 min

Step – 2 ½ min

Short post aerobic stretch using step – 1 ½ min
Super short abs – 2 ½ min

Carissa
Stretch with some yoga-flavored moods (I do NOT like this stretch) – 3 ½ min

Before I get into the review I would like to ask/mention something.  Jen's last step segment and cool down, as well as Carissa's final stretch are clearly from different workouts than Super Cardio. What workouts are they from???  I would really like to know.  Not only do Carissa's clothes change for the final stretch, but the walls go from pink to green!!

I like this Firm workout.  Parts of it are high impact and challenging, but they are tempered with slower, lower impact moves.  Another nice thing about this workout is that it is totally adaptable to your fitness level or energy level on any given day. You can add plyos when the do wide marches or do wide marches when they add plyos. You can use 2 lb dumbbells during the 4-limb movements or 5 lb dumbbells (or no dumbbells for that matter)!  This workout is much easier now than I thought it was when it first came out (at that time, this was by far the longest cardio workout I owned), but it still gives my heart a good pump.  The music in this workout is some of the best in the latter-day BBH Firm workouts.  All four leads do a good job. In this particular workout, Jen and Allie are my personal favorites but Carissa and Dale are fit and worthy of a leading role.

Sweat factor: 7.5/10

Fun factor: 7.5/10

Review: Atletica

Atletica is a 52 min weight workout lead by Ilaria Montagnani. She uses dumbbells to execute kettlebell inspired moves. It is a fabulous workout DVD!!! It begins with a 4 min warmup. If you've done Ilaria or Powerstrike workouts before, you will be very familiar with the warmup moves; reach taps, squats, calf stretches, plie stretch, etc.

After the warmup she wastes no time jumping right into the first exercise, which is swings using a dumbbell. The workout is set up in circuits. You do each circuit twice before moving onto the next.

The first circuit goes like this:
Dumbbell swings right
Clean and press right
Overhead squat right
Oblique twist upper cut move right (no idea what this move is called but it is the move Ilaria is doing on the DVD cover)
Repeat all moves with the left arm

Second circuit:
Pull back row into squat right
Circle weight overhead into squat right
Side to side weighted cross punches
Repeat on left

Third circuit:
Burpees
Renegade rows right
Plank
Repeat on left

Fourth circuit:
5 sets of 10 pushups
Ab move where you hold weights up in a static bench prench and bring your left leg up to your right hand and your left leg up to your right hand
Russian twists
Repeat ab exercises (no second set of pushups)

This is followed by a 3 min seated stretch segment.

What can I say? I love Ilaria!! She has an AMAZING physique, and she is motivating without being cocky. She never has a 'check out my muscles' look about her. She simply inspires and encourages by using perfect form and giving great instruction and encouragement.

I highly recommend watching the introduction chapter as Ilaria describes and/or demos several moves.

Great workout. Will give you major DOMS in your obliques and shoulders.

DOMS-inducing factor: 8.5/10
Fun factor: 8/10

Review: Super Step

Super Step is a 60 min step routine from Seasun Zieger. It is made up of a 6 min warm up, a 41 min cardio portion, a 7 min core section, and a 4 min stretch.

The warm up consists of basic steps, l-steps, jacks on and off the step, knee ups, and a fun move where you straddle the step, turn to face the inside your step, tap on the step with one foot, then come back to face the back of your step. Combo 1 has moves such as turning squats, a v-slide (which was featured in Seasun's previous workout Stepping Up), a burpee, and my personal favorite move, a jog over with a shuffle rock. Combo 2 has a lot of turns, a giddy up, and some pivots and ball changes. For me, combo 2 has the most complex choreography. Combo 3 has some basic moves like mambos, jacks on the step, tap shuffles, but they are done with directional changes and pauses and pivots so they are never boring.

The music in this workout is pretty good. Some of the songs I really like, especially the song that plays the first time you string together combos 1 and 2. A lot of the music in this workout can also be heard in Amy Bento's Advanced Step Challenge 4.

Seasun seems to be having fun during this workout. She cues really well and I don't recall a time when she miscued. She did forget to mention a "shuffle box" once, and it was during a time when my back was to the TV, but I still managed to get the move so perhaps it wasn't a big deal that she didn't cue that move. A lot of the workout (especially combo 2) is dione with your back to the TV but Seasun cues in a way where you still end up in the correct place and on the correct foot.

