Bottoms Up! Lower Body
Reviews from VideoFitness
When I first previewed this video I thought it would be easy and not very challenging. Wrong! The workout has you doing supersets of exercises for your quads, glutes, and hamstrings. You do 15 reps for each exercise as opposed to her upper body tape where you do fewer reps as you increase the weights. The weights increase but you still do 15 reps in this tape. (Hope that makes sense!)
The only thing I didn't like about this tape is Joyce doesn't use any weights for the floor work. I didn't feel like I was getting any benefit when I didn't use my ankle weights so now I just put them on for most of the tape. There are only two exercises that couldn't be done with ankle weights, lunges and one where she has you do a half lunge back combined with a knee up. (I use 3lb. ankle weights and get a great workout now). I have become very quick at getting ankle weights on and off, thanks to years of doing Firm tapes. :-)
I think this is a good lower body tape that is a nice break from heavier weights. It even has a section at the end that works your calves which are overlooked alot of the time in some tapes.
I like Joyce, she is the type of person that just says whatever is on her mind at the moment. Sometimes it's whacky but always entertaining. She's motivating and gives form pointers throughout. I like to follow the woman in the background that is keeping count for Joyce. She has great form and is easier to follow sometimes.
**Just wanted to add that I have emailed Joyce with questions and found her to be very helpful and motivating. Down to earth and friendly.
Her video is not as polished as some, but I did the workout, and was satisfied. I was after an advanced workout, and although Collage rates this video as "beginner-intermediate," it can be adapted by using heavier weights.
I have 2 Cathe Friedrich tapes, and I was convinced that she was the advanced workout queen, but move over Cathe, and make room for Joyce! I was very pleased, and will do her tape along with Cathe's.
She also puts out top-notch books.
Look at her...pushing 56, and has an incredible body!!! I to do whatever she does!
This is my first weight training video, so I don't have anything to compare it to. However I have been doing the complete workout Lower body, Middle body and Upper body for about 5 weeks now. I have gotten great results in just that short amount of time (especially in my abs!) I use heavier weights than Joyce does in her videos. She uses 3, 5, 8 lbs. for upper and lower body. I have been using the 45 lb. barbell with 5 lb weights on each side for the first set and then I increase 5 lbs. for each additional set for the lower body workout. Its a very tough workout. Even though its tough, its fun. I find myself looking forward to it.
Joyce is terrific, I have learned so much from both her books and Videos. One thing I especially like about Joyce is that if you send her an e-mail, she will repsond. I have asked her questions from how often I should increase my weights to just asking for a little motivation. Joyce always answers and usually the same day. Her advise is great and she really keeps me motivated. She always says "we are in this together"
This is about 45 minutes of lower body work, both standing and floor. The problem is, it keeps alternating between standing and floor, and that makes it extremely inconvenient to use ankle weights if you want to. Other than that, it's a very decent workout and very thorough.
I don't think I will do this tape in the future, because of all the up-and-down, EXCEPT for the final exercise. Let me tell you about this! Joyce and her crew sit down and hold weights on the top of their legs for calf raises. They do a set (15 reps) of calf raises with toes pointed forward, another set with toes pointing out, and another set with toes pointing in. Then they repeat the entire thing twice, so you're doing 135 calf raises. Well -- try this standing up with two 15-pound dumbbells on your shoulders. Aaaagh! I love it!
Overall, grade B. My version of the last exercise, grade A!
Onto the video. I have been doing this video for about two years, off and on. (I have done Firm workouts, Rachel McLish, Gilad, and many others. I like variety.) I always come back to Joyce when I'm ready for some serious improvement.
This lower body workout is all weight lifting work, and it is tough. I can do it pretty good now, but the beginning was sweat-city. And you need to know a lot about weight lifting form and technqiue that you won't get from the tape. Read her book, Bottoms Up!
Especially with squats, lunges, and dead lifts, you can get a really achy back if you don't follow form! Never work with weights without knowledge of correct form.
This tape runs 40 minutes. It starts with the same warm up that's in her upper body tape and ends with the same cool dowm. If you are big on beginnings and endings, you won't like these parts.
In between, you'll do 7 supersets for thighs, hips, and buttocks. These are tough; there are 3 sets with 15 reps and you pyramid the weight. After these 7 supersets, you'll finish with calf work. Joyce uses 3, 5, and 8 pound dumbbells, which, of course, is easy for her. You'll work into heavier weights. I use 8, 10, and 12.
In addition to dumbbells, you'll need a chair, a mat, and a telephone book! The phone book is for calf work. I use a homemade calf board.
The format is the same as the upper body tape. There are three gals helping. One uses no weight, one uses 3 pounds throughout, and one uses the same as Joyce. They are all different age groups.
This is a tough but effective weight workout. Since I don't want to build muscle in my lower body, I don't plan to increase my weight any further. This tape, combined with low-impact aerobics (step work), and stationary cycling has done wonders for my lower body. Without Joyce's tape, I would not have been able to reshape my lower body. Muscle reshaping has been an important part of my fitness program.
I always recommend Joyce's tapes to my friends. Joyce is pretty corny on tape and she makes some mistakes. But transformation (read her books) is inspirational. Having worked with Weider publications and many bodybuilders, Joyce knows her stuff and she is the real thing!