UFIT: Tight Body

This review is for UFit Ultra Tight

This dvd contains two 20 minute workouts, set to great music. Cindy leads in a gym set with 4 backgrounders one showing beginner modifications. You will need dumbbells for this dvd. Each workouts warmup is built into the workout.

Hard Body: Exercises are performed for 1 minute each and include: plank jacks, curtsy & bi curl, squat to clean U press, around the world lunges, crab kicks, round house & squat, KB swing & front & diagonal raise, twisting mt. climbers, row & kick back combo, burpee to fast knee pushups, plank side knee pull, weighted twists, plyo lunges, and a stretch.

6 Pack Abs: Exercises are performed for 1 minute each and include: weighted torso twist & side bends, elbow to knee pull, sit up & punch, fast & slow plank knee crosses, supine leg drops, mt. climbers, pike, weighted frog crunches, bear crawl, weighted full body crunches, plank to reverse plank, flutter kicks, side plank toe taps and a stretch.

These are both intermediate routines. Hard Body is a fun fast paced routine that utilizes light to moderate weights. 6 Pack Abs is a fun active ab routine with a few cardio moves built in to get the blood flowing. Cindy is her usual perky self and is very motivating. I received this dvd to review.

Full disclosure: I received a free review copy of this workout.

I wanted to try one of Cindy Whitmarsh's newest workouts because I have always liked Cindy in workouts, even when I didn't bond with the workout itself. I decided to try this DVD, Ultra Tight, because of the full-body emphasis of it.

It has two 20-minute workouts on it, Hard Body and 6-Pack Abs. Each workout is a 19-minute workout with a 1-minute cool down and stretch. Note: this means that there is no warm up. Having no warm up was kind of jarring and the cool down/stretch didn't seem to be enough. For those that don't mind doing their own warm up or who string workout segments together, the lack of a warm up wouldn't matter as much.

Hard Body alternates compound strength moves with cardio intervals. The strength moves involve the upper body and lower body at the same time. She often will quickly build the move, starting with one part of the move and then add the other. For example, she starts with a lunge and then adds the upper-body part. The cardio is mostly high impact.

There is a modifier who does a pretty good job of modifying for impact (not always, but most of the time) and who does easier versions of the moves. Once in awhile, she wouldn't be on screen at the beginning of a move, but they did a decent job of keeping her on screen.

There were some moves on the floor where body weight is supported on the hands. And yes, mountain climbers are included. I either did standing variations or took a water break or did the plank move using a chair. You start the workout standing. During one of the standing moves you kneel to the ground while doing an upper body move. You then do the floor work. Then, she has you doing an upper body-move while kneeling and you standing while doing that move.

6-Pack Abs starts with some standing ab work. Then, it moves to the floor where you alternate doing a move on your back and then you flip over and do a move, usually supporting the body weight on the hands and wrists. The modifier shows easier moves, but does not modify to take the strain off the hands/wrists.

During the workouts, she gets up and wanders around to talk. However, I was surprised how few form pointers she actually gave. I do think she's motivational in these workouts.

I also think that for people who want to jump on the 20-minute workout bandwagon, but who need/want intermediate workout options, this is a well-done workout - unless you have issues with your hands/wrists or back. Knees could also be impacted, but low-impact options are shown and can offset that problem. Of course, if lunges and/or squats bother your knees, then this could be problematic as well.

The UFIT Series - Ultra Tight includes two workouts: Hard Body and 6-Pack Abs.

This is my short review from 10 November 2013 in the VF Forum:

I completed the Ultra Tight workouts tonight: Hard Body & 6 Pack Abs. Don't have time to do a full write-up, but wanted to say I love the Hard Body Workout. Compound moves - truly a whole-body workout. It was a lot of fun & as I mentioned in another post, the 20 minutes was up before I knew it.

I did like the 6 Pack Abs. But since Hard Body also had ab work, my abs were beyond on fire by the time I was 1/4 way through 6 Pack Abs. A few of the moves I had to modify using my Step360 since it bugs my back to go all the way to the floor (ie with mountain climbers, etc). There was one 'spider' move that I'll probably never be able to do! But, there was a lot of variety & and quite a few ab moves I haven't seen before.

Now that I've done all 6 workouts, I can say I'm definitely glad I purchased the whole set. My 2 favs are Calorie Crushing Cardio & Lower Body Blast, closely followed by Hard Body. Upper Body Bliss & 6 Pack Abs are also really good. My least favorite is the Sculpt & Stretch.