Bottoms Up! Middle Body

I have been using Joyce's Middle Body workout for a few weeks now and can I say "Oh MY!!!" My abs burn not only during the workout, but for several hours afterwards! I have been doing Trish's Ab Attack (and love that video, too), but even Trish advocates changing your ab routine every 3 weeks. This video has 5 groups of exercises: Super Set #1 includes Lower Body Crunch and Upper Body Crunch. SuperSet #2 is Clam Shell Crunches and Oblique Crunches, SuperSet #3 is Side Oblique Crunches and Pec Crunches, Super Set #4 is Curling Lifts and Knee Raise Crunch, Super Set #5 is Ceiling Crunch Reach and Oblique Curling Reach. So, you do the first superset, rest for 15 seconds and then repeat the set 2 more times. Each exercise is done for 15 reps, so you would do 45 Lower Body Crunches!! It is definitely a comprehensive ab tape for 20 minutes and I think it is worth having in my collection. Joyce moves a little quickly through the reps, but I am getting better at keeping up the stronger and fitter my abs become. Definitely give Joyce a try - the workouts are effective and Joyce keeps you smiling. Her website is www.joycevedral.com and she has excellent service if you order videos from her - I haven't heard of anyone waiting more than 2 days for shipping from her website. I am 29 years old and if I can look 1/2 as good as she does when I am in my fifties, I will be psyched!!

Like the other two videos in this set (Upper and Lower Body), Joyce has you do supersets of exercises. She has you alternate between upper, lower, and obliques. I really like this video because I felt like all my abs were worked evenly and boy was I sore the next day. By alternating back and forth your neck is spared from too much strain because you rest it while working your lower abs. Even though I try to use good form at all times, I do find my neck gets stiff if I do a tape that does a lot of crunches without a rest period. A good solid tape if you are looking for something that has traditional ab work and is only about 20 minutes in length.

Very intense 20 minute ab workout - I like Joyce, but she is not for everyone. She makes you feel like you are part of the workout, talking to you like a friend. I really like her and the workout is continuous, not instruction in between moves, just flows right along and I really do feel it. 20 minutes for abs is great. The quality of the tape is not good, but I listen more than I watch. I may try her other tapes.

This tape has 20 minutes of ab work plus the warm up and cool down. There is a lot of information on diet and nutrition at the end.

I have mixed reactions to this tape. I like the contents, but I don't like the format. There are 5 supersets which means 10 ab exercises. Each superset is repeated three times with 15 reps. The exercises are great, and I like Joyce's instruction.

The problem for me is that I never do so much ab work at one time. I do my ab work after other workouts and I do about 10 minutes tops of ab work about 4-5 times a week. That's why the format of this tape bothers me. When I use this tape, I stop after the first 3 supersets and save the next 2 supersets for my next workout. I guess that's not such a big deal but I don't like it. So I use The Firm ab tape, the Crunch ab tape, the Reebok ab tape, Abs of Steel, etc., instead of Joyce's tape. I wish she would have made her ab tape in a format similar to the tapes that I like.

So, I don't recommend Joyce's middle tape for the reason of format. If, however, you like to work your abs for 20-plus minutes at a time, this is a good tape. The exercises are good and challenging enough. The dialogue is funny, and I always like Joyce!