Aussie Fit Trim, Taut & Terrific! Upper Body & Waist

This 45-minute toning tape, led by Lucy Lisbona, is one of a two-part series, the other tape being for the lower body.

After a warming-up and stretch (about 6 minutes), we start with upright rows. The other exercises performed are: lat pulldown, rowing forward, biceps curl, lateral raise, military press, shoulder rolls, triceps dips (with options for beginner/intermediate/advanced), rotator cuff exercise (done lying or sitting). At this point the instructor starts to walk around the group to correct form, and they lose count of how many reps they’ve done on one side, so you have to remember to do 8 on each side and then change! Then come push-ups (three levels - one person does them with his toes up on a chair), abs (crunches, oblique crunches, lower abs, also with options), and back exercises (with options). The back exercises are thorough. I didn’t find it easy to complete them all at first, and I still do some of the easier options. Lying on your stomach, you do leg raises, then opposite arm and leg raises, back extensions, and back extensions with a twist. After each section you stretch out the muscles you’ve just worked.

Most of the exercises are performed in three sets of eight reps. They use the same weights throughout. If you prefer to use different weights, there isn’t much time to change, so you’d have to pause the tape and this might not always be practical. For instance, I can use heavier weights for biceps curls than for lateral raises, but as these two exercises are done one after the other I have to stick with the lighter weight (not that I’m really upset about it!).

A doctor gives exercise tips a couple of times during the workout. There’s also a tip on choosing suitable training shoes.

One of the other team members, John Novak, makes jokes during the workout. He comes to sit at the front with Lucy during the stretches and discusses how to make the workout easier for beginners. (He also jokes that doing this workout is giving him cleavage his wife would be proud of!)

This is a good tape, but I must admit I prefer workouts where you use a range of weights - but that doesn’t mean to imply that this one is easy. When the tape is not in my rotation, I’ve been adding the rotator cuff and back exercises to whatever I’m doing. The Aussie Fit tapes are the only ones in my collection which include a rotator cuff exercise.