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Old 02-06-02, 01:12 PM  
Joni O
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I'll Wait and See

I ordered mine only last week and haven't gotten Weights First yet. If the quality isn't the best, I wonder if it's in the duplication? You know how CIA always replaces defective videos? I wonder if FitPrime will do the same, especially if a lot of people complain. (And CIA doesn't even make you return the bad one!)

I'm really anxious to see Weights First, and will cancel the other video if the quality isn't good (in addition to trying to get a refund for the first one). Only time will tell. Speaking of that, I wonder when I'll get my video !!!
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Old 02-06-02, 01:20 PM  
Messe
 
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Re: Prop heavy?

Quote:
Originally posted by CarolineBP
With all due respect to my good friend Martha, I must say that some of the FIRMs are prop-heavy as well. The balance stick or dowel is also used with a dumbell (Nancy Tucker I think) and the Ooof ball is used in lots of the FIRM videos. Don't get me wrong, I love FIRM videos. It's just that Weights First doesn't use anything new that hasn't been already introduced in the FIRM's videos.

Martha, hope I didn't offend you--I really respect your opinion.

Caroline
Offended? Not at all. I love my FIRMs too, and I agree that nothing new is being used. But when Nancy T. uses the dowel and a dumbbell, it's more for balance/counterbalance, at least for me. Lifting the balance stick while moving both leg and ball conjures up a picture of uncoordinated Martha in a heap on the carpet. However, I do recall that the option is there to keep the balance stick on the floor. Perhaps because the workout moves so quickly, it also seems like the changing of props is a bit more constant than in a FIRM. But then of course it's not a FIRM, and it shouldn't be--it's something totally different.

As for props in general, some days I can't handle the more prop-laden FIRMs either (mentally more than physically), and although I knew that the FitPrimes would use a lot of props, I hadn't expected them to be used in the way they are. I'm one of the queens of multitasking (ask anyone who works with me!), but not necessarily of juggling unlike objects in my hands while lunging and dipping . This is probably a time that it would have been good to see a streamer before ordering, because I'm not at all sure I would've ordered if I had seen the streamer first. I'm still very put off by the production quality and the set--just my own opinion.
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Old 02-06-02, 01:25 PM  
susan p
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Re: I have it!

Quote:
Originally posted by Shelby
throwing it up during ab work will remain OUT for awhile, besides I'm afraid it's going to hit me in the face!

eeeeww, what a workout!! Throwing up a medicine ball??? TOO TOUGH for me!!! My abs will never be able to do that.

This must REALLY be an advanced video!
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Old 02-06-02, 01:26 PM  
Joni O
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Prop Stumbling

I seem to be stumbling over props moreso than normal with the newest Firms too. I like to use my body bar for lower body -- one size for squats; another size for lunges and dips. Then there are the 3-4 sets of dumbbells, along with the 2-piece Fanny Lifter. I also use my 3 Rubbermaid step stools stacked together for a nice 12" leg press box and my 6 Rubbermaid step stools stacked together for a nice 18" box to sit on while doing upper body work. Of course, there's also my exercise mat for sit-ups and pec flyes.

My workout area looks more like a disaster area when I'm done working out than my entire house does when the 3 grandkids come over and drag out all their toys! Of course, that's my fault for having to use so many extra props!
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Old 02-06-02, 01:28 PM  
susan p
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Re: Re: Prop heavy?

Quote:
Originally posted by Martha Edington


I knew that the FitPrimes would use a lot of props, I hadn't expected them to be used in the way they are. I'm one of the queens of multitasking (ask anyone who works with me!), but not necessarily of juggling unlike objects in my hands while lunging and dipping .
Oh NO, Martha, don't say that!! Anna might be lurking at VF and she'll think "juggling?? juggling?? JUGGLING!!! What a great idea!!!" and in her next video she'll have us juggling medicine balls while doing one-legged squats with a barbell balanced on our shoulders!
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Old 02-06-02, 01:36 PM  
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OK, mine came today!! I previewed some of it while I was dusting the living room. My living room hasn't been dusted THAT thoroughly in a long time, which was a blessing!

