Video Fitness

Idrea's The Larger Woman's Workout

idrea

I got this video for my mom and decided to check it out. I'm keeping it. Its too easy for me, but it is a scream. First, it looks straight out of 1985. The women have big hair, heavy eyeliner, shiny clothes and leg warmers. The women are all ages and shapes and sizes and every color in the rainbow. And they are having a GREAT time. The aerobics are simple and low impact, but Idrea puts the steps into easy combos and mixes up the arm motions so it doesn't feel as repetitive as some beginners routines. Also, she cues fairly well so its easy to follow. She is very encouraging, and is herself quite large, and one of the women does the workout with a knee brace. It feels like the type of routine anyone can do. But it is uplifting and fun. The cool down is free time and she has everyone do what they want and she walks around talking to them. The big drawback to the workout is some of the camera angles and the toning segment. While most of the camera shots are straightforward, sometimes you get people's faces or the backs of their heads. And some of the shots are overhead shots or far rear shots and its hard to tell whats going on. This becomes an issue in the toning because she doesn't explain what she's doing that well and some of the angles make it hard to see. She has a few exercisers do modifications and they are shown in an inset in the corner. They are much clearer. Basically the toning is standard floorwork and not very original. The ab work is standard too but the women doing the modifications are on chairs with their legs draped over the backs!! Gads- it looked terrifying! The arm work was just fast arm motions like bicep curls with no weights done while marching in place. They are VERY fast, too fast to use weights and get good form. Overall, this a fun motivating aerobic workout. I don't like the toning segment, but the aerobics are one of the most positive classes I've done. She gives form pointers in a voice over.

Highly recommended for beginners or anyone who wants a light aerobics tape that will inspire, motivate, encourage and help build their self-esteem.

Instructor comments: Idrea reminds me of a cross between Richard Simmons and Leslie Sansone- very motivating and encouraging, very talky and personable but she cues much better than either of them. Also she doesn't have a problem staying on the beat and puts very basic steps into combos. Her instruction is like aerobics gone Little Richard, theres a lot of shouting, like I love myself, or I am just fine as I am. She is very animated. In the intro to the tape, she speaks in a monotone and stares at the teleprompter. Don't be fooled- her class attitude is like being at a big self-esteem party. Very encouraging.

L'Anne

2/1/00



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