SmartBells Basics

I'm reviewing this workout after previewing it once and doing it twice since getting it a couple of weeks ago.

General workout breakdown: This functional fitness workout has three sections: warm up, standing work, and floor work. The entire workout takes between 35-40 minutes. Since this is functional fitness, there's much more focus on moving through ranges of motion that would be used regularly by an active person (e.g. picking something off of the floor and putting it up on a shelf, or swinging through in golf or tennis) than on building muscle. You will work your limbs, but you'll need to focus on your core muscles in order for the exercises to be effective. There is an element of aerobic weight training here, at least as I understand it, because your heart rate will most likely go up with all of the movement, such as stepping into lunges. The back cover says you could consider this "cardio," but I'm assuming they mean more aerobic weight training than pure cardio.

The warm up, which lasts about 10 minutes, isn't what most of us vidiots consider a warm up; instead of having cardio moves or some sort of stretch, Lisa starts right away with basic SmartBell moves. Within a minute or two you're moving the weight around pretty fast. I meant to do a warm up from another workout my second time around but forgot to cue it up beforehand and having just woken up my mind wasn't thinking about that. Also, it might be a good idea to pick up the lighter SB, if you have it, for this section the first few times, especially if you're relatively new to weights or recovering from an injury.

The standing work, which lasts about 18 minutes, consists of 5-6 segments. Lisa sets up the leg movement first; most of them involve lunges and squats. (However, Lisa does suggest making these moves smaller if that's going to be an issue for you). She then adds the arm movement. Then she intensifies that movement, for example by making the circle bigger or holding the SB with one hand instead of two. Once or twice she even adds something else to that! If there are two sides involved, she sets up everything identically on the second side.

The floor work, which lasts about 9 minutes, starts with pushups, then moves to chest press and abdominals. It finishes up with a few stretches. Note: there isn't much of a transition between standing and floor work. Lisa tells you to cool down if you need it. I like to have instructors cool me down, although I have been just hitting pause and walking over to the kitchen for a drink and a towel.

Lisa does a fair number of reps on each side, anywhere from 8-12 I'd say off hand. The number feels appropriate. Although she often stops just about when I'm starting to really feel the move, I also find that I'm just starting to get a little bored of that move at that moment. There is a little pause between each exercise, which Lisa usually fills with a shoulder roll or two. Otherwise the pacing of this workout felt appropriate for me.

We all know it's bad to swing weights around, but this workout isn't about that. It's about added resistence to your body as you perform a variety of movements. When those movements involve moving the SB through space, you are instructed to control the SB's momentum rather than let it fly around.

By the way, the "SmartBells Strength" workout has a number of different moves and is longer than this one, so if you're not crazy about this one don't toss Strength out before at least giving it one spin.

Level: The cover recommends this for all fitness levels. If you've never used weights before, this isn't the best place to start because Lisa doesn't offer any form instruction, either in basic weights techniques or in using the SmartBells. That said, someone who considers themselves a beginner with respect to weights could use the 3 lb. SB, intermediates the 6 lb., and advanced the 15 lb.

I consider myself an intermediate in weights. I've lifted on and off over the years but have returned to heavy (at least, heavier) lifting over the past year or so. I lift 1/2 to 2/3 of what Cathe lifts, depending upon the muscle, move, number of reps, etc. However, I'm new to functional fitness. That said, I found using the 6 lb. SB with this workout was appropriately challenging overall and left me feeling decently worked out but not overly tired or sore afterwards.

Class: Kimberly Spreen and Violet Zaki join Lisa. Violet demonstrates modifications for the standing work and an advanced variation for the floor. Kimberly demonstrates the intermediate modifications when there are some.

Music / Set / Other Production Notes: The music is pleasant but forgettable. It has a decent beat, enough to help you move to the music. The set is the same one used in the most recent CIAs; it consists of a large, brightly lit room with a wooden floor. The walls are light brown, with some plants and chairs placed around and glass objects on the wall and shelves off to the side. This is a Greg Twombly production, so it has very good picture and sound quality overall.

Equipment: SmartBell (your choice of weight, although Lisa, Kimberly, and Violet use the 6 lb. one). Yes, you do need a SmartBell for this exercise. Due to the nature of most of the exercises, they wouldn't work as well–or even at all–with regular dumbbells or weight plates. For example, one move, "Orbits," has you circle the SB around your head. I know I wouldn't want to try that with a weight that wasn't curved. All exercisers wear sneakers for the entire workout. You'll need a mat (or equivalent) for the floor portion.

Comments: This is the workout that comes with the SmartBell. As with any gadget, there's talk about how great it feels, how you couldn't use anything else to do a particular exercise, etc. (I already bought the silly thing, so don't try to sell it to me again!).

DVD Notes: There's a promo/intro that I've been able to skip by hitting "menu" on my DVD player's remote. There is an introduction to the series that just talks about what makes the SB special. (FYI, this is the same introduction on all three workout videos currently available.) You are able to select just the warm up, standing work, or floor work. The warm up is all one chapter; the standing portion is chaptered by move (both sides in the same chapter, if applicable); the floor work is divided into half. In addition, the original SmartBell Core Exercises with Paul Widerman, the inventor of these gadgets, appears under "The Inventor" in the main menu. It's definitely a homemade video showing Paul with a class of very normal looking people on some sculpture thingy demonstrating the core exercises, which can be found on the chart that's included with the SB when you buy it. (I wish, just for curiosity's sake, they would show the partner section promised, but they don't.)

Conclusion: When I previewed this, I thought to myself, "I should have gotten the 15 lb. one; those moves look easy." Well, put a 6 lb. weight in my hands and ask me to control its momentum, and let me tell you it isn't as easy as it looks. This is definitely not a workout for butterfingers!

I'm not a gadget person; I don't even have a step or stability ball. So why did I cave on this? For a number of reasons: I'm a big fan of Lisa, Kimberly, and Rob Glick (who appears in the Strength one only). I get bored with traditional gym-style weights and need some variety. Someone wrote something on the Forum about these and shoulders, which is perhaps my weakest area. (Yes, these will work your shoulders!) And the 6 lb. SB is even my favorite color: red (even if mine isn't shiny like on the video, but at least it doesn't smell)!

Do I like this workout? I'd have to say I do. I enjoy working out with the instructors. More importantly, I feel like I've done something, yet at the end I do feel more energized than drained, so I can pull out another workout or do something else. And I'm not so sore the next day or even the day after that I'm groaning while walking up stairs or even just sitting there (as some of Cathe workouts can hit me). Playing with this toy is fun, although don't expect it to be the most fun you've ever had in your life. I won't switch to the SB workouts as my primary strength training, but it'll provide some nice variety.

Time will tell whether I use these often enough to justify even paying the package price, although I have snuck the SB into other workouts for a move or two. As for this workout, I'm currently using it once a week, alternating it with a Cathe. Once I become more familiar with the SB, I will move on to the Strength video. At that point this will be a workout I'll pull out when I'm in a time crunch, need (or just want) a lighter workout, etc.