Violet Zaki
Violet starts off using a weight for the ab workouts. No advice is given on poundage for it though. These exercise concentrate on the obliques. Then she does stabilty ab exercises. Nothing really new here, mostly crunches. The next segment is Pilates inspired. Then yoga, using planks. I also liked the yoga section. The segments move right along so I had a bit of difficulty in moving the weight and ball out of the way quickly to go on to the Pilates and Yoga parts. There is a warm up and cool down for the DVD.
The "bonus" cardio (which was about 4 1/2 min) was fun. Wish she'd do a whole video off of that. She did high and low impact squats, a v step, knees up. Should be longer.Violet was alone in the cardio section.
The two background exercisers don't say anything. One shows some modifications. Beatiful scenery as it is filmed on a beach.
J'Ann
Instructor comments:
Violet cues well for the home exerciser. She gives a few words of encouragement but no chatter. Violet has a slight accent but is easy to understand.
J'Ann
6-3-05
I love ab work and I’ve been a fan of Violet
Zaki since Crunch’s “Cardio Sculpt” so I had
high expectations for this workout. It did not
disappoint me.
The workout begins with a warm-up that
includes standing ab work with a dumbbell.
Standing work is my least favorite approach
to abs, but I thoroughly enjoy this routine.
The second series is stability ball with a
variety of standing and floor exercises. I
especially like the reverse crunches with the
ball held between your legs. I can really feel
it hitting my lower abs.
Both the warm-up and the stability ball
sections include some lunges. Lunges usually
bother my knees, but I haven’t had any
trouble with these sections, maybe because
they are either moderately-paced or held,
stationery lunges.
The next series is pilates. I’m not a pilates
expert but I love that the exercises here are a
bit different such as leg circles with both
legs. I find this version easier to do
effectively and can really feel it in my abs,
much more so than the standard single leg
circles. I love that the bicycle twist is done
slowly and held to a count of four. For an ab
lover like myself this is candy!
The last series of exercises is yoga-based. It
includes plank and side plank work, an
interesting combo of boat with toe taps, and
some cobra and locust inspired back work.
There’s one lovely side stretch with your legs
tucked to one side where you raise one arm
and slowly bring it down and thread it
through your supporting arm that I just love.
It’s simple, feel-good elements like this that,
for me, make the workout fly by.
I used to skip the cool down but have since
realized that it’s so short there’s no reason
to not do it. It’s just a few minutes of some
simple twists and stretches.
The workout is filmed on a beach with two
background exercisers. One shows
modifications. From warm-up through cool
down is about 27 minutes with the chapters
running about 6 minutes each (the cool down
is shorter). The chaptering allows you to
select one or more sections but I’ve found
that once I get started I don’t want to stop.
It’s a good 25 minutes of lower intensity,
non-traditional ab work. If you’re the type of
exerciser who likes fast-paced crunches a la
Cathe or the Firm then this workout is
probably not be for you. But if you are
looking for a fun way to work your abs I can’t
think of anything better.
Instructor comments:
Perhaps I have a thing for Aussie accents (I’m
a big Keli Roberts fan too) but I just love
Violet Zaki. She looks fit and beautiful in a
healthy, natural way. And she has a calm
energy that is encouraging without being
distracting. There’s only one point in the
workout where her cuing falters, at least that
I’ve noticed, when she simply says “again”
and doesn’t add “on the other side.” Once
you know the routine, it’s no big deal. I wish
she'd put out more workouts.
Gina (aka gxm17)
10/07/05
The workout was a bunch of different core styles chained together.
Tough, but not something I will reach for again, given my strong collection of TLP (and soon, TLT) workouts.
Instructor comments:
I liked Violet. Her cueing sometimes could have been better, but she's friendly without being perky.
LK