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Age: 35
Hometown: Salt Lake City, UT
Family: married, two girls. We also
live with my sister-in-law and our dog Sasha.
Occupation: Software Engineer
Fitness level: advanced
Collecting videos since: My first video was bought 15 years ago. It
was the original Jazzercise video. I actually rented it and forgot to
return it. So it was actually cheaper for me to buy it than to pay the late
fees. My mom lent that tape and Kathy Smith's Body Basics to her co-worker and
I never saw them again. I didn't like them that much anyway. I was going
to the gym and thought workouts at the gym were much tougher. Ten years
ago, my sister lent me her Firm 1 & 2 and I loved it. I wanted all their
videos but back then they were $50 each so I had to get them one at a time.
But it's only been the last five years that my video collection really
started growing. Now, I work exclusively at home because it's tough to go to
the gym with little children at home.
Number of Videos Owned: Currently I have 120 videos. Also traded away,
given, borrowed, and rented a lot more.
Current fitness goals: Trying to get my endurance/strength back to
where it
was before I was pregnant. I also really need to improve my
flexibility.
But I had this problem even before I was pregnant. My front straddles
look
like V's. I have Stretch To Win and Barbara Peterson is such a gumby.
Her
legs are straight out to the side. I wish I was half as flexible as she
is.
But I'm also lazy when it comes to stretching. I schedule a stretch
video
every day but usually after I do aerobics and/or muscle sculpting, I'm
too
tired (mostly in my head) to do the stretching tape too.
Loved ones' opinion of video habit: My husband is amused but doesn't
really
mind. He lets me handle the finances. I'm the one who mostly feels
guilty
when I buy another tape. My five year old loves to watch and sometimes
exercises with me. One time we walked to a store and she picked up pink
2
lb. dumbbells. She started doing military presses. She looked so cute.
My
four month old is intrigued by television so she watches the video while
I'm
doing it.
Helen's opinions:
Current Favorites:
Power Max
Body Max
CIA 8003
CIA 9808
CIA 9809
Favorites by Category:
Floor Aerobics:
CIA 6003 (Greg's portion)
CIA 8003
CIA 9808
Step Aerobics:
Power Max
Intense Moves
Best Ab Workout:
Keli's Abs & More
Method Precision Toning
Yoga for Abs
Flexaball Workout
Best Upper Body:
Cory's Get Hard Arms & Shoulders
Kathy Ireland's Advanced Sports Fitness (the upper body workout
is
tough in this tape,
but I can't really recommend the whole tape because
the
aerobics part is boring)
Best Lower Body:
Firm Standing Legs
Firm Sculpted Buns, Hips, and Thighs
Firm Vol 1 - floor work
Firm Better Body & Buns
Great Weighted W.O. - floor work
Tamilee's One On One Buns & Legs
Kathy Smith Secrets To A Great Body - Lower Body
Best Total Body:
Body Max
Maximum Intensity Strength
Firm Tough Tape 1 & 2
Firm Strong Body
CIA 6005
CIA 8005
Gin's Extreme Strength (just previewed this and it looks tough
but
fun, full review later)
Favorite Instructors
Cathe Friedrich (I'm really looking forward to her Pure Strength
series)
Keli Roberts
Gin Miller
Jennifer Mills
Underrated:
Step N Motion I - This is a lot different from her new complex
tapes
but I still have a sentimental feeling for it. I bought this when it
first
came out and it was the first step tape that I got that was as tough (if
not
tougher) than the step classes at the gym.
CIA 6005 - I love the whole tape and it's tough. In the first
section, we do circuits using different exercise equipment (depending
what
you have at home) mixed in with weight work. You can also use a regular
step or aerobics during the cardio sections. Sharon then does a mixed
impact section. The last section, Sandra does circuits mixing jump
rope,
plyo work, and boxing. Her form isn't the best but this section is more
fun
than Aerobox IMHO.
Biggest Disappointments:
The worst tape that I bought was Joanie Greggains One On One.
It's
an old tape and it had old fashioned aerobics - very stale. The biggest
disappointments for good instructors/company are the Firm Prime Power
Lower
Body Sculpting (too many dips), Karen's Energy Sprint (too boring), and
Kari's Bench Works (just didn't appeal to me).
Would love to see:
My favorite tape would have everything I love so it would
probably
be very long. It would have a funky warm-up and dance (15 min), 40 min.
tough circuit training (Firm type sculpting, Cathe's complex step
choreography mixed in with some kickboxing moves), pilates/yoga based
abs
mixed in with traditional ab work (12 minutes) and a nice relaxing
stretch
(8 minutes). That makes a nice 75 minute workout, not as long as I was
afraid it might be.
Words of Wisdom:
Listen to your body. Rest is so often neglected. I don't work
out
as hard as I used to before I was pregnant. But in some ways my body
feels
better. Before I used to wake up & be so sore. But I would still do a
tough workout that day since I had it scheduled in. Now my muscles are
pleasantly sore and I'm still seeing a tremendous amount of fat being
lost.
It helped that I worked out during pregnancy. So I would highly
recommend
doing this if your doctor approves it.
I also think that we are our own worst critics. We see things
"wrong" with our bodies that other people wouldn't even notice. I also
used
to feel so bad if I missed a workout. Now I'm a lot more casual about
it.
I really don't have a choice with a 4 month old.
