Tracie introduces Defining Shape as Volume 1 of Tracie Long Fitness’ Longevity Series.

I’m reviewing this workout after doing it three times.

General workout breakdown: This 48.5-min. total body strength workout also contains some balance challenges, a little floorwork, and a nice flexibility segment.
- Warm Up (5 min.)
You’ll warm up with wide marches, side lunges, squat & round low back, elbow circle back, arm circle back, knee up & punch, lunge, hyperextension, side taps, lunge out, double lunges, and dynamic calf stretch (heel up & down).
- Legs & Butt (4 min.)
You’ll do reverse lunges, adding a knee up & opposite arm press overhead, reverse lunges into double front kick, and static lunges & overhead press. Next comes “open the shutters” (hold arms at right angles in front of chest, then move out to sides) into overhead press.
- Shoulders & Triceps (3.5 min.)
Exercises here include reverse flyes and pulses, lateral raises, and alternating lateral raise with 1 arm and front raise with the opposite. Next come triceps kickbacks and straight arm extensions back with pulses.
- Legs & Butt (just over 5.5 min.)
This sequence is all about squats, which you’ll do at different tempos. In between come standing leg extension & circle around into 1-leg squat and later alternating circle around. For the last series of squats you’ll reduce your range of motion - that is, you’ll do a full squat, then go 3/4 of the way up, then only halfway up, and finally only a quarter of the way up.
- Upper & Lower Body (just under 5.5 min.)
Here you’ll do biceps curls, first standing with feet hip width and then adding plies that match the varying tempo of the curls. Next come push-ups. You’ll then return to standing and the plie position for a combination clean & press and upright rows (one arm at a time).
- Legs, Butt & Shoulders (5.5 min.)
This begins with side lunges before you do a combo of side lunges and step squats, to which overhead presses are later added. You’ll continue with just step squats, then move into (straight-legged) deadlifts, deadlift into bentover row, bent-legged deadlift / squat & row w/ rotation, back into dead rows, and finally back to deadlifts only.
- Balance & Core (just under 5.5 min.)
Most of the balance challenge revolves around standing on one leg and leaning slightly to that side while moving the arms and/or legs – or standing still. You’ll also do a standing glute / hip stretch (ankle over opposite knee), standing on toes w/ torso rotation, hold leg out front (prep for big toe pose in yoga), adding in pulse, and superman (or warrior 3). You’ll end with a standing side bend.
- Hips, Butt & Inner Thighs (5 min.)
This sequence is a side-lying leg series inspired by Pilates and old school floorwork. You’ll do a combo of knee to the floor & kicking out, then alternate tapping the toe in front and the heel in back with leg straight; then comes inner thigh lift & lower and small circles. Tracie has you stretch out with opposite ankle over knee before repeating on the other side.
- Abs (just under 4.5 min.)
You’ll begin with side plank, alternating rotating and elevating the hips. You’ll then do a roll-back, crunch, and roll-up, which you’ll repeat after you do the side plank series on the other side. This segment ends with a quick bridge.
- Stretch (just under 5.5 min.)
This begins on your back, with knee to the chest, then slightly across the body for a piriformis stretch, and then all the way to the floor for a spinal twist. Both knees come to the chest to release the back, then you’ll push your knees over your hips and roll your upper body up to help stretch the rhomboids. You’ll roll over to prone position for a lying quad stretch, push back into child’s pose with arms extended and thumbs up, come up to all fours for cat & cow to release the spine. Kneeling hip flexor stretches with triceps stretches on one side and hands clasped to open the chest, then a neck stretch on the other, seated forward bend, a kneeling back bend (think camel prep), side bend to stretch out the side of the torso, squatting low back release, and a stretch for the upper back with both arms reaching out to the front round out this portion.

Level: I’d recommend this to intermediate through int./adv. exercisers. Experienced low int. or even beg./int. who know how to modify to their level (Tracie offers some suggestions, but doesn’t show them for very long) should find this a doable challenge, something to work up to. Low adv. exercisers looking for an active recovery workout might find this useful, although you may have to find ways to increase the challenge compared to what Tracie shows (e.g. use heavier dumbbells, although you won’t be able to go truly heavy, maybe no more than 12-15 lbs., add ankle weights during the floorwork, do the balance portion on a Bosu or balance disc – hey, why haven’t I thought of that before?).
I consider myself an int./adv. exerciser. I found this appropriately challenging with the appropriate weight: the trick really is to go heavy enough that it’s hard to complete the last rep or two with perfect form and no lighter or heavier. The balance portion is too easy for this regular Pilates and yoga practitioner, but now that I’ve realized I can do it on my Bosu or balance disc I’ll be better off there. This is one of those workouts that leave me feeling worked out without feeling wiped out, so I can be more active throughout the day rather than feel compelled to flop on my couch for the next few hours to recover. My heart rate monitor stats read the lowest for this one out of the Longevities, but can be attributed to the standing balance portion and the floorwork, not just because my heart rate dropped when I was doing those bits but also because my HRM acts up when I’m not primarily vertical, as well as the fact that this is the shortest out of the four.

