Movie Star Fitness

I'm going to post my impressions after the most excellent breakdown provided by cardiomama (thanks).

I did the "women" workout for this - i received both the "man" and "woman" version from a very generous VFer. i'll be commenting on the "woman" version. each of the discs are not titled "for women" or "for men," however, one disc has a woman on it, the other has a man. i didn't receive a cover/label for either of these discs.

it's equipment intensive:

1) dumbbells (i used 10, 8 & 5#)

2) valslides (i have gliding discs for carpet, but since i was working out on 3) linoleum tiles, i used a simple terry rag, which worked excellently fine)

4) resistance bands w/handles that have to be tethered at chest level to do standing chest presses and back work

5) push up handles (i used dumbbells)

6) looped resistance band (i tied my pilates band together to make a loop)

7) med ball (i used a dumbbell)

8) stability ball

Valerie is all by herself in a small room full of equipment. she doesn't use all of it - the dumbbell racks and cardio equipment take up the most room, and she doesn't use any of it - just 1 set of dumbbells from the rack.

there's no music in this video. between sections, there's a black screen with a 60 second countdown clock. you can hit your skip button, but sometimes you miss the 2nd round of a series. it's not always segmented this way - i recall being unable to skip one of the rest periods - i think it was the last segment.

i liked how Val used the equipment, especially the bands w/handles for chest and back work in the standing position. i tethered mine to our stationary bike. as i mention below, i didn't preview the video and had no idea what equipment was used. i was therefore grabbing and rigging all of the equipment on the fly while doing the workout!

you don't feel wiped out in this video, but feel worked out just enough.

i didn't preview this disc, and i thought that those black countdown screens should have given you a head's up on what equipment to get ready other than just counting down the break.

i liked the workout - had a light bit of DOMS later that day and the next day.

the video could have had more polish to it simply by doing a better job of editing. i probably sound petty about this, but with all of the digital video editing equipment available to the average consumer at affordable prices, it totally escapes me that a professional product would be somewhat lacking in these basic qualities. maybe i got a "preview" disc and not the retail version?

This is a total body workouts about 48 minutes long, and consists of 3 circuits that are each repeated 2-3 times. There is a 1 minute rest between the movement prep and completion of each circuit, but one can reduce the rest periods to less time to create a shorter workout & more challenging (by limiting the rests between circuits). Each circuit has 5-6 exercises sequenced in it. This workout is formatted similarly to Valerie's Red Carpet Ready E-book, where the circuits each have a different focus, either Sweat, Sculpt or Polish. The 1st circuit is the Sweat-type, high cardio effect w/ mostly bodyweight exercises (lower body & core), the 2nd circuit is the Sculpt-type, with heavier weights used for major muscle groups, and the 2rd circuit is the Polish-type that focuses on the smaller muscles groups. It's filmed in Valerie's gym without music and just with her (no background exercisers).

This is a great workout, works the entire body without overkill in any of the muscle groups. One can even just do 1-2 circuits if pressed for time, and still get in a good workout.

Movement prep- 5 min. warm-up w/ bodyweight exercises

1 minute rest

Circuit 1/Sweat

equipment: loop resistance band, Valslides/gliding discs

rep range: 12-20 reps

Side to side step w/ loop band

Side to side hops (bodyweight)

All use Valslides:

Reverse lunge

Side lunge

Mountain climbers

Belly robbers (called one arm slide in other workouts)

1 minute rest, repeat circuit 2 x's

Circuit 2/Sculpt

equipment: dumbbells, resistance band (around sturdy object or anchored to door w/ an attachment), med ball (can sub in dumbbell)

rep range: mostly 12-15 reps, 1 exercise has 8 reps

Plie squat w/ weight (dumbbell, kettlebells)

2-arm row w/ band (could sub in dumbbell version)

Romanian dead lift w/ dumbbells (or bodybar or kettlebells)

Standing chest press w/ band (can sub in dumbbell version on floor or standing w/ a light dumbbell)

Med ball circles w/ upper body (can hold light dumbbell)

1 minute rest, repeat 2 x's

Circuit 3/polish

equipment: dumbbells, bands, stability ball

rep range: 10-15 reps

Tricep extension w/ band (can sub in dumbbell version)

Biceps curl w/ band (can sub in dumbbell version)

T raises on stability ball

Y raises on stability ball

Side kick in quadruped position

Toe touch (lying on back, upper body & shoulder come off of floor and opposite arm touches leg, they meet in the center)

1 minute rest, repeat 1x (or 2 if desired/want more challenge, Val states 2 x's is enough work though)

Cooldown-stretches