The Firm: Super Sculpt

Nancy Tucker, Jen Carman, Carissa Foster, Dale Brabham
Year Released: 1998

Categories: Total Body Workouts


This is SO MUCH BETTER than Bust & Butt/Core Cardio videos! In Super Cardio, there are still the dreaded plyo jumps, but not as many, and some (but not all) of the moves are similiar but the sequencing makes it much more enjoyable. The music kicks and they give the instructors 2-4 songs in a row instead of switching them out all of the time. Most importantly the editing of this set of vids is far superior. One of the reasons I no longer have the B&B/CC in rotation is because they gave us all these props to use but give us no time to strike the old ones and get the new ones. I hated having to "pause,rewind,play" in between every freaking song. Super Sculpt feels like the Firm Strength (or Strong Body) video without the cardio moves. The only thing I didn't care for is the "yoga style stretch"; it went way fast for yoga and the move from lying down with your legs spread to quickly sitting up made my lower back creak and I don't have back problems.

The only other thing that bothered me was that in Super Cardio the instructors took the time to breakdown a simple step like the "tri-star" move before adding arms, etc. yet they didn't take the time to break down the more difficult moves like the step "shuffle X3, press, leg extension, mambo back step change, repeat! I'm not necessarily blaming the instructors because they don't design the workout. I'm just questioning the designer's logic. Definitely worth purchasing! My new faves!They will remain in my rotation.

Instructor Comments:
The instructors were great as all the firm instructors usually are. I read in a review earlier that someone had a problem with an instructors breast enhancement and "what kind of message is that?" And that another one looked to "butch". Frankly, who cares? Sometimes we women are our own worst enemies. Did they do a good job or not? I thought they all did great, especially Jennifer Carmen! The Firm should do a video with her, Susan Harris and Tracie Long as the primary instructors.

MICHELE WARD

12/23/1999