Body Art

This is a great workout that I will review by section:

1. Warm-up - 8 minutes - excellent
2. 10 minutes of Dynaband upper body - very intense moves, felt really good.
3. 10 minutes of upper body with dumbells (I used 8 lbs, she used about 5 lbs) - really felt this was a challenge with 8 lbs.
4. Squats, lunges - 15 minutes with 8 lbs also - very intense - 15 minutes is a long time compared to Firm workouts - 8 lbs. hit the spot.
5. Push-ups - very good, followed by seated dynaband work for the upper body - only about 4 minutes
6. Inner thighs with dynaband was a little difficult to do, but I changed the position and it was fine. Back of legs, and quads with dynaband was very short but I did feel it.
7. Ab section - 8 minutes - very intense, followed by short back work.
8. 8. Cool down - 8 minutes

All in all, an excellent workout to do in between Firm days. Marianne is just as good as Karen Voight in giving instruction, and I hope she does more videos. In addition, the music is really good. Comparing it to Great Weighted: Great Weighted has more floor leg work. In Body Art, the leg work is basically standing with a short a section on the floor with the dynaband. Highly recommended.

I've seen this video recommended a few times in VF's Forum, but never found a review. I found the video at Amazon.com, and later in Fitness Wholesale, but heard of others buying it elsewhere. It is time there was a review of this gem! I love it! It is a great high rep, light weight workout. I used 3 pounds and felt fatigued, but I'll try 5 next time, yet probably won't be able to complete all the reps. She recommends 0-2 lb. for beginners, 3-5 for intermediates, and 5-8 for advanced. A dynaband comes with the workout video. I was getting fatigued on the dynaband work, too. Even my forearms felt that. This isn't a gym style workout, and can see why it is often compared to Karen Voight's Great Weighted Workout. I didn't like GWW, and can't say exactly why, but I really like Body A.R.T.// A for alignment, R for reshaping, and T for toning.

The music is great. Marianne starts out by working the larger upper body muscles first, back and chest, with the dynaband. I didn't feel it much at first, then just scrunched up more of the band in my hand to make it tighter, then had a hard time with the last set of reps. Then onto bicep, tricep, and shoulder work. I wished there was more for my shoulders, but in fairness to the video, my cat had an asthma attack, so I could have missed that part.

Next it is onto lower body. You could break this 75 minute video up, but later you go back to chest and back again, then more for the legs, using the dynaband on the floor. The squats and lunges are killer! The standing outer thigh work had me fatigued, without ankle weights on. You won't need those. Then the next section is floor work. There are pushups, that I couldn't finish and I can with my other videos. There is band work for the upper back, then lats. Then she ties her band around her ankles, for more quad and hamstring work, plus some killer inner thigh work, too. No need to pause the video, plenty of time. Then there are abs with different moves, yet basic, which I really felt! She even gives you time to put the mat away, before the stretch.

The stretching is great. I also have another high rep, low weight video, Joyce Vedral's Fat Burning Vol. 2 and I like this video better in some ways. Better music, this one has a warmup and cooldown. On the warmup, if you start the video with tense shoulders and neck, it will be gone before you work the upper body. The cooldown stretch was just as good. The whole video flew by, it seemed more like a 50 minute video, rather than 75. Since I compared this video to Fat Burning Vol. 2, I must say the shoulder work, and some of the bun work was a bit better in Joyce's, but then again, I had an interuption during my shoulder work, too. Somedays I like a gym style workout like Joyce's, and the other times, I'll be reaching for this one.

I'd recommend this to anyone who likes dynabands and high rep workouts with light weights.

I'll just weigh in with my personal opinion here, since everyone else has explained the content of the workout. Marianne's nice, but this video is completely boring to me. She doesn't get you pumped up to with a lot of motivation or encouragement. The workout seems really long, and I can't motivate myself to do the entire 75-minute workout in one session. I have to break it up over two days. I do plan to continue doing it--I think it's among the best high-rep/low-weight tapes out there. I just wish that Marianne made it more enjoyable with better music and a more energetic personal delivery.

This workout is one hour and 15 minutes. I would call it intermediate, possibly intermediate/advanced.

The first part is upper body toning with the DynaBand. I'm not a fan of bands, because I find them to hard to get into position, and they hurt my hands. She does do some pretty good exercises with it, though, so I suffer through it. These exercises *cannot* easily be done with dumbbells. She does one exercise for your back that is excellent.