The production is mediocre. I wouldn't call it POOR. Just mediocre. Not mediocre enough to bug me too much. The workout looks GREAT!! The editing is choppy, but more in the intro than during the workout. The one thing that bugged me right off was that Tracie is OFF THE BEAT!! Honestly, she does some serious Denise Austin-ing in the first half hour of this video! Of course, if I can tolerate it when Denise does it, I can tolerate it when Tracie does it. And honestly, it has got to be pretty hard to keep on the beat when you're tossing a ball. . . Gravity is pretty unforgiving. Had to laugh at a couple of edits where Tracie must've MISSED the ball and it was edited out. The obviousness of a couple of those were precious. Altogether I feel somewhat affectionate toward this tape, sort of like I would toward someone's first baby or something. I think the WORKOUT is going to be excellent. There is more upper body work than you'd think, with all that ball throwing and stuff. The production is not good but not awful, definitely tolerable. I think I like it!! The editing glitches are kind of endearing.

Of course, I haven't done it yet. I might be cussing at Tracie pretty quick into the workout! And believe me, I won't be cussing about editing glitches, because I don't think I'm gonna CARE at that point!!

P.S. thank goodness for the mirror behind Tracie. Often when her head or legs are cut off, you can still see all of her in the mirror.
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Old 02-06-02, 02:12 PM  
smuha
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Cary, NC
Weights First impressions after doing it once

I have to start off by saying that I really had fun doing this workout. My short attention span was kept very happy. I also felt like a kid again playing with the ball. I had fun tossing it up and catching it and then later on bouncing it. To quote Tamela, “It was fun!” The ball definitely brings fun and levity back into working out. Luckily, I work out on exercise mat flooring so my Oof ball bounces. For those of you who don’t have a ball that bounces and you want to do this workout, you might want to get a play ball that will bounce just for the bouncy sections.

The warm-up is truly a warm-up. Using the ball adds a whole new dimension to warming up the body. I was warm and had broken a sweat by 2 or 3 minutes into the warm-up. If you have low ceilings or a ceiling fan (like I do), you need to be very careful with tossing the ball during the warm-up. I had to move away from my ceiling fan so I wouldn’t hit it (because I hit it once and that wasn’t a good thing).

Good news for those of you who have bought all of The FIRM’s props: you get the chance to use all of them in Weights First! You remain very busy during the entire workout. There are several posts on the FitPrime forum that list all of the moves so I won’t repeat them here. Here are the links in case you haven’t seen them:

http://www.fitprime.com/cgi-bin/ulti...c&f=2&t=000474

http://www.fitprime.com/cgi-bin/ulti...c&f=2&t=000464

However, listing all of the moves doesn’t tell the whole story. The workout is like nothing I’ve ever seen or done before and it’s very hard for me to classify. It’s like new FIRM meets classic FIRM with a twist (the ball). The upper body does get worked but nowhere near the amount that the lower body does. Think more along the lines of Better Buns being changed to Better Body & Buns because the upper body does get worked a bit to make it a total body workout. Anna answered someone’s question on her forum about Abs First having more of an upper body emphasis. Anna said that it would work more upper body with both dumbbells and the barbell. Here’s a link to her answer:

http://www.fitprime.com/cgi-bin/ulti...c&f=1&t=000127

The leg work is endurance work like Standing Legs and Leaner legs except you concentrate on the left leg first then switch to focusing on the right leg. What this should tell you is that the lunges, dips, squats, and leg presses are done at a slightly faster pace. This works fine as long as you realize that and don’t try to “heavy up.” In Tough Tape, there’s a section of leg presses from Tortoise followed by a section of leg presses from Hare. The ones from Hare are at a slightly faster pace because they're more “aerobic” in nature. Weights First fulfills the definition of “Aerobic Weight Training” perfectly. Another example would be the leg circuit section of BodyMax.

I know I’ve already said that I totally loved using the ball but that has to include using the ball during abdominal work. I really felt my ab muscles while doing crunches and at the same time tossing the ball and catching it. I had fun (yes, I know I’ve already said that but it’s true). I really felt like a kid playing.

