Self: Bikini Ready Fast
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Movie Reviews of Self: Bikini Ready Fast
Movie Review: Fabulous workout for home
Summary: 5 Stars
I really like the workout, not only is it fun, but there's a good variety of moves. I highly recommend it and plan on buying this as gifts for friends.Movie Review: Awesome workout!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been using this dvd for three years and I still get a great workout. I love how it tones my back, abs and thighs!Movie Review: Good Job
Summary: 5 Stars
Speedy delivery, product as described, and my wife love's the video. I would use this seller again. Thanks.Movie Review: Toning workout combines high rep/low weight format with Pilates principles
Summary: 4 Stars
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.
Movie Review: A good workout, if not all-out intense
Summary: 4 Stars
If you have used the Shape Bikini Body Camp DVDs and come to this afterward, you're going to notice that these are neither as intense nor as varied. However, that doesn't mean that you can't get a really good workout out of this nonetheless.
As other reviewers have noted, this workout is broken into three segments that cycle through three to five movements about three times each. The first segment has more traditional movements such as bicep curls (though done at different angles), shoulder work (for front, side and back shoulders) and squats. The second segment has less traditional movements (I only recognized a couple of Pilates-movements here) that depend on circular movement, including some standing work for the abdominals. I like the idea of standing abwork, but I'm usually disappointed. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I did feel the work through my abs when we were doing sweeping rotations. She also includes a pull down movement here for the back. I liked that move, but it needs to be a little bit slower to feel it more through your back and not your shoulders. That move, along with most of the other moves, was done with an 8-slow, 8-pulse count. She finishes up with some Pilates pushups, starting with 2, then 4 and finally 6 for a total of 12 pushups.
The next segment was unweighted and focused primarily on the lower body, including plyo jumps and one-legged squats. Then we moved to a very brief cool-down that didn't spend much time at all on stretching. I chose to do the bonus ab-segment, and though it was brief, I did feel it, but then again, I'm a big believer in Pilates for abdominal work.
The stretching could have been longer, definitely. I appreciate the desire to keep workout time to 30 minutes- I'm lucky to be able to steal that time during my day- but since they tacked on a five-minute bonus ab section, how about a five-minute bonus stretch segment?
When I first did this workout a few months ago with three pounds, I was very unimpressed- I might as well have not bothered. However, using five pound weights today and concentrating on my form, I definitely felt it and I found that not only was I working my muscles but that I was also working up a sweat. Bonus: I love getting two workouts for the price of one. There were a couple of movements where I could have upped the weights to eight, but since everything was done in a fast-paced giant set, switching weights could have been a problem, particularly for my shoulders. However, I think you could add weights to the last section since it works the usually stronger lower body, and I'm going to give that a shot next time.
For Shape Bikini Body Camp lovers: not only is this less intense and too fast-paced for heavier weights, it also requires a little bit less anticipation because the choreography is simpler. That may be a turn off for choreography junkies, but I've got to say that early in the morning, I was fine being on auto-pilot.