Michelle Dozois and Tracy York
I almost didn't buy this video because based on the title, I thought it would be exactly like Breakthru Core Conditioning Pilates, with a few extra pilates moves thrown in. Actually, it's quite different--and deserves a title that would differentiate it from their earlier Pilates tape. It uses yoga, pilates and ballet to build strength and tone muscles.
The workout takes place in a very large living-room type space--what a living room might look like if it were really an exercise area. The exercise space is clear and open, but living room-type furniture and decorations line the walls and background. It's an attractive and pleasant space--different from the plain space of Breakthru Pilates.
Michele leads the warm-up, which consists of some yoga-ish moves, interspersed with ballet/modern dance-type movies, followed by more intensive yoga sun salutations series. One thing that bothers me a little bit in this yoga segment and in the final yoga segment is that they don't really refer to any of the positions by their names--downward dog becomes "inverted V" here.
Tracy then takes over to begin the pilates sequence. This is more advanced than the sequence in Breakthru Pilates and also offers some interesting, innovative moves that I haven't seen before in my other pilates tapes. You already need a fair amount of core strength to be able to do these exercises. The sequence is broken up with planks and a challenging series of push-ups.
They then move to standing floorwork and a ballet sequence, led by Michelle. There are plies, releves, tendus, grand battements, and something else whose name I can't remember (and I apologize for the spelling too!). As with the pilates sequence, the exercises move quickly and flow well.
Tracy concludes the tape with a more challenging standing yoga sequence that stretches the upper body while really working the legs (you stay in warrior lunge for quite awhile).
The one thing I would have liked is a couple of minutes of stretching at the end; the upper body gets a good stretch during the yoga sequence, but I found that my lower body needed more of a stretch after the ballet and yoga sections.
I really like this video a lot. If you're new to Pilates, you'd probably want to start with a different video; Breakthru Pilates offers better instruction in terms of form and also builds the core strength that's needed for some of these exercises. And if you're looking for a pilates video, this isn't the one, as only a few minutes are really spent on more or less traditional pilates exercises. But this tape does a good job of taking the core work in Breakthru Pilates to the next level and offering an interesting, fun sequence of strength training exercises drawn from yoga, ballet and pilates.
Instructor comments:
Michelle and Tracy work so well together. They alternate teaching different sections; the one who is not in charge of that particular section shows modifications and offers extra tips or form pointers. They're pleasant and professional.
Elisabeth
5/2/02
The previous review covers the details so I will just share my review with you. I am not a stone cold beginner to exercise but I am coming back after a long hiatus. I always enjoy a video with a lot of variety and innovation, as opposed to repetitive, boring same-old-workout from the 80's videos. Pilates Plus is a HARD and fun video because it's so unique. I was dripping with sweat at the end of this, especially after the Pilates section. All those negative pushups really wore me out as well as those sideways leg-lifting pike moves. I wish there had been more emphasis on the Pilates stance, which focuses on keeping the thighs and calves pressed together. The ballet section was the most fun because I like to imagine myself at the barre instead of in my living room. I felt the yoga section was a little lacking in thorough explanation, especially breathing cues, which are important in yoga; however I don't really fault them for it as this tape covers a lot of ground in 50 minutes. I recommend this tape to someone who is familiar with the basics of Pilates and yoga. It's a fun and challenging change to mix three workout styles.
Instructor comments:
These ladies obviously have spent a long time exercising together and making videos because they coordinate very well together. Their chatty style reminds me of two ladies in the gym just having fun. The cueing is excellent and I really liked the detailed instructions. Of course Michelle and Tracy are highly experienced in all the exercises presented here.
Deodand
deodand@hotmail.com
July 28 2003
Breakthru Pilates Plus is a wonderful mix of several different exercise methods, with Pilates being only part of the workout. The entire video is about 46 minutes long, and it's broken up into four sections as follows:
Section 1: Michelle Dozios leads this stretching segment, which consists mainly of yoga-type stretches, including some sun salutation variations. About 8 minutes.
Section 2: Tracy York begins this segment, which focuses on Pilates. The exercises performed here clearly are rooted in Pilates, yet they are modified from traditional Pilates matwork. Some of moves are deceptively simple (e.g., leaning back to engage your abs and then punching to each side), but I could really feel the work in my abdominal area. Following the lying abs work, you roll onto your side for some additional unique abs moves as well as Pilates side kick type moves. A really challenging series containing plank moves combined with push-ups comes next; you will also do "decellerated push-ups," a slower moving tricep pushup. Michelle takes over to repeat the exercises on the other side as well as to do a second pushup series. At 17 minutes, this is the longest section of the workout.
Section 3: This is the ballet-inspired section led by Michelle. Using a chair for ballance, you will do simple plies, leg raises, and leg kicks, first on one side and then repeating on the other side. These exercises were definitely tougher than they looked, and I found it difficult to emulate Michelle and Tracy's perfect form. This section lasted about 12 minutes.
Section 4: This was the yoga segment, and it consisted of about 8 minutes of standing yoga poses, including warrior, side angle, chair, and standing forward bends. Tracy leds this section, and she provides good instructions on alignment. The workout ends rather abruptly with a very brief stretch at the end of this segment.
I really enjoyed this workout; the wide variety combined with the segmented format to hold my interest, and because of this, I know that I won't easily tire of this video. This is a perfect workout for intermediate exercises like myself who enjoy doing a wide variety of methods in a relatively short period of time.
Instructor comments:
Michelle and Tracy were both good instructors who provided good cuing. They occasionally chatted back and forth, but not to the point of being annoying or disrupting the flow of the routine.
Beth (aka toaster)
February 5, 2004
