The Firm: Super Cardio

Allie Del Rio, Jen Carman, Carissa Foster, Dale Brabham
Year Released: 1999

Categories: Floor Aerobics/Hi-Lo/Dance


(this is a review of the DVD version: Super Cardio Mix)

I am an intermediate exerciser. Right now, my main health goal is weight loss, so I am doing a lot of cardio, and trying to make much of it longer cardio (45 minutes to an hour). That is one of the reasons I LOVE this workout, because it gives me about 50 minutes of heart-pumping cardio. The options on the DVD for choosing the sections you want to do look great, but I haven’t used them because I’ve wanted the whole workout. Someday, when I scale back on the length of cardio I’m doing, I’ll use them.

This DVD gives a great cardio workout. It is varied in the type activity you do and in rotating the instructors, but, unlike some Firm workouts, it does not make me dizzy from the instructor switches. I really like how each instructor has a block of time in which she leads several routines in a row and then they switch instructors. The choreography is fairly basic and easy to pick up on (something good for us choreography klutzes!).

It does require some floor space since you have to move sideways, backward, and forward in some sections. Also, I like to set my step up off to the side so that I don’t have to always be moving it. THAT would be a pain.

I modify many moves in this workout to low impact. The thing that irritates me about it is that they don’t even seem to understand what “low impact” means. In one “low-impact” section, they have you jumping and coming down. She even encourages you to put some air under your feet. However, any moves that I consider higher impact, I have had no problem modifying to a lower impact.

They do require some equipment. You need: a step, light dumbbells (I use 5 pounds), and a weighted ball (I use a 5 pound one, up from the 3 pounder I started with). You could substitute dumbbells for the weighted ball, I assume.

I know a lot of people hone in on the music. All I can say about it is that I liked it. It seems to be more upbeat than some Firm workouts and I feel it enhances the motivation I have in several sections. It is all instrumental.

Laura S.

04/12/2003