Santa Fe Stretch

Sue West
Year Released: 2005

Categories: Athletic Stretch



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There is stunning photography in this video, filmed in the Santa Fe, New Mexico area. You hate to turn away from the screen. Most of the video is shot outdoors. Sue is alone during the workouts. The music is relaxing, piano, guitar and sometimes violin.


I am an intermediate exerciser and liked the moves but the voice and warnings as if I were a child were too much for me. Otherwise I could see myself doing it often if someone else had done the same DVD.

Instructor Comments:
Sue is older (50s +).Her voice is similar to Burr's. She sometimes talks down to the exerciser. She is very flexible and it's encouraging that we might end up that flexible doing this. Sue does give good pointers on form.

J'Ann

01/05/2006

I recently decided to try to add more stretching to my fitness routine, so I went on a search for workouts I would enjoy. I found that I enjoy athletic style stretching more than yoga and that I do enjoy fusion style workouts that incorporate stretching with yoga and Pilates moves. In this search, I stumbled across this workout on Amazon.com, actually one of Amazon’s Marketplace vendors sells it. I ordered it and got it in two days – had a great response.

The DVD starts with an introduction by Sue West. She labels this workout an intermediate workout, and I would agree with that assessment. It is not an explanatory workout – she does not explain how to do the Pilates and yoga moves. She does include form pointers throughout the workout.

Then, the DVD menu comes up. The choices on the menu are:

Warm up – moves to warm up the body and a few stretches. It is set in the countryside outside of Santa Fe.

Floorwork – Pilates and Pilates-inspired moves along with some stretches. This section was tougher than I expected. My core felt worked. It was set on a patio with a couple of plants in the background.

Deep stretch – Includes athletic stretches and yoga moves. Includes sun salutation going into a plank, so it is not a totally relaxing combination of moves. I did feel relaxed at the end though. Shot in the countryside outside of Santa Fe.

Credits – Included a list of parks and places she filmed in. I didn’t make a list. Sorry.


Comments: The music suits the workout well. It is a combination of classical pieces that gives a richness that much of the Dynamix type music doesn’t. She does talk in a sing-song way, or sort of like a stereotypical kindergarden teacher somewhat. It wasn’t bad enough to bother me, but some will find it irritating. The scenery – where she does the workouts and shots of the area in and out of Santa Fe at the beginning of each section – is just GORGEOUS. It really enhances the workout. The other product values (lighting, sound, etc.) seemed fine to me. I tend to not notice annoyances though, so please don’t hold me to it if I missed something!

Overall, I liked this workout and will keep it. I liked the combination of stretching and non-weighted strengthening moves. I’m not gushing about it though. There are other similar workouts that are as good or better, but there are others that are definitely worse.

Instructor Comments:
She is calm and somewhat descriptive. There were times I wished she would use a few more word in describing moves. But, I had no problem following her and she gave lots of form pointers.

Laura S.

10/03/2004