I really, really like Seasun. I like that her workouts are challenging to the mind and the heart. They are complex but I still manage to get my heart rate up. You can tell that Seasun really likes what she does. And she is so creative and good at it! I love the way she says things twice (like "One more, one more," or "give me two, give me two"). She also seems to like music, which is always nice in an aerobics instructor.

The music in this one isn't as good as it is in this as it was in Stepping Up, but the choreography is fun, some of the music is pumping and motivating, and Seasun and her backgrounders are energetic and fun.

The abs segment is filled with lots and lots and lots of planks. I liked it. For me, plank work gets tougher the more I do it because after awhile, I don't have to concentrate on my wrists or quads or shoulders feeling fatigued. Those muscle groups strengthen and I'm left with having to totally focus on and use my core. I will keep at this routine and hopefully get better at mainting proper form.

Thumbs up - another fun one from Seasun!

Sweat factor: 6.5/10
Fun factor: 7.5/10

Review: Insanity Plyometric Cardio Circuit

I have had Shaun T's Insanity set for awhile but have yet to do it as it was intended (a two-month rotation), nor have I tried all its workouts. I believe I've tried four of them. Plyo Cardio Circuit is my favorite, so far, of those I've tried.

Insanity is crazy hard for me. I know that Plyo Cardio Circuit is one of the 'easier' Insanity workouts, but it is plenty tough.

Plyo Cardio Circuit is a high intensity interval training (HIIT) workout that uses no equipment. It consists of a long warmup, a really long pre-workout stretch, and about 20 min of cardio. The warmup is made up of a series of cardio moves (jogs, jumping jacks, etc) done 3x's each. The cardio section is somewhat similar. You do 4 moves, take a break, then reapeat them, take a break, then repeat them again. Then you do a brief drill of 'switch feet' before going into the next circuit. After the third time of doing the first circuit, he also has you do football runs. I like those.

The first circuit's moves are:

Suicide Drills (three lateral shuffles right, touch the floor, three lateral shuffles left, touch the floor)
Power Squats
Mountain Climbers (done vertically)
Ski Jumps

The second circuit's moves are:

Basketball Jumps
Low impact squat thrusts - after you step back into a plank, do 4 pushups, then 8 mountain climbers on the floor, then stand up and repeat
Ski abs from plank position (bring your knees in on a right angle, then jump back into a plank, then bring your knees in on a left angle and repeat
Get into plank and jump your knees in and back out, repeat

After the third round is done in the 2nd circuit, you go into a few kickboxing moves and then it's time to cooldown for the final stretch.

I must have weak abs because the toughest part of this workout for me BY FAR is the ski abs into plank jumps. Oh, I take too many breaks to count.

This is a tough workout but there isn't much dread factor. It isn't long, Shaun T is really motivating, and the moves are varied enough that though you do them 3x's each, it doesn't feel repetetive.

Sweat factor: 9/10
Fun factor: 7.5/10

Review: The Firm Body Sculpt

The Firm Body Sculpt is part of The Firm's first post-BBH Firm series, Body Sculpting System 1 (BSS1). BSS1 is comprised of 3 main workouts and 6 "add on" workouts. Body Sculpt is one of the three main workouts. It is lead by Jen Carman. The workout tops and set lighting are green.

This workout is broken into two segments; lower body and upper body, though you can do the entire workout straight through for a total body workout. The workout is 48 min total, but that includes a 6 min warmup and 10 min of stretches. The lower body segment was about 16 min, followed by a 5 min cooldown/stretch, which also serves as the warmup for the upper body segment, which came in around 15. This workout uses the purple/blue Fanny Lifter (I used my High Step, which worked awesomely) and various sets of dumbbells.

Jen Carman did an okay job. I think she really excels doing cardio or aerobic weight training. This was straight sculpting. She seemed a bit more serious here than she had in her previous video leads.

The transitions between exercises threw me a bit. Upon ending one exercise she would say, "Reassmble your Fanny Lifter and grab your heavy dumbbells," but she wouldn't say what we were doing next. I think Jen used 2 sets of dumbbells but that didn't really work for me. I use differents weight for squats, leg presses, lunges, and hover squats. So though my 'heavy weight' for leg presses may be 15# dumbbells, that would be a 'light' weight for me for squats,so it would have been nice to know what came next. This is a minor quibble, however, because once I do the workout a few times, I will memorize the sequence and know what move comes next so I can grab the appropriate weights.

