Kathy Kaehler is a competent instructor,
although we don't see much of her in this 4-video series.
There are four videos in this series: upper body, thighs,
abs, and butt.
The tapes would be good for a beginner/intermediate
or an advanced exerciser who wants a lighter workout. The
upper body workout is fairly complete, although the back
muscles are left out of the workout. The butt tape offers
the usual fare of squats and lunges and floor work, which
didn't seem terribly difficult, but I felt it the next
day. The thighs tape is long and by far the most
challenging, and it challenges the buttocks muscles
slightly as well. The abs tape is rather long and
disjointed. It seems to me that more work could be done
in a ten-minute session.
Susan Eng
The scenery is fabulous, the editing amazine- these
are great-looking videos, as supermodel productions
generally are. Unlike the abominable Cindy Crawford
video, Claudia Schiffer's exercise routines are easy to
perform and don't strain your back or other joints,
though they are certainly effective. Claudia has Kathy
Kaehler to thank for this. These are purely strength
tapes, with no aerobics portions. You need weights for
the 'Arms' tape, and you can use ankle weights for
'Legs'.
I really like all these videos with the exception of
'Perfectly Fit Abs'. It is just too long, and I feel I
get more out of my 6-9 minute Frim 5-day ab workouts than
I do out of this marathon session. Claudia would have
been better providing 2-3 shorter ab routines on this
tape.
The 'Arms' tape is my favourite. There is a lot of
tricep work with bent-arm chair dips, two different kinds
of tricep extensions, and four sets of push ups. I'm a
little peeved at the way Claud goes a bit too fast with
some of the sets, especially bicep curls. I've been using
it about three times a week for three months and I'm
(just!) starting to get Angela Basset-arms. Just gotta
lose that fat over the top with cardio... Claud's arms
aren't really very inspirational or aspirational- at one
point during triceps extensions Kathy tells her
"That looks great, I can really see you
definition" and this never fails to provide me with
a laugh. There is no advice given on what size weights to
use for beginners, I started with piddling 2 pounders
because I was such a weakling when I started, and I
really felt it. I'm now up to using 5 pounders.
'Buns' incorporates lunges and donkey kicks, and
pelvic tilts. At first the pelvic tilts really got my
buns a-burnin' but as I gained strength this stopped, but
then I took Kath and Claud's advice and added weights- I
also did this for the donkey-kicks. I think my butt has
lifted a bit (though how can I objectively quantify this?
It FEELS higher, anyway), and it definitley feels much
firmer.
'Legs' also has lunges, and then floorwork in the
form of side leg-lifts. I could barely do these the first
time I tried them- I had not done any strenth training in
a long time. They stayed challenging for quite awhile,
and I just added weights when they weren't anymore.
The stretching segments of these tapes are really too
short- I usually go on with my own stretches after the
segments finish, especially for the 'Buns' video. But
this isn't really a complaint because, let's face it, for
all they go on about how important it is to stretch
thouroughly after working out, how many instructors
actually do this in their videos. But I digress. All up,
I give a thumbs-up to the Claudia Schiffer videos, with
the exception of 'Abs'.
In all the tapes Claudia demonstrates the bulk of the
moves, while Kathy Kaehler occasionally demostrates from
or corrects Claudia's. Claudia's form is not always
perfect, but at these times Kathy usually appears
somewhere on screen for reference.
Emily H.
6/21/97
A frustrating video series.
There are too many pauses throughout the tape for instruction and form, which is nice the first couple of time you use it, but after you've learned the technique you wish they had put all the instruction at the beginning of the tape or during the workout as is done with other videos. All of those interrruptions get really annoying after a while.
Also in order to get a total body workout, you have to do all 4 tapes! (At 14.99 each or 59.96 for all, this makes this workout one of the most expensive ever produced.) You will also have to use the warm up from the 1st tape and then fast forward through it on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th tapes. You waste a lot of valuable exercise time fooling with the VCR on this one.
There is sooo much filler on these tapes, that they are not a good value.
The scenery and music are very nice.
Instructor comments: Thorough and clear instruction.
Flossie
4/13/98
So far I've done the Legs, Butt, and Abs videos. My favorite is the Legs. It starts out with a good warm-up that really gets my heart beating. Although this is strictly a strength video, I've noticed that my heart rate really gets up there during the intense parts of the workout, especially the standing work. The video begins with three sets each of four standing leg exercises -- lunges, squats, hamstring curls, and calf raises. Next is floor work. I've only done this workout for a few weeks and my legs absolutely burn during the exercises, especially the floor work. I haven't yet used ankle weights, because I can't even do all the reps without them! I think overall this is a great video for intermediate (or even beginner) exercisers. It's got great scenery and is entertaining. I also like the music.
As for the other two workouts, I generally like the Butt workout, but have grown tired of the abs workout. It seems just too long and not effective enough at targeting the right muscles. By the end of the workout, my neck hurts more than my abs. And this doesn't happen with other videos I've done.
Instructor comments: Claudia is very likeable and natural in her instruction. She is less like a "trainer" and more like a buddy working out with you. The real creator of the series is Kathy and she offers good instruction (sometimes too much at times) and often appears in a background window to demonstrate proper form.
Candace
candaceleenelson@yahoo.com
3/2/99
This is another set I got my friend who didn't want to do exercise videos anymore. I have found the four videos to be well done (except the abs video. Can someone tell me what's up with that?), and I don't consider myself a super model video person. The settings are very attractive. I remember music but honestly can't remember what it was like. Guess that means standard "exercise elevator" stuff. Claudia primarily works out alone, occasionally Kathy is there like a training session, working with her, or demos the moves. This is good 'cause Claudia's form has something to be desired at times. ALso, she has no visible muscle tone. (This is only worth mentioning because Kathy comments "that she can really see her definition.") Claudia is friendly and offers nuggets of motivation from time to time. She is by far less annoying than Cher, she actually seems kind of quiet, you can tell by her face she's really working and trying through the work out. Her video is also safer than Cindy Carwford's, and she had the intelligence to let Kathy, a very professional instructor, lead the workout. This is a good series for beginners to intermediates who want to break down their isolation work with some tried and true routines. The instruction is good (could use more stretch at the end), the settings are pretty and Claudia seems very personable without being "hoot"y.
Instructor comments: Kathy instructs this video very clearly through demos, voice overs and one-on-one sessions with Claudia. She is clear and professional.
linda
6/30/99