Love To Stretch

This is a set of three videos. The aerobic video "Dance Your Pants Off" is good for people who like dancing. It's very long and the workout lasts about 50 minutes. The other two videos are toning exercises for the upper body and then the lower body--"Tonin' Uptown" and "Tonin' Downtown". They are good for beginners. The set comes with two toning resistance rings equaling 6 and 8 lb. I got this series when I first started working out. The toning rings really do work for people who have never exercised and are just starting out. I used the series for about a week and then moved on to free weights and other aerobics videos. I realized I'm not into the dance scene and prefer a different type of aerobic style. The videos are well made, high quality. The participants in the videos range from overweight people to a couple of slim dancers, and even a few middle-aged people and one elderly lady. I personally didn't care for Richard's approach to fitness, but it's an excellent series for Richard Simmons fans.

This video, Richard is alone, but there is a big TV screen to the side that plays a rehersal of Richard with the band. The band is excellent. It played "Just The Two Of Us", "Lean On Me", "Slow Hand", "Endless Love", and "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life". These were never favorites of mine, but the singers sounded better than the original songs I heard in the 70's. Richard is wearing a black sequined top and shows you the muscle groups you will be stretching and goes quickly into a short warm-up. The warmup was effective, without being too long. It was just right. Then you use the "Stretchin' Strap" to stretch your upper body, then lower. This video has more for the upper body than many stretch videos I have tried. Many of the stretches are just ordinary, but Richard kept me smiling. The whole video is 23 minutes. Some of the areas he said you would stretch, I didn't see or feel a stretch for; that would be the stomach and shins. However, my legs ached before I did the video, and I only felt the normal soreness after a hard weight workout, when I was done. I thought the video was very good for a short stretch routine. I give it an A-.

Instructor Comments:
Richard's personality shines through, as usual, in this video. He is great. He says a few corny lines that only he can pull off. That is what I like about him. He can make an ordinary stretch workout more fun.

Lorrie Gigler