The lower body section included squats, lunges and dips (this segment really fried my glutes) plies, side lunges onto the Fanny Lifter, squats with leg abduction, hover squats, and 2 sets on each leg of leg presses. Though it was short, it felt quite thorough. I added a set of deadlifts at the end. I'm sure my hamstrings were worked during the lunges and leg presses, but I love deadlifts. I guess I could have added calf work too. Perhaps next time I will. I loved the first song during the lower body segment. I can't really remember the rest of the music so it must not've been annoying or anything.

Next came the upper body section. In my opinion The Firm has always lacked for upper body work (though it makes up for it with their stellar lower body work), but this routine was pretty good. Jen moved at a fairly slow pace so I was able to go heavier than I do with most Firm upper body workouts. The moves were typical but there were a few twists here and there. Kickbacks, lateral raises, overhead presses, biceps curls, pushups, etc. The only move I found to be awkward was when she got her body into table postion over the Fanny Lifter (so that her torso/stomach rested on the top of the Fanny Lifter). I simply sat on the Fanny Lifter for that portion. The triceps and shoulders felt thoroughly worked and there were a few sets of rows for the back that burned after a bit. It could have used more biceps work but those probably worked as assisting muscles during the back work. Chest was last and was comprised of presses and flies. All-in-all this was a good workout if you're looking for a total body weight workout in under 45 min. that will leave you feeling worked but not so sore you can't move afterwards.

DOMS-inducing factor: 6.5/10
Fun factor: 7/10

Review: Powerstrike 6

Powerstrike Vol. 6 is a kickboxing workout created and lead by Ilaria Montagnani. Powerstrike workouts have been around for over 10 years. I have Powerstrike Millennium 1-3 (1 and 2 are on VHS), which were created and lead by Ilaria and Patricia Moreno (who also now makes solo-instructor DVDs), and Powerstrike Vols. 4-6, lead by Ilaria only. There are other Powerstrike videos I do not own and they are now, sadly, OOP.

Powerstrike Vol. 6 is made up of a ~5 min warmup, 42 min of cardio, and a short, short cooldown/stretch. The warmup consists of punches and kicks that will be used later in the workout (with more intensity and range-of-motion).

The cardio portion is made up of punches (jabs, crosses, hooks, uppercuts), followed by kicks (front push kick, rear kick, side kicks, roundhouse kicks, and crescent kicks. Ilaria and her backgrounders have excellent form. They appear to be working hard, yet they appear to be having fun. The music wasn't great but wasn't bad either; there were times when I thought, this song may get annoying, but the song would change before I could tire of it.

After you practice/drill your punches and kicks, Ilaria takes you through two combinations of punches and kicks combined and interspersed. I liked both combinations but really liked the second combination; it contained palm heel strikes and blocks and I just feel cool and strong (though I look odd and dorky) when I do those kinds of 'true' martial arts moves.

The combinations are taught add-on style, so there is a lot of TIFTing, but it didn't feel repetitive. Every time you start the combo again is a chance to execute the moves a little bit better than before.

Kickboxing workouts are, for me, more fun (and more challenging) once I know them 'by heart,' as then I don't need to worry about getting the order of punches and kicks correctly, and I can focus on form and intensity. Ilaria gave constant, wonderful form pointers throughout. Because this was my first time doing the workout, I found myself often focusing more on 'getting the choreography right' than correcting my form. I tried to keep my hands 'in guard' but am pretty sure my side kicks barely resembled Ilaria's. Once I've done this workout several times, I will review it again.

All in all, this is a fun, solid workout. The moves were fast in parts, but I think if a person had some kickboxing experience, they could tackle this workout. Ilaria is a marvel; motivating, intense yet quiet, buff and tiny at the same time, super fit. There is a point in the workout where you freeze one leg in the air. Ilaria lost her balance and had to put her leg down. Next time she ran through the combo, she held her leg up extra long. It was cute to see an instructor challenge herself like that during a workout. I bet she challenges herself all the time. It shows.

Sweat factor: 6/10
Fun factor: 7/10