Class: Tracie alone, instructing live.

Music: I’m struggling to describe the music. It’s instrumental and mostly upbeat, but it’s hard to identify with a specific genre, nor does it have a real melody. It’s original stuff, although I thought I heard someone else using one of the tunes (and of course now I can’t remember who). If you’re passionate about the music used in your exercise videos, watch as many clips as you can (currently Tracie Long Fitness, Collage Fitness Videos, and Total Fitness DVDs all have clips available).

Set: a bright interior studio with a brick wall, windows over which white shades have been drawn, and plants and exercise equipment neatly arranged around.

Production: clear picture and sound, although the music is sometimes on the soft side in relation to Tracie’s voice, sometimes not. You should be aware that some people have been very vocal about the sound issues in the Longevity series, particularly fluctuations in volume with regards to the music and/or Tracie’s voice, and to be honest I might not have noticed if people hadn’t pointed them out, as I don’t have a great sound system or the ability to crank up the volume.
The camera angles here are primarily helpful and straightforward.

Equipment: You’ll need 3 or so pairs of weights (I use 5, 8, and 10 lbs.), a mat, and a pair of sneakers. Note that although a medicine ball appears next to Tracie’s weights she never picks it up during this workout.

Space Requirements: Tracie does the entire workout on 8 puzzle mats. If hers are the same size as mine, she’s working out in an area that’s 8’ long by 4’ deep.

DVD Notes: The main menu pops up quickly, with your options of Play All, Chapters (in addition to the Intro, see my general workout description for the chapter list), Premixes (Below the Belt, about 15 min., and Hour Glass, about 20 min.), and About Us.

Comments: I wouldn’t recommend this to someone looking to get the most bang in terms of challenge and intensity for their buck; it’s more for someone who’s looking to get it all in: total body strength training, including corework, for both health and appearance, balance training, and a little flexibility to boot.

I want this to be my favorite out of the Longevity series, perhaps because I like a number of the exercises sequences included here and feel that overall it offers some solid and pretty well-rounded work for the lower body, a nice balance challenge portion (even if I find that on the easy side), and some good Pilates-esque floorwork. However, a few things keep it from becoming my favorite: 1) The shoulders get A LOT of work here. That’s fine if I were to do this by itself, but in combination with the other Tracie Long workouts I have - the rest of the Longevity series, the TLTs, and one of the Focus workouts, Kick Back, all of which include a little to a lot of work for the shoulders - I get nervous about overworking the shoulders, joints which can be prone to injury, especially due to overuse. I think I’m fine with doing a month of Tracie Long workouts every now and again, which is usually how I use her DVDs, but if I were to do these regularly I’d think a lot harder about how to ensure my shoulders stayed happy. (Going a little lighter than I might otherwise, such as using a lightish med ball in the relevant workouts, is one place to start.) 2) This combines several different types of workouts into one. I’m not the biggest fan of that normally and have to be in the mood to appreciate it. I’m OK with it here, however, because they’re separated into distinct segments rather than fused together throughout the entire routine. 3) I’m not really into the whole let’s end a segment with a “ta da” strike a pose thing.

I have to admit that although I’m starting to appreciate the Longevity series in its own right I’m still disappointed these aren’t a second round of TLTs, which were my introduction to functional fitness and are still unlike anything else on my shelves. (I haven’t done any Tracie Long workout earlier than the TLTs, nor have I done any workouts from the FIRM or related systems, so I can’t compare the Longevity series to those efforts.) Tracie has pulled back from the functional fitness feel of the TLTs, although she hasn’t given it up entirely, to include more conventional gym-style training. From the insert included in the DVD and the workout itself I get the impression the Longevity series is targeted at 40-somethings who want to get back into shape so they feel and look better. (Full disclosure: I’m a decade away from falling into that category, and my main fitness goals are more to be happy and healthy, strong and fit, rather than to fit into a certain type of clothes or a specific article of clothing.) To that end the functional fitness aspects are there to improve health and functionality while the more traditional moves are to shape and firm up. Defining Shape clearly speaks to both goals perhaps more clearly than any of the other four original Longevity workouts, including the emphasis on strength, stability, and shape in the lower body plus the emphasis on sculpting the shoulders.

Instructor Comments:
Tracie is the consummate fitness professional, focused on cuing the workout as she demonstrates how to execute the moves precisely. She might have a few comments about how this exercise is good for a certain body part or the upcoming segment will burn a lot of calories, but that’s about it for anything resembling extraneous chatter. I find her cues aren’t the most descriptive, so I need to watch her closely to figure out exactly what she’s doing, although this isn’t really an issue here compared to some of her others because the exercises are for the most part straightforward. Tracie does mirror cue.

KathAL79