OVERVIEW
Core Strength is the spice in my fitness collection. Most of the exercises are unfamiliar but don’t come with a steep learning curve (assuming you are familiar with the stability ball and traditional weight lifting). Some are trickier than others though but are worth the extra effort to learn because these exercises are so darn effective and will make you feel like a fitness star.

Core Strength is all about working multiple muscle groups at the same time. Whether you are executing unfamiliar moves that rely entirely on your body weight or grabbing your dumbbells – nothing is traditional; this is weight lifting with flair. Although the workout is geared more towards high reps, the reps are not endless. In fact, it is surprising how quickly we move from one exercise to the next. You cannot help but have fun with this workout because you are constantly doing something different.

The challenge in Core Strength is maintaining proper form in an unstable environment provided by focused body positioning with or without the stability ball (depending on the exercise). This added challenge and the relatively quick pace will not allow you to lift heavy but instead use light to medium weight.

PRESENTATION
Tracie, Bonnie, Cindy and JAC all look exceptionally fit and beautiful. They are working out aboard the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier. The backdrop provides a seriousness and mission driven atmosphere. The music is fantastic (one of the best in my video collection) – you get some funky beats and a wide variation of different tunes.

I am still scratching my head over why this workout included some unnecessary design effects. The workout is widescreen with a bright solid yellow border and then there are some silly animated swirls of color that take over the rest of the screen. On first glance these design features are distracting but then on doing the workout, they are unnoticeable since you are focusing on the workout itself. But unfortunately these design effects limit the overall video quality since the animation absorbs significant storage space on the disc. Without them, the picture quality could have been better. I am not utterly dissatisfied with the picture quality but knowing that it could have been better makes me think ‘too bad.’

The cueing is good but if the majority of exercises are new to you, previewing the workout and learning the exercises will be helpful in getting you through the workout smoothly. There are a few instances where the camera focuses only on the upper body on introduction to the exercise. Your legs won’t know what to do unless you are familiar with this workout.

DIFFICULTY
Core Strength is not for beginners as it requires you to have a certain foundation of fitness. The core has to be relatively strong; without this, it would be impossible to perform some of the exercises. The relatively quick pace also requires that you are familiar with the exercises more traditional counterparts or else you are guaranteed to be sloppy. With that said, you would have to be at least an intermediate exerciser to get through this workout and a high intermediate to excel at it.

The most difficult exercises are the ones that require you to balance. An example is “the frog,” an abdominal exercise where you are in plank position with a stability ball. The challenge is lifting one leg above the stability and then bringing in both legs towards the chest. To return back to plank position, you sweep the lifted leg out like a frog or the way you would swim when doing a breast stroke, while the other leg returns straight back. The frog is my favorite abs exercise in Core Strength because I feel my entire abdominal wall working.

This is a workout that will become more challenging as you gain familiarity with the exercises because a) you will be able to do more of the exercises b) you will be able to execute them with better form.

HOW TO USE CORE STRENGTH
I have noticed that many people have wondered how to incorporate a workout like Core Strength into their fitness rotation. This is something you could either do throughout your recovery week or a bonus workout on any day of your regular rotation. Would I make a rotation based around workouts like core strength? I don’t think I would because there is not enough muscle focus to build strength or even maintain it in the long run.

COMPLETENESS
Despite the challenge that Core Strength delivers, some exercises might yearn for a longer workout sessions since Core Strength only clocks at 46 minutes. Because you get a bit of everything with Core Strength, you can add on any type of workout. For example I added Cathe’s upper and lower body add-on (from her Basic Step and Body Fusion DVD) and felt thoroughly worked out.

LASTING APPEAL
Despite some quality issues, I still give this workout an A. The wide variety and continual flow of innovative exercises makes this workout fly by. Core Strength is beautifully sequenced and fun; I only wish it was longer. Whenever I am unmotivated, uninspired or my fitness routine is starting to sink, I reach for my TLPs. A workout like this is what keeps me consistent with exercise as well as continually challenged.

Instructor Comments:
Tracie has put a lot of effort into designing a winning routine that is both challenging and extremely fun. She has revitalized traditional weight lifting routines and makes learning these new exercises easy with her constant and helpful form pointers. Her cueing is great with only some subtle errors.

Celes