Secrets of a Great Upper Body

Kathy Smith
Year Released: 1993

Categories: Upper Body Strength


This is an excellent upper body tape. It runs about 45 minutes, but Kathy does longer warm-ups than most people, so if you are tacking it on as part of a cardio workout, you can skip the warm-up and have the whole thing clock in at about half an hour. Each body part gets 2 or 3 exercises, repeated in sets of two. Nothing fancy, mostly classic moves like curls, kickbacks, push-ups etc. Each move is preceded by a quick voice-over explanation of the muscles involved, and a slow-mo demo which might get tiresome after repeated viewings. Kathy foes slowly enough that advanced exercisers can easily up the weights. I wish she counted out loud though: it's hard to match your pace to hers without looking at the screen.

Kathy gets bonus points for using a variety of exercisers with different body types and fitness levels. The workout is smooth, well-paced and competent. This is hardly the most original routine, and hardly the most memorable or inspiring. But it's competent, and I suppose that has to count for something.

Joanna

06/22/2001