After about 15-20 minutes, you move to more upper body work, but with dumbbells. Then you move into lower body with squats galore. There is just about every variation of squats that you can imagine. But I don't find it boring even though it's mostly squats.

Finally, you go to the floor for pushups, abs, and more leg work. She uses the band again for the floor work, but I use ankle weights.

I really like Marianne and this workout, but it doesn't really challenge me as much as I want to be challenged. I do feel a burn during the exercises, but it's not as intense as what I'm looking for. I'll continue to do this for awhile, though, because it keeps me interested. I think an intermediate exerciser would get a lot out of it. Grade A.

This is going to be one of my favorites! I just received this video thru Collage. I think it is better than Firm. There is an excellent standing work out for legs, which I have to admit half way thru I had to grab a chair. What a burn I felt! She also has floor work for inner thighs done with a dynaband. I have never felt my inner thighs work as hard in any other video. The dynaband routines are great, too. A newbie to dynabands should not try this video first though. My only complaints are that the stretching at the end seemed too fast ( I wanted more) and the music is too upbeat for the warm-up but great for the rest of the workout. I think this is an excellent video!!

Mariann's cueing is great. She looks fabulous, too. She is a serious instructor. I hope she comes out with more videos!

I have this 1995 strength and toning video.

It consists of Marianne and two other exercisers. Neither one of these exercisers actually "looked" as though they were thrilled with the workout. However, I believe the cueing is excellent and overall the workout is an exhausting one. I recommend it for Intermed.Advanced exercisers, and this is probably not a good dynaband workout to start out with if you've never done one before. The weight section was terrific. The only real irritation I had with this video was the music. There is one point in the video where the music goes crazy, and the video ISN't defective and all the people they have got funny looks on their faces...it turns into chipmunk music!

After getting into the workout my hands were sore and I felt that I was gripping the band too tight and too hard. Again, overall I'd give this video an b+, taking away only because of the very weird music.

This is a serious workout!!! When I want a change from the Firm this is what I pick up. It took me three attempts to get through this 75 minute workout but when I did I felt like I could move a building. After the warmup, the workout begins with upper body strengthening with the Dynaband then hand weights. I previously had underestimated the band and paid for my insolence. This thing really works my muscles especially those in my back and shoulders. Next is standing leg work with plenty of lunges and squats and other tried and true's to get those saddle-bags in line. Then it's on to floor work which I usually dread but Mariannne does some interesting things like seated rows for the back, hamstring curls and inner-thigh work with the band for resistance. I have only two complaints. First, I wish the ab and lower back sections were longer. Second, the band can hurt your hands a little taking away from your concentration. It is a minimal discomfort. Overall, I LOVE THIS WORKOUT !!! The music is great and really keeps you going. Enjoy!

Marianne has a straight-forward, likeable personality. Her cuing and form are right on as are the pointers she gives throughout the video to keep you in line. (I know I was guilty of trying to take some short-cuts with this killer of a workout). But what I like most was that she made it fun at moments I thought I could not possibly finish the set. Creativity-wise, you have to give it to this video. Not only for what she does with the Dyna-band but the combinations she does with hand weights. I like her style and if she should come out with another video I would be the first in line to purchase it.

MaryAnn Parker's review gives a good breakdown of the different sections of this video. I'll add that most of the moves are combination (working several muscles) rather than isolation exercises (working only one muscle at a time). The FIRM focuses more on isolation moves with heavy weights. The Dynaband upper body sections are mostly back and chest. Weights are used for biceps, triceps, rotator cuff, shoulders, etc. The standing lower body section is a killer, with various combinations of squats and lunges. I don't like floor work with weights, but this Dynaband section was relatively short and seemed effective. Abs and push-ups were tough, too. The workout is followed by a cooldown and a great, relaxing stretch. My only problem with this video is that it's hard to hold onto the Dynabands like they do; my hands got really sore. I highly recommend this video for intermediate and advanced strength training.

Marianne is my idol. She's probably 42-43 now and looks fantastic. She cues well and gives lots of form pointers. I wasn't too impressed with the other two exercisers, though. Neither one looked like they were enjoying the workout, and the little short-haired one continually used poor form (IMHO), especially on the squats and pushups.