This is my favorite Firm. I know a lot of people don't care for it but it's perfect for me because I can always add more cardio to Firm 5. I love CIA step workouts and Kari Anderson's Great Moves step and hi/lo workouts for cardio so I can add it to Firm 5 and really have a fun workout. I love the Carribean style music in Firm 5 and the bright set. The standing aerobics is just 12 minutes but the Firm put in a double aerobic rewind so you can repeat it and make it 24 minutes. But I never do that. It would bore me to repeat it again. The standing workout starts off with basic stepping on a 10 inch step,then you pick up 5lb dumbells and do some more stepping( really fast) while doing side delt lifts and upright rows. This really gets my heartrate up and really fatigues my upper body. The next exercise is doing bicep curls while you step down off the step. I have to go up in weights to really challenge the bicep. Then you do some intense tall box work! 2 sets of 12 reps for each leg with squats too. This is very very tough! I can't imagine doing this twice! Then the last upper body work is French press. The ab work is the toughest and longest of all Firm's. You do lot's of crunches, oblique work, and lower body crunches. I love the floor work. You do table work, and pushups. Then you do some more floor work for the legs, including side lifts, shoot outs inner thigh work. Before you do the other leg, you do some really tough bridge work with heavy weights( where you lie on your back and squeeze the butt to tempo of music). The music goes faster and faster and faster like the Firm wants you to get to some orgasmic exercise climax failure or something. It does help you endure the pain of the glute muscle:o) The cool down is done with a towel and is not very long. LaReine then poses with one hand behind her head and her arm pointing forward and says," Great job!"

Instructor Comments:
I like LaReine's teaching style. She is friendly with a "secret smile" attitude. She know's how to play with the camera. You know she is an actress. Everytime she says,"steady" on the final stretch, I think to myself that she must be equestrian. The only thing that bothered me was her form on the tall box. Her knee juts out way over her toe. But since I already knew how to do Tall box correctly, I just made sure I didn't follow LaReine's form. LaReine's body is just very beefy and healthy. She isn't super thin like Jennifer Pelouso in Better Buns. LaReines got muscle and that's what the Firm is all about!

Mandy Lee