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Age: 48
Fitness level: Intermediate to Advanced
Collecting videos for 12 years. My first video was "Jane Fonda's New Workout" which came out in 1985
Number of Videos Owned: 457
Other Fitness Activities I occasionally take a yoga class, occasionally work out at our health club (just weight machines and swimming), and occasionally walk, but almost exclusively use videos.
Current fitness goals:
My immediate goal is to get back to my previous fitness level I had before I had ear surgery (at the end of June). I couldn't exercise for 5 weeks and definitely lost strength (especially in my arms). Thanks to spending a lot of time at Video Fitness during my recuperation, I realized I really need to do more aerobics (I love weight training and, therefore, The Firm) so I'm now adding more aerobics, mostly via Cathe Friedrich (due to recommendations from VF). My long term goal is to stay healthy and keep improving my fitness level. Diabetes runs in my family so I'd like to avoid it.
Loved ones' opinion of video habit: I would say "tolerantly amused" is a good description. My husband doesn't understand why I "need" so many videos because "you obviously can't do more than one at a time". He said 100 might be OK. (He also doesn't understand why I have so many clothes and books.)
Karen's opinions:
Best Videos of all time:
Karen Voight's Energy Sprint
Cathe Friedrich's Step Fit
The Firm Tough Tape/Lie Down and Workout" (I always do them together so I consider them one tape).
Current Favorites:
The Firm Tough Tape/Lie Down and Workout
The Firm Strong Heart/Strong Body
Cathe Friedrich (I just got all of her newer tapes and am trying to use one every other workout or so).
Favorite Instructors
Karen Voight
Kathy Smith
Cathe Friedrich
Underrated:
Claudia Schiffer's Perfectly Fit Series. I really like these tapes. I realize Claudia is just decoration, but I like the exercises themselves. I think the Arm tape has a great selection and order of exercises and I like it because I can keep increasing weights as I get stronger. It's my third favorite arm tape behind "Gilad's Men of Steel Arms" and "Cory Everson's Get Hard Arms and Shoulders". I also love the lying outer thigh exercises she includes in the Legs tape - I feel the burn like with no other video. I know I'm weird, but I actually LIKE outer thigh exercises (the one thing missing from The Firm Strong Heart/Strong Body tapes). I think all four Claudia Schiffer tapes have great exercises and I enjoy doing them.
Biggest Disappointments:
This is also a tough one. In thinking back, there was a step tape I bought soon after I started step aerobics and was looking for more variety. It was called "Step it Out" with Dawn Brown. It was awful! A few years ago, I gave away a few of my exercise videos and that was one of them. The 1990 "Pre-Swimsuit Edition" of Collage catalog says about Step It Out: "Very simple steps and quieter music in a more toning oriented bench workout. You'll shape your legs and lower body while getting a light aerobic workout in this easy-to-follow program. It's one-on-one with Dawn Brown who uses the bench in some unusual ways: 'descending' from the step down, standing leg swings, jumping on top and 'pulse' ankle strengthening routines. The floorwork, while more traditional, also uses the bench to increase resistance." Doesn't sound too bad, right?
In the 1996 "Holiday Edition" of Collage in a sidebar called "You Can't Tell a Video by Its Cover", they say about the same tape: "Instead of the classic Step shown in the cover photo, lots of these routines are demonstrated in a home stairway or on a cinder block! There's less than ten minutes of anything remotely resembling 'stepping.' And even that segment is filled with dangerous moves: jumps off the front, heels hanging off the back, etc. The rest of this program features a medley of ineffective and out-of-date toning moves. And how is the final stretch/cooldown? There isn't one. Instead this video ends with the fastest aerobic segment of the entire video! Read the Guide...You'll know what you're getting!" It would have been nice to have had that information six years earlier!
I've never bought anything by Denise Austin because she grates on my nerves so much. I've tried to like her but I can't take her for very long.
Would love to see:
I always like to be challenged and I love weight training and step aerobics so I would like to see more of those in intermediate/advanced levels. I can't get enough of Cathe Friedrich's
advanced step workouts. I also really like The Firm's concept of combining aerobics with weights so more advanced workouts like that would also be wonderful.
Words of Wisdom:
I've had a couple of injuries from exercising. Several years ago I injured my left hamstring and last year I injured my right inner thigh. I think I injured the hamstring because I was exercising my quads a lot, but hated to do hamstring exercises and so didn't. Then I kept reinjuring it by trying to exercise before I should have. It still bothers me when I sit for a while. The inner thigh was injured by too much exercise and then I also reinjured it by doing too much too soon. Right now I'm skipping all inner thigh exercises because it seems like it gets a little sore just from lunges and the tall box leg presses . So I guess my words of wisdom would be: Don't overdo it and be sure to balance your workouts. If you hate to do a certain exercise, that's probably the one you need to do most.
