Review Essentrics 2012 DVDs

[fuzzie]

I thought I would start a new thread for reviews and impressions of the new Essentrics DVDs I got mine from the studio yesterday and tried the Class of 2012 workout. I posted a review on another thread but here it is again:

I thoroughly enjoyed Class of 2012; it is exactly like a live class at the Essentrics studio in Montreal. Essentrics classes sometimes emphasize “toning” and sometimes they have a greater “stretching” component. IMO this one is a little more “stretching” – there is still quite a bit of resistance work and I felt pleasantly worked out, but the stretches are very thorough and take up a good portion of the workout.

The workout is filmed at the same location as the previous series – a building overlooking Old Montreal and the port – but in a different room. You have a beautiful view of the city and the water. The music is pleasant and varied, going from a light and upbeat song with whistling for the warm-up, to classical and oriental music, etc. So overall, top production quality!

Sahra is accompanied by two women, both Essentrics instructors and professional dancers. All three are lovely and move beautifully – very inspiring! They wear fushia tops with black cropped tights. Sahra is a great instructor, poised and elegant. She demonstrates perfect form and cues effectively to ensure proper alignment and execution. She is generally good at cueing without interrupting movement, but she sometimes take a bit of time at the beginning of a sequence to explain the move or show common mistakes to avoid. This slows down the workout a bit compared to a live class (where participants are more familiar with the moves) but I did not find it was a problem at all.

The DVD has three segments (you can access each directly or skip from the main workout): standing; floor; barre. They work perfectly together to give you a “real class” experience or they would be great add-ons.

It is incredibly difficult to describe Essentrics workouts, but here is my attempt at a breakdown:


SEGMENT 1: STANDING

00:30 – 3:05
Warm-up that consists of “loose” and relaxed movements. This was a great transition from sitting at the computer for several hours.

3:05 – 8:00
Waist work: Slow stretches and contractions that involve moving the torso and arms in different directions.

8:00 – 11:15
Waist work in second position plié: You continue with the same type of upper body movement to work the waist but the legs work (a lot!) isometrically.

11:15 – 14:15
Arm work: Starting with both arms extended to the side, you do small presses down and back, rotate the arm in the shoulders, etc. You definitely feel this!

14:15 – 17:30
Standing leg work: Series of leg lifts to the front, to the side, and in a semi-circle. This works the quads, hips, and core (balance).

17:30 – 23:00
Windmills: Slow plies and lunges with large upper body and torso movements. I love/hate these

23:00 – 28:30
Standing leg work and stretches: Slow-motion bicycle (like a bicycle in pilates but standing up), hip cleaners (doing a figure 8 move with a bent leg), leg abductions, calf and quad stretches.

SEGMENT 2: FLOOR

28:30 – 32:30
Ab work: crunch and bicycle variations

32:30 – 40:00
Thorough little side series that involve leg abduction, adduction and rotation. I love how they make you pull the leg out of the hip during side leg lifts – kind of stretches and works more intensely at the same time.

40:00 – 44:45
Lying stretches: Baby stretch (figure 4 stretch); dynamic hamstring and hip stretches, rotating the leg in the hip, doing big circles, etc. Also includes an IT band stretch.

44:45 – 49:30
Seated stretches for the hips, hamstrings, waist, back and chest.

SEGMENT 3: BARRE (CHAIR)

49:30 – 53:15
Butt work with variations on the hip extension: knee bent and leg straight, standing up and leaning forward, etc.

53:15 – 1:01:00
Stretches with the chair, focusing on the glutes, legs, and hips, with a little upper body stretching as well. Very thorough.


Two thumbs up from me!

[fuzzie]

I have not tried Stretch & Strength in Motion yet, but here are some notes from my preview.

This two-DVD set comes in a case with a little foam placed in the middle – that is a GREAT idea to prevent the DVDs coming loose and getting scratched. Each DVD has 2 25-minute workouts; they are not chaptered.


Strengthen 1: Core & Legs

For this workout, Sahra is joined by Erika and Pierre-Luc. Funny fact: Pierre-Luc was the instructor teaching the very first class I took at the Essentrics studio… and it was it first time teaching!

00:30 – 03:15
Warm-up. The music in this segment is super upbeat, like a jazzy charleston/swing music. I don’t personally care for this kind of song but it’s ok.

03:15 – 07:30
Core work. This is a sequence where the legs go from side lunges to plié and the upper body moves in large circular movements.

07:30 – 10:35
Core work. Similar to the previous segment but the focus is more on the side body (reaching side).

Move to the floor:

10:35 – 14:35
Core work. Begins with crunch variations then moves into a fun sequence I have done in class: (1) Bend knees, lift hips and extend legs overhead, bend knees and lower hips, extend legs at 45 degrees; (2) Open and close the legs with a crunch; (3) Scissor the legs. Ends with a quick leg flutter.

14:35 – 20:45
Side series.

20:45 – 25:00
Final stretch


Strengthen 2: Full Body

Sahra is alone in this workout that involves all standing work. It looks like a truly wonderful total body workout!

00:15 – 03:15
Dynamic warm-up

03:15 – 07:15
Stretching. This sequence begins with a “ragdoll” movement (just hanging torso towards the floor), then moving into slow torso contractions and extensions to stretch the back and chest. You start to work the waist gently in this segment.

07:15 – 10:45
Core work in 2nd position plié.

10:45 – 14:15
Standing arm work. At the beginning the legs are static and then you add a lunge side-to-side motion.

