First I have to say that this workout was a fantastic cardio blast!! It was much tougher than I expected it would be and much more varied and complex in choreography than any of the previous Firm videos. But the moves are not tricky or too dancy so they are easy to learn. They move very quickly between segments...it took a time or two doing the video to really learn it, but makes it much more interesting to do on an ongoing basis. The transitions between segments and instructors is very smooth and quick! (I like this because I felt the transitions on Fat Blaster were too slow). Oh by the way the format (not to be confused with intensity!) of this video is very similar to Fat Blaster (All Cardio) in format. The set is like the Tri-trainer videos with the large studio and the large group of exercisers. There are the trademark Firm classical pictures and statues around the room and the walls are painted bright, light pastel colors (aqua, peach, etc) and changes between segments. The music is very similar to previous Firm productions in that it was specially produced and synchronized with the movements and was very upbeat and energetic...I really liked the music a lot! It was a nice blend of jazz, rock, pop, and classical music.

I will go through each segment briefly below and tell a little more detail about them...

Warm-up (Carissa) She uses the ball throughout the warm-up which I felt really did help warm-up my body faster than without it since it is lightly weighted. She does a lot of overhead presses and front presses and circles with the ball to warm-up the upper body as she is doing lower body movements and light stretches to warm-up the lower body.

Abwork (Dale) This is not your typical abwork but I really liked it a lot. It was more pilates based and focused on stabilizing the midsection. The moves were very slow and controlled and I could really feel my abs working. I also do some pilates and yoga so I enjoyed seeing this type of abwork in this video. The moves work the upper, lower and oblique muscles in slow controlled motions. Cardio sections:

1.Tall box climbs (Carissa) this is a very short first segment doing L-steps, knee lifts, along with step and flexes (biceps). 2. Ball aerobics (Carissa) uses the ball (doing overhead and forward pressing motions with the arms) while doing mambas, running in place, and small squats to get the heart rate up fast. 3. Hi/Lo (Dale) Heel shuffles, plyometric hops, ski hops and a lot of higher impact in this section. V-steps with hops and higher impact knee-ups. 4. Short box (Dale) Box pivots with kick and punching moves, knee lifts, triples and step ups with glute lifts while punching overhead. 5. Short box & 4-limb aerobics (Carissa) step ups done on the box along with upper body moves with light weights (they suggest 3-5 pound hand weights) such as lunges onto box with glute lifts and bicep curls, V-steps around box with upright rows. 6. Short box (Tamela) this section has lot of power moves on the box, hopping over the box, squat presses to each side, plunger move to each side (very tough), lots of energetic arm movements and power moves. 7. Hi/Lo (Tamela) wide and narrow calf pumps, running in place, lots of hops and higher impact. 8. 4-limb aerobics (Carissa) with light weights...side squats with overhead presses. 9. Hi/Lo (Dale) plyometric hops, bunny hops mixed with pivots and tri-star moves. 10. 4-limb aerobics (Tamela) with light weights....shoulder laterals with front raises with side and front laterals with plyometric jumps and spins (FUN!) 11. Hi/Lo (Tamela) pivots, power jumps, plyometric jumps, running in place and hip swishes. 12. Short box with 4-limb aerobics(Dale) with light weights...lunges done onto the short box with upright rows, lunges with glute lifts with bicep curls. 13. Ball aerobics (Dale) moving ball overhead and forward with arms while doing hop skotch moves, kicks for the legs. 14. 4-limb aerobics (Carissa) with light weights...knee lifts and marching while pumping arms (works the biceps), also power jumps while holding the weights to keep heart rate up.

I noticed the last several sections slow down in pace but use more lower body squat and lunge type movements to keep the heart rate up. Then after the last 4-limb aerobic segment you quickly go down to the floor to start the stretch. I felt it moved too quickly and some people will need more recovery time so will need to pause the tape here and march in place. The stretch is a combination of yoga inspired and athetic type stretching and although its very short it does hit all the major muscles. I will probably add a little more stretching or yoga after this workout.

All in all this is an excellent workout and I loved it!!! For those of you wondering about modifying the high impact moves I felt it was easily done because the first time I did this workout I modified because of some foot and lower back problems I was having at the time and I still sweated like crazy :)! The toughest move to modify is probably the plyometric jumps but you can modify by barely lifting the heels off the floor. I think it is easily modified for most fitness levels...except for the beginner. But I know I can make it as hard as I like with all those power and plyometric moves.

Instructor Comments:
There are 3 instructors....Carissa Foster, Tamela Hastie, and Dale Brabham. They all did an excellent job with form and cueing...I just noticed the first warm up section Carissa was cueing to the wrong side so there are a couple bloopers but nothing that will affect the workout. But I usually learn by sight so it didn't bother me too much...after getting used to the workout this shouldn't be a problem.

Cheryl Shakespeare