Hi Joanna,
Upper Body and Standing Legs (both compiled from the classics) are good choices if you like the idea of splitting your weight work. Avoid Standing Legs if you hate squats, lunges, dips, and tall box work! I think you'd like Sculpted Buns, Hips, and Thighs (SBHT). SBHT has about 15 minutes of good floor work for the legs, and 15 minutes of abs. Don't worry - you don't do all of the ab work at once! This tape alternates 5-minute segments of ab work with floor work.
To recommend other short Firms, I'd have to know more about what you like and dislike. I love Tough Tape, but I also love Maximum Body Shaping, so we may not have the same taste in tapes.
Tough Tape only requires a tall box and dumbbells (they use a barbell for some exercises, but you can do all of the exercises with dumbbells). Avoid this tape if you hate leg presses, because it has lots of them. Tough Tape is a parts tape (almost all from the Tortoise), and doesn't include abs. Volume 4 packs a lot into 45 minutes, but you'll have to tolerate some equipment changes. At least you only need one "box" for Vol. 4, as there is no tall box work. Read the video reviews to help you decide which tapes to buy. The Firm also has some excellent hour-long total body tapes, so you may want to consider these for days when you have more time.
I can answer some of your other questions:
* Some Firm tapes use a barbell, but none of them
require a barbell. You can always use dumbbells instead. For lower body work, rest the weights on your shoulders or hold them at your sides.
* At first, do the lower body work without weights, and concentrate on using good form. These exercises are challenging at first, even without weights! For upper body work, start with light weights. Use your lightest weights for shoulders and triceps (maybe 2-3lb), and heavier weight (maybe 5-8lb) for other exercises. Hold two 5lb weights in one hand for one-armed lat rows. These are just suggestions - you'll have to experiment to find out what is right for you. Increase weight as you get stronger, but lift only as much as you can handle with good form. Don't worry if you can't finish every rep - do as many as you can, and try to do more next time.
* If the ab work in Firm tapes moves too fast or is too hard for you, do your Pilates tape instead, and don't feel guilty about it! I often substitute Pilates, a segment from Abs and More (Keli Roberts), or a segment from Quick Fix Abs for Firm ab work, since I prefer to do ab work at a slower pace. I think you'd like the ab work in SBHT, since it is done at a slow and controlled pace. If you can't do all three segments of ab work in this video, just do one or two segments.
* My body needs a lot of stretching, so the Firm's stretches (and the stretches on most other tapes) aren't enough for me. I do yoga, a 10-minute segment from Tamilee's Total Body Stretch, or my own stretches after my workouts. Some of the Firm tapes have decent stretches, while others don't have enough. Do more stretching on your own if you need to.
How's that for a long-winded answer? Sometimes I babble. :rolleyes: I hope this helps.
Colleen