I like this video, but I am not as impressed as I thought I would be. What I like about it is that each instructor is given enough time to teach several exercises, and the tape can be perceived as four sections, each with a different instructor teaching. The transitions between sections are smooth. The warm-up with Jennifer Carman is fun, fast-paced and upbeat. She does a nice variety of upper body exercises, but too few sets and reps in my opinion. Nancy Tucker's lower body section is very good for the most part; one of the new exercises is the partial leg press onto the box where you lift your weight up onto the box but come right back down---WOW! A killer! A sure butt shaper! Dale Brabham does some nice upper body work, especially the shoulder sequence, but some of the exercises are the same as Jennifer's section, and I would have preferred that each instructor's section had contained different exercises. Carissa Foster does some lower body work, including lunges and dips, and I felt that they weren't really necessary, since Nancy's lower body section was so thorough and tough. Also, Carissa's forward lunges bother me because that exercise is not safe for the knees. Speaking of unsafe, Nancy's curtsey dips were a new twist (pun intended) on the conventional dip, but I don't think that the risk to the knees is worth the questionable benefit to the outer thigh. The most unsafe exercise that I have seen in a while in a video was the FORWARD CROSS LUNGE with barbell, which places way too much torque and stress on the delicate knee joints. The Firm's attempt to be creative with the curtsey dips and forward cross lunges is going to result in a lot of knee injuries. Carissa's abdominal section was pretty good, but short. The twisting reverse curls and the rotating upper body crunches were effective variations. The stretching section at the end was virtually non-existent. After this workout, a stretch is definitely necessary, so you will have to do it on your own. I would have liked to see some additional exercises for chest; push-ups were the only chest exercises. Also, some of Dale's back exercises were ridiculous; the back row with a barbell done in a seated position with the legs out in front---this does not work the back at all; there is no resistance to gravity for the back muscles in that position; I just stood up and bent over for that one. The reverse shoulder flyes were OK, although I think that it is more effective in a bent over position seated or standing, rather than leaning your chest on the step. When she switched to the rhomboid pinches, it was not effective, because the weight was much too light. In summary, I think the workout on this tape is pretty good with some exercises that need variation to be safe and/or effective. The pace is quick and there is a nice variation of exercises. In my opinion, this tape is not such a vast improvement over other recent Firm tapes. It's just another good Firm tape.

Instructor Comments:
All the instructors in this video are familiar faces, but there is much more personality showing from each one of them in this video than in past videos. My favorite is Carissa Foster; she looks beautiful and natural and the blue outfits are great. She seems relaxed and happy. Jennifer Carman is a little dynamo with a great camera presence. Dale seems more relaxed and happy than previous videos and I like her better in this one. Nancy Tucker does a great workout in this video, and seems nice and in great shape. All the instructors come across very upbeat.

Abbe