14:15 – 16:30
Plié sequence. There are a few dynamic 2nd position plies at the beginning of the sequence, and then you hold a static plié to work the upper body and waist.

16:30 – 19:15
Core work. The torso moves in large circular movements and side-to-side and the arms add resistance. The legs work with lunges and plies.

19:15 – 25:15
Final stretches. Focus on quads, hamstrings, and lower legs.


Stretch 1: Hips & Hamstrings

Sahra teaches this workout alone. Most of the workout uses a chair (of course a barre would be great too) and it is not as “flowy” as other Essentrics workouts. Usually, Essentrics workouts are structured by songs but here it is more a series of stretches that are repeated with variations to get deeper into the muscles. Even though the focus is on the lower body, the upper body is stretched at the beginning and end of the workout. I thought the location was particularly pretty here as you can see the Jacques-Cartier Bridge in the background.

00:30 – 02:00
Upper body stretches

02:00 – 05:15
Stretches for the feet and lower legs (use chair for balance)

05:15 – 08:30
Hip cleaners and quad stretch (use chair for balance)

08:30 – 13:00
Hips and glutes stretch with the foot on a chair and the knee opened out.
Psoas stretch with the foot on a chair and leaning into that leg.

13:00 – 20:30
Hamstrings stretch. 3 sets of stretches with the foot on a chair and lots of variations. Very thorough!

20:30 – 22:00
Calf stretch sitting on the chair

22:00 – 25:15
Standing stretches for upper body and waist


Stretch 2: Shoulders, Upper Body & Hamstrings

Sahra is joined by Pierre-Luc and Shana in this workout. This looks like a particularly soothing stretch workout and – with the attention to the shoulders, back, lower legs, and hamstrings – I think it will be perfect after a long work day for those who sit at the computer a lot (me!) and/or wear high heels (me!!!). The floor segment is shot at sunset which makes it very relaxing. At one point there are about a million birds in the background, which is kind of eerie. It really looks like a scene from The Birds!

00:30 – 05:30
This sequence begins with a “ragdoll” movement (just hanging torso towards the floor), then moving into slow torso contractions and extensions to stretch the back and chest.

05:30 – 09:30
Shoulder stretches with the torso moving in a twisting motion. Some of these are new to me and look interesting!

09:30 – 14:00
Stretches for the lower legs.

Move to floor:

14:00 – 26:00
Very thorough floor stretch that includes: baby stretch (figure 4); reclining cow pose; seated butterfly stretch; in a sitting position: round and extend the spine, first with knees bent and then with legs extended; seated forward bend; IT band stretch; calf stretch; shoulder and upper back release.


I look forward to trying these workouts, especially Strength 2 and Stretch 2

[Lucky Star]

Thank you for these excellent breakdowns. They do sound great!

[Honeydew]

Thank you for the breakdown! I would love to see a clip.... I used to have a classical stretch dvd but didn't like it, so I'm wondering if I would like the new ones.

[fuzzie]

Honeydew - There are a few good clips here: http://vimeo.com/esmondewhitehouse/videos (Just scroll down the page to see four clips and there are more on the second page)

[Lucky Star]

Here are some clips: http://essentrics.com/media.html

[flamingoo]

How do these compare to the originals? Are there many of the same moves?

[cristinalatina]

oh noooooooo

why did I open this thread???

Thank you Fuzzie for the great reviews!

Question...when you all do the side-to-side lunge, where do your toes point in your stretched and bent leg? I mean, when you lunge to the left, do your toes point the opposite ways like in a 2nd position plie, or does the bending leg point forward and the other to the side, like a regular side lunge? I get confused with this move and it hurts my knees!

[fuzzie]

Originally Posted by flamingoo

How do these compare to the originals? Are there many of the same moves?

There are definitely many of the same moves, but with different variations, sequencing, etc. (just like, say, a new Bar Method workout will look a lot like previous ones with slightly new twists).

IMO the main difference here is the structure of the workouts/DVDs. With Class of 2012, you really get a workout similar to a studio workout. Of course you could do a full-body workout with the previous DVD by stringing Arms, Abs & Waist with Legs, Butt & Thighs but you had to do two warm-ups and the sequencing was not the same as a live class.

I think that Strengthen 1: Core & Legs is most similar to Legs, Butt & Thighs.

The two stretch workouts could be compared to Flexibility Workout for Athletes with two differences: (1) Overall there is more focus on the lower body in the new set, and (2) I think FWFA was more advanced whereas the two stretch workouts in new set have more of a relaxation feeling. Again, I haven't done these yet so I will report back after trying them.

[fuzzie]

Originally Posted by cristinalatina

Question...when you all do the side-to-side lunge, where do your toes point in your stretched and bent leg? I mean, when you lunge to the left, do your toes point the opposite ways like in a 2nd position plie, or does the bending leg point forward and the other to the side, like a regular side lunge? I get confused with this move and it hurts my knees!

Cristina - Most of the side lunges are done in a turned out position, and in some instances you actually move from a second position plié into the side lunge so the position of your feet and knees does not change. One reason why your knees might hurt is if you force your turnout (i.e., turning from the feet or knees instead of your hips). Try this: stand in second position parallel with your legs straight; place your weight in your heels and slightly lift your toes off the floor; rotate your legs from the hips into a turned out position, then place your toes on the floor - this is your natural turnout and when you bend your legs into a plié or side lunge, the knee should track directly in line with that angle. Does that make sense?