Buns of Steel #4 is a pure toning video. It has a
4 minute warm up 19 minutes of toning , 5 minutes of
floor toning. It ends with a 3 min. stretch and a very
beautiful relaxing segment which is 5 min.Leisa's form
and cueing is excellent and perfect. She is always asking
you to check your form and to breath or take a break if
your tired. You really feel like she is there with you as
your personal trainer and that she cares about you. The
first part of toning is side squats, stationary lunges
and 3 count down squats. Then using a chair, Leisa does a
leg out to the side while holding it for an isometric
hold. Then she dips to the rear for stationary dip
excercise. The third toning section, still using the
chair, she does leg to the rear bun squeezes in
combination with hamstring curl, leg out to the side and
another set of rear dips with a bun squeeze at the end.
The 5 minute bonus buns section is a very challenging
bridge work excercise with your feet on a chair. You lay
on your back with your feet on a chair and sqeeze your
buns as you lift your hips up. It gets harder as you
extend your leg and sqeeze the opposite bun and pulse.
All the exercises are very effective for a beginner to
advanced. For the advanced, you can hold heavy dumbells
for the first toning segmant and then put on ankle
weights and use heavy dumbells for the other two toning
segmants. You can even use dumbells for the floor toning.
I feel you can grow with this tape. I usually don't rave
about toning video's because I am a Firm fan but I really
like this video not just because Leisa is a great
instructor but she does all my favorite excercises that I
know work! The stretch is done on the chair. Stretches
for hamstring, calves, and buns and back . The best part
of this workout is the 5 minute relaxing segmant at the
end. Leisa is on a beach either early in the morning
sunrise or evening sunset. The beach has beautiful waves
washing up as she does some relaxing stretches. But
mostly a lot of inhale and exhaling. The music in the
whole video is EXCELLENT!! Very upbeat and motivating.
The music during the relaxing segment is very nice as
well. I give this video an A+
Mandy Lee
8/8/97
I never would have bought this tape if it wasn't for
the recommendation from Mandy Lee. I was keeping my eye
out for it and found it as a bargain at Wal-Mart. And I'm
not disappointed.
The warm up and cool down are pretty basic, and for
the most part, so are the lower body strengthening/toning
exercises. But the exercises flow together so well and go
so quickly. But I definately felt it the next day.
The way I am going to use this tape is going to be in
conjunction with other tapes or after a
walk/run/bicycling/treadmill workout. I think this would
be a good tape for anyone to add to their collection. I
suspect this video won't be used every week, but I want
to keep it around for when I'm in the mood to exercise,
but don't want to get all sweaty.
Overall -- tape is done well, music is good and
cueing is excellent.
One more thing -- I forgot to mention the
"relaxation" segment at the end. There is a
"bonus" 5 minute relaxation after the stretch.
That's not enough time to get your mind off the world,
but it is nice to have the option of a little relaxation
at the end of the tape. I thought it was also well done
and I would like to see other videos include this as an
option. I did the relaxation segment and then just layed
down with the lights off until the video was completely
done and I felt ready to get on with my day.
Julianne
8/27/97
This is a good workout, but geared more toward
beginners and lower-intermediates. It's a lower
body workout, consisting of exercises like
squats, hamstring curls, etc. -- things you
normally expect from a lower body tape. The
instructor is excellent about showing you the
proper way to do a move.
At the end, after the regular cooldown and stretch,
there is a relaxation segment. Nice touch!
Although this isn't for me, I think beginners will
benefit a lot from it.
Annie S.
9/21/97