Ilaria Montagnani
I really wanted to like this tape. I really really really wanted to love it.
I love my
sword, I love the IDEA of sword tapes.. but this tape is really poorly made.
I am not a stickler for high production quality, or fancy sets, etc.. but
this drove me nuts. There were all these wierd "breaks" where the screen
would blank out for a second and the scene would sort of start in a slightly
different spot. I'm sure this was intentional, but I found it really
irritating. Then there was the wierd freeze-motion stuff at the end.
Overall - I couldn't really see her full body and had to rely ont he class
to help me with form. This was donei n a gym class -and I could barely hear
Ilaria speak.
Having said that, will I keep the tape? Yes. I like the workout and I just
need to really learn all the different moves. It will take longer than it
would have, if this had been a professional production with form pointers
and full body shots, but I think I can learn it. I do NOT recommend this
tape for beginners because you really need to understand a lot about core
stability and basic form pointers to avoid injury in this tape.
What do I like about this tape? The workout IS fun! Once I get allt he
moves, it will be great! I liked the music, but more importantly, I saw the
potential of lots of fun in getting my abs and arms in great shape without
resorting to weights or crunches (which I also do).
More and more, I enjoy workouts that employ full body movements to exercise
my body parts.. that is why i'm drawn to kickboxing cardio , and now this
type of workout. I feel as if it really will whip me into shape.
Summary: Not for exercise-newbies. Recommend to people who have a high
tolerance for the irritating points I mentioned, andw ho really really like
the idea of sword training (like me). If you have wrist problems, bear in
mind this tape puts a lot of strain on them due to holding the sword for so
long. I also recommend watching this tape before doing it, and maybe even
using a dowel or exerbar to do the moves before moving to the 3lb sword,
just to
get the moves recorded into your neural pathways.
Instructor Comments:
VERY buff, shows great form. Not perky.. not dull - just business like,
which is fine by me.
Doesn't really give detailed form pointers, but clearly knows what she is
doing. I really wish she would put a form pointer tape out. I'd definitely
buy it.
Leela Keshavan
leela@madetoorder.com
8/15/00