Quick Quartet

Joyce Vedral
Year Released: 2006

Categories: Total Body Workouts



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Quick Quartet is one of Joyce's newer workouts. It is divided into two sections - Upper and Lower. Each section is 15 min. so you can do a total body in 30 min.

The set is pleasant - loft setting - and Joyce and Martha are dressed in matching pink outfits. There is music in the background; nothing I could definately identify but it sounded liked typical club or disco style exercise music. I liked it and the beat seemed to match the workout.

The upper body consists of three rounds of four exercises - back, shoulder, tricep and chest. She uses the modified pyramid - 12 reps lightest, 10 rep. medium, 8 rep heavy.

Joyce does the exercises sitting and her daughter, Martha, does them standing.

All the exercises are at a nice even one up one down count, which does give you time to switch weights for each exercise, if you like. There are no rests between exercises or rounds.

The lower body has three rounds and she does a compound exercise of bicep with a squat, bicep plie squat, bicep/lunge and then does a hip/butt exercise and then an ab exercise.

The bonus section has two supersets which work triceps and thighs at the same time.

Pros - this workout does move fast. If you have a short attention span you will be happy. The lower body just sped by.

Cons - the upper body does seems to repeat the same exerices; one shoulder exercise is an arnold press; the next quartet she does an alternate shoulder press. One tricep exercise is kickbacks. Another quartet the tricep exercise is alternate kickbacks. The first back exercise is a double arm row and the last quartet has an alternate arm row.
The chest exercises are press; fly and then a twisting press.

Pro- The way the workout is set up, you could definately substitute any other exercise for that body part.

Con - the lower body does not include enough lower body work to be considered a tough lower body workout.

Pro - the lower body workout moves quickly and it actually had a slight aerobic effect. The hip/butt exercises are done on the bench but I did them on the floor. They are surprisgly tough. The last exercise has you doing a butt lift and crunch at the same time. This was a new one for me.

Conclusion: If you like quick workouts and want a workout for those days that you really should do something but just don't have the time, this is fine. No one does quick workouts better than Joyce. If you are already a Joyce fan, I would say that the Just Joyce series is much better, but this one is different enough to add to your collection.

If you are new to Joyce and would like to try her, I'd start with Bottoms UP Gold or the Just Joyce Series. Then, I'd get this one.

If you are truly a beginner to weight training - skip this one and start with her Bone Building workout, Bottoms UP Gold or Just Joyce Series.

Instructor Comments:
Joyce is perky and funny. She is chatty but it doesn't detract from the workout.

Robin F. a/k/a Bebop

08/09/2006

I really like this one -- but I like most of Joyce's workouts (except for the Verticals). It looks like the same set as Pam Cosmi's Cardio Sculpt. It's Joyce and Martha -- the workout is split into upper, lower (which includes abs and biceps), and there is a bonus short workout for "trouble spots" which are triceps and thighs.

The upper workout uses a modified pyramid and she does one set each for back, shoulders, triceps and then chest (3 total sets using light, medium and heavy weights). The 1st three are done either sitting (Joyce) or standing (Martha) and the 4th, which is chest, is done on the bench or floor. She does 3 different giant sets, so you work each body part 9 times. She works at a good pace -- like the Just Joyce's (not at all as fast as WTME). Since chest is worked last (on the floor), I was able to switch to heavier weights and still keep up with her count. Some of the exercises (that I remember!) are chest presses, flies, kickbacks, lat rows, & lateral raises.

The lower/abs workout is also 3 different giant sets -- although, she combines biceps and legs by doing squats w/curls, lunges w/curls, and one other I can't remember. Each giant set works bicep/legs, abs, and butt. There is no oblique work, but the ab work is tough -- she does leg raises, knee-ins, & crunches w/butt raises. She also does lying scissors (can't remember what else). She does 15 reps per set for abs and leg-work without weights

The whole workout is about 35 minutes long. The bonus triceps/thighs is 2 giant sets, also modified pyramid -- french presses with sitting leg raises (the one with the dumbbell between your ankles) and I forgot the other one, but it was similar.

It reminds me of speedy non-stop, broken up into sections -- but a little slower (does that make sense??) I can't comment about her form -- I'm so used to her workouts, I don't notice it! The whole workout can be done with dumbbells -- don't have to pull out a chair, bench, step -- makes it easy in the morning! It's a good, time efficient workout and I expect to get a lot of use out of it.

Instructor Comments:

Jo

04/04/2006