Tone & Sweat comes with a toning cord and was
a part of one of Richard's 'package deals'. (I got rid of
everything else that came with this package within the
first week. Disco sweat annoyed me and the walking audio
tape was boring for me.) It is very easy to learn how to
use the cord and it was comfortable right away. The moves
are reasonable and very easy to learn. The tape is done
by Richard and 5 of the instructors at his workout
studio, "Slimmons." One of the women is as
heavy as I am, and that helped me think that this was a
reasonable tape for me.
One of the reasons I wanted this tape was that I had this
notion that I was too heavy to use weights. Well, I
certainly saw results in my muscles while using the cord.
Eventually I learned the moves well enough that I would
do the tape without sound and listen to my own music. I
liked the excercises, but wanted to be listening to
something I enjoyed.
I have since moved on to weights and a variety of tapes.
But when I want something known that will really work my
muscles I come back to this one.
Jennifer
Pitoniak
6/1/97
Need toning cords for this workout. Workout has a warm
up followed by toning the legs, chest, back, shoulders,
arms and abs. There is a cooldown at the end. I have been
using weights and I thought I probably outgrew this
video. WRONG! This video got me started with toning my
body and I still use it. You can adjust your cords to
make them more or less resistent, meaning it is helpful
for beginners or intermediate level. Music in the video
is light, barely noticed it. Video lasts approx. 40
minutes. Toning cords are useful for folks concerned
about form. It's hard to have bad form using toning
cords. I learned how to do crunches properly from the ab
section in this video. This video helped me overcome my
fear of crunches. Great video for travelers, no weights.
This video did define my muscles more but they did not
get larger, just more defined. I felt stronger in the
shoulders and arms and back. Great toning video for
someone new to exercise or someone who wants to add
toning to their workouts.
Richard Simmons is his chatty self in this video. He
works along with 5 other rinstructors at his Slimmons
Studio. He is very talkative but he doesn't annoy me,
actually he makes me laugh.
Jennifer
7/19/97
A surprisingly great video for beginners. It really works your muscles! I watched the video, played around with the toning cord a bit, and thought the workout would probably be too easy since I've been doing other workouts with free weights for nearly a year. I certainly didn't expect it to make me sore the next day, but it did - that good kind of all over ache that lets you know you've really done something. I've been doing it now for a couple of weeks, and I still feel it the next day.
I like the way he focuses on one muscle group at a time, cycles through different exercises, and does a high number of reps with breaks in-between. The approach is effective and comprehensive (considering the short duration of the video).
Instructor comments: This is not a good video to learn correct form from. That's better learned from other instructors. But it's great for motivation, lots of reps, and learning what muscles you're using.
Sandi
sanditink@aol.com
4/2/99