I’m reviewing this workout after doing it once a week over the past few months and probably about

General workout breakdown: This workout lasting about 30 minutes has already been broken down, so I’ll just add that overall I find Hilary’s pace appropriate: not too fast and not too slow. The transitions vary in tempo; I find that the transitions from supine to prone positions are rather quick while some of the transitions from one supine position to another are a little slower than they need to be. She performs a decent number of repetitions. The only exercise which probably has too many is the double leg kicks, of which she must do almost two dozen. I do like the stretches at the end, although some of them don’t seem as useful for a Pilates workout as some others I can think of.

Level: I’d recommend this to solidly intermediate Pilates exercisers. Although Hilary includes a decent amount of instruction and even a few modifications, you really do need to know what you’re doing here since there are some advanced exercises, such as jackknife and hip circles. I consider myself low intermediate (about 2 years of experience but still limited strength & flexibility), and I find this video appropriately challenging, with a few exercises still beyond my ability. I have to modify those exercises, but I use modifications I learned from other books and videos rather than the ones Hilary provides, as I don’t find them particularly helpful for someone with limited flexibility. (For example, rather than perform the hip circles with straight arms as she does, I lower myself onto my forearms as Ana Caban does in Quick Start Pilates for Weight Loss.)

Class: Hilary alone.

Music / Set / Other Production Notes: To tell you the truth, the music’s so forgettable I don’t remember anything about the instrumental accompaniment. Hilary is on a mat in front of what appears to be an altar draped with a tiger skin and covered in the front by an array of richly colored pillows. Overall the interior space is relatively dark but not exactly pitch black. The picture and sound are fine—nothing special, but nothing objectionable.

Equipment: mat (or equivalent). Hilary is barefoot.

Space Requirements: enough to move your arms and legs around while on your back.

DVD Notes: Please note that I have the older edition with the tiger stripes, and I’m not sure if these comments apply to the white and purple edition DVDs.
The DVD starts right at the main menu, and you can skip all of the introductory and warning bits. (This is the way it should be!) Each exercise is chaptered. (Again, this is the way it should be!)

Conclusion: I’m keeping this one. It’s a solid classical Pilates routine that’s truly intermediate. I have included this in my weekly rotation with Stott Core Challenge, Classical Pilates Magic Circle Intermediate, More than Mat Intermediate, and whichever Ana Caban I feel like doing that week; so far I’m seeing great progress (if slow but steady) with my Pilates form, strength, and flexibility.

Instructor Comments:
Hilary speaks deliberately and calmly in a manner that sometimes seems almost forced. (In other words, some people may appreciate her calm demeanor and think her nice while others might find her cold.) Hilary uses imagery, some of which sounds silly if you’re not familiar with Pilates imagery (like imagining you’re moving through taffy, for example). I don’t have many problems with her cueing, although she often spends more time instructing or offering form pointers rather than cueing each move. Hilary does spend a good amount of time talking, but probably not as much as Moira Merrithew (nee Stott). Like Moira, her talk is concerned exclusively with Pilates, not on how good you’ll look, etc.

KathAL79