The negatives: production quality is mediocre (thanks, Susan – perfect word!). It’s three steps up from PowerStrike: Kicks Only quality and two steps up from PowerStrike: Impact quality. You can hear Tracie and the music just fine but the lighting is strange. During some camera shots, Tracie has a green tint; in other shots, it’s like the lighting is too bright because she looks a little washed out. There are some other camera shots towards the end of the video where there’s more of a rose tint and that’s a little more pleasing to the eye. At the very beginning of the video, Tracie’s head gets cut off from the picture! I can understand wanting to go in close to see certain muscles working but we don’t need a ton of those kinds of shots. I would have preferred longer, wider shots for more of the workout so I could see all of Tracie a lot more often. Thank goodness for the mirror behind her because you can see more of her head and where the ball is going. The editing is choppy in some places. There seems to be a glitch in the tape but at the same time, I can tell it’s not the tape. It’s like there’s a problem with the master. My VCR does say that it was playing in SP mode but it doesn’t look like the tape was originally made in SP. It looks like two camcorders were set up to record Tracie working out and then the footage was spliced together.

I noticed all of these things while I was previewing last night. I didn’t notice as many things this morning while working out. I missed Tracie’s head getting cut from the camera view because I was too busy looking at where I was tossing my ball. If I wasn’t paying attention to my ball, then I was looking at myself in the mirror making sure I kept perfect form. The only thing I noticed this morning was the couple of glitches right in a row that happen immediately before the right-side lat rows. I was looking at the TV while moving to set up at my tallbox and I saw them. I didn’t notice any of the others… at least not this morning. Like I said, I was busy paying attention to what I was doing.

I liked the music but some people might not. It reminds me of a mix of Enya-like music with light jazz. I’m not going to be much help in that realm because there’s not much music that I don’t like. The only complaints I ever have about music in videos is if the music isn’t loud enough and that’s not a problem in Weights First. The background is also very busy but it didn’t bother me as much as it is bothering and will bother others. I don’t usually complain about backgrounds unless they’re too plain (like in Charlene Prickett’s newest videos) and that may stem from colors and graphics being a huge part of my job.

My impression while previewing the video was major disappointment. My impression after doing the video is that it’s very tough work for the legs but you move from one exercise to another fairly quickly. I had fun with the ball (did I say that already?) and I almost wish there were more ball segments. Maybe I’ll have to check out some of Mindy’s ball videos as long as they aren’t high impact. I love Tracie dearly and I’m very glad I have this video. I plan on alternating it (on my weights days) with the new FIRM Cardio Sculpt tape for the next month or so to see how much I can change my body shape and size while increasing strength and endurance. However I don’t think I’m willing to do Weights First more than once a week.

I didn’t use any weights for the lower body if I could get away with it which means I think I only used weights for the “good mornings” (which I turned into quarter deadlifts) and squats combination. I did use weights for all upper body work.

I think that’s it… questions?
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Old 02-06-02, 02:37 PM  
susan p
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Re: Weights First impressions after doing it once

Quote:
Originally posted by smuha
I also felt like a kid again playing with the ball. I had fun tossing it up and catching it and then later on bouncing it. To quote Tamela, “It was fun!” The ball definitely brings fun and levity back into working out
GREAT post, Sharon! Can you tell I am addicted to this thread today? haha. You know, one of the first and strongest thoughts I had about this tape, with all the ball stuff, was "this looks FUN!" So I am glad to hear that it IS. I love tossing a ball around.
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Old 02-06-02, 05:52 PM  
Dreamer
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
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Smile More preview options

For those of you that were having trouble seeing the Weights First preview, you might want to try it out now. They now have the preview in Quicktime, Realplayer, and Windows Media Player formats.

Also, I noticed that the clip is shorter than the one they had up previously. I downloaded the original one to my computer (waiting for it to download into Quicktime was a pain). So if anyone wants the long (nearly 5MB) Quicktime version and your