Wednesday workout: Fast Firming from Walk Slim

[Guest guest]

My Sansone Walk Slim arrived yesterday and since today was slated for strength I decided to give Fast Firming a try. This is a "bonus" workout included with the set. It comes with a pink stretch band that is not the same as the purple stretchie band from her other videos. It is thicker and heavier resistance and I liked it better! I'm not sure how much I liked the workout though... it has great intentions, to work your entire body, but the workout is 40 minutes, with 6 of those given to warm up and stretching (3 min. to each of those) so each body part only gets a few minutes. I was surprised when it ended, it didn't seem like I'd done very much. I also went light on the intensity of the band a lot because I was learning it and sometimes had it pulled too far and had to lighten up so I might feel more worked next time I do it. For now anyway, I'm not one to do more repetitions after a video ends (or pausing, doing more and moving on) and I want the videos to lead me through the job thoroughly. The jury is still out as to whether this one did or not. I don't have the video in front of me but I know she does upper and lower body and abs and every exercise uses the pink stretch band which has a name that I can't remember right now (and it isn't "stretchie band"). I really like using the band for resistance but I am always playing with the resistance level by grabbing higher or lower on it and that interferes a bit in my flow. That's my problem though, not hers. I've never used a resistance band for abs work before and found the exercises she included interesting though one worked my neck more than my abs (and yes, my abs were pulled in tight, maybe they weren't strong enough for this exercise).

Other info about the workout: is alone on a stage with a wooden floor for this. You see her cue cards (I didn't realize she used any, I'm so naive) and a camera every once in a while which I found kind of strange but not very distracting. She talks through it, of course, but a lot of it is good information about form. Sometimes she talks about how she doesn't count sets, just goes until the muscle is fatigued and other times says we just did one set, now we're going to do another and I found that a bit confusing but didn't let it bother me and just followed along. I'm used to her sometimes seeming inconsistent and it doesn't seem to be a big deal, perhaps because her workouts are so easy to follow. Also, looks really great in this workout. Very trim (and of course her hair is perfect). I did Tamilee's stretching video (more below) after and was once again struck with how incredibly muscular she (Tamilee) is and how just looks like a more average person but very healthy. (I am a Tamilee fan so I'm not putting her down. Tamilee does not look bad or unhealthy, she seems pretty proportional and if you like the bulky, muscular look then I'm sure she looks awesome, it is just that I don't want to bulk up but do want to tone and look gently molded perhaps instead of sculpted if that makes sense.)

Going back to Walk Slim and Fast Firming, something I like about the entire series, though this is the only one I've done so far, on the DVD case it tells you not only the running time of the DVD but the actual breakdown of how the time is spent. So for the 4 Fast Miles, which I think I'm going to do tomorrow, it says it is approximately 50 minutes and then shows: 's introduction (not included in the time amount but nice that it is in the list), then Warm Up walk 5 min, Fast Walking 5 min, Interval Walking 25 min, Fast walking 10 min, Cool down and stretch 5 min. That helps me gauge how long I worked in each level of intensity since I haven't yet bought a HRM. I need that info for figuring out how many Weight Watchers activity points I earn for a workout and this takes some of the guesswork out of that. It also gives me a better idea of how hard I'm going to work and for how long!

I wanted to workout for an hour today and since Fast Firming was only 40 minutes I added on Tamilee Webb's Total Body Stretch for Beginners (the standing and floor stretches) for an extra 20 minutes. Tomorrow was supposed to be flexibility and I can't go to my yoga class (have to take DH in for a colonoscopy) so I decided to just do flexibility today also and felt much more relaxed and comfortable when I was done. I'll move ahead with my rotation and make tomorrow cardio instead. Since the 4 Fast Miles workout is only 50 minutes I might add on another 10 minutes of Tamilee's relaxing stretches ('s seem to be pretty lame, the one on Fast Firming was for sure, we'll see about the others). I was very glad I added it on. I still want to try Tamilee's Beginners Stretch for Flexibility which is 30 minutes and also on this DVD but haven't yet, perhaps I'll do that for my next yoga/flexibility day because next week the kids are home on spring break (so no yoga class again).

Anyway, that's my workout and my review of Fast Firming! :-)