Buns of Steel

This workout is old-school at its finest. If you have a problem with shiny spandex, headbands and leotards, run. Run away fast. I will say that this workout includes a varied range of backgrounders (fit, not-so-fit, many ethnicities, male and female --this is refreshing). The instructor, Greg, is a major cheeseball and says some inane things; but he does come across as genuine and MAN! his legs must be strong!

The workout:

I usually hear this referred to as a lower body workout only, and most people who do this workout say that they skip the "warmup" (which is around 10-15 minutes). I actually enjoyed that segment. It has movements that combine upper and lower body (plies pulses + bicep curls, or side lunges with a reach, etc). I found many of the arm movements a little tiring; I'd like to try it with light weights. There are also 3 sets of 8 pushups and 3 sets of 8 triceps dips (which is more upper body than you'll find in many current Barre workouts that call themselves "total body" workouts.)

Anyway, after the brief upper body/warm-up, you move to your side for some outer thigh work (lots of lift variations, bringing the knee to chest, combinations). Repeat on other side. There is a segment dedicated to inner thigh work (from a side-lying position; repeat on both sides). You'll also spend some time on all fours working the seat (though this doesn't seem nearly as grueling as the hip/thigh segment at the very beginning.)

Each segment has some brief stretching and Greg includes some brief stretching at the end.

This is a serious lower-body burner. I am low-intermediate/high-advanced and generally do LOTS of barre (Bar Method, Pure Barre) for my lower body. Fairly fun, if you like floorwork and it's pretty entertaining to watch the background exercisers.

The video is from 1987, so the clothes and music are very outdated and unintentionally amusing. The students are very varied in appearance and body size. It was encouraging to see some of them struggling a bit with some exercises and joking with the instructor to hurry up and move on to the next exercise. Most importantly, the exercises are extremely effective. I felt a difference after just the first time. The warm-up and abdominal exercises aren't very challenging, but the leg and buns exercises are great! They may be a bit difficult for a beginner, but I started out with fewer reps and built up to the number of reps that Greg and his students do.

Buns of Steel I - with Greg Smith is good, but I prefer a cardio workout to the body toning. Although I do this tape morethan the other "toning" tapes I have. I have "Buns of Steel III" with Tamilee Webb (I think that's how to spell her name)and I don't like it as much. I find the squats are harder to do at the pace she sets.

I love the organization that this video contains. I have a lot of bun and hip toning videos, and this one is just basically the best. After I had 2 children, I appreciated the video even more. (when I can find the time to do it too!) For the past 12 years this video has been with me and hopefully for 12 more!

I purchased this video 3 1/2 yrs. ago because the title made me giggle. It was the first of about 15. The no impact aerobics (I call it a warm up) and toning are, I think, great for beginners. I happened to be 6 months pregnant at the time and it did exactly what I wanted--firmed up my buns without any complications to my pregnancy.

I still like this video for variety, although I now skip the warm up, do my own stretchs, and add 40 min. aerobics before the leg exercises. One big plus is the stretch after each muscle group is worked. I've known people who are more likely to get bored and skip a long (more that 2 min.) stretch and cool down at the end of a video, or for that matter class no matter how much the importance of stretching.