This unusual video consists of two separate
legs-and-abs workouts. The idea is that you can do them
separately (they are 24 and 22 minutes long,
respectively) or together. Within each workout, three
different fitness levels are shown. Each fitness level
uses different equipment, so you could vary your workout
with ankle weights, a step, (or ankle weights and a step
together) or a rubber band. The first workout, which I
prefer, is a standing legs routine. It consists primarily
of squat variations on the floor (or off the step). It is
nothing like the tall box leg presses in the FIRM. Calf
exercises are included. The second workout is a floor
routine, but it's not an on-all-fours floor routine like
in the FIRM. Here, you lie on your side and do leg lifts,
lie back on your elbows and work the quads, lie on your
back and work the hamstrings and butt. I didn't really
care for it.
The ab routine in both workouts is tough! I really
felt it in the lower abs especially. Candice also
includes lower back exercises, which I rarely see in
other videos.
I rarely do this video simply because I prefer to do
total-body tapes. However, because of the thoroughness of
the instruction, I think this would be a good tape for
beginners, or intermediates who are looking for a light
workout (or who don't like the FIRM).
Elaine C.
6/19/97
This video consists of two workouts, approximately 25 minutes each and including legs and abs. The first leg workout is done with the step and there are squats with ankle weights (if you pick that option), standing leg lifts with the step, and calf raises. The ab workout is done on or off the step and it is quite good, last about 10 minutes. The second workout consists of floor legwork with ankle weights covering all sections of the leg - leg lifts, quad lifts, inner thighs, hamstrings. The ab workout is also good, last about 10 minutes. This is an intermediate workout and good to do in between more difficult tapes like Tough Tape or Standing Legs. It was made in 1992 and Sharon Twombly (Greg's wife) is one of the exercisers (she is billed as Sharon Money, so I guess they weren't married yet). It is a Greg Twombly production. All Candace's tapes are excellent and for the intermediate exerciser.
Instructor comments: Candace is a very likeable instructor who gives excellent cueing on all of her videos. She is more for the intermediate exerciser.
maryann parker
3/23/98
This is divided into two 25-minute sections, with a warmup and cooldown at the beginning and end, bringing the total workout to about 60 minutes.
Each section has both leg and ab work. The first section is standing leg exercises, using a step. It's sort of like Karen Voight's Lean Legs and Buns, except the exercises are different and -- in my opinion, anyway -- more interesting. You follow this up with about 10 minutes of ab work, which is your typical crunches, etc. There is also a little bit of back work.
The second section is floor leg work, and this is why I bought the tape. The routine is only 10 minutes or so, but during that time, you do inner and outer thighs, hamstrings, and quads. She doesn't bore you with endless reps, so you can use heavy ankle weights. When I used 5 lb weights, I didn't feel like I had exhausted my muscles, but with 10 lbs, I was really working. She does some really neat "rotation" movements, both for outer thighs and quads. After this, you again do ab/back work.
In the future, I will probably only do the floor leg work. I've had a hard time finding really good floor leg routines, so I'm very happy with this. I paid $12-$13 for it from Amazon, but I will use that 10-minute segment quite often! It's short enough to tack on to the end of any workout.
Annie S.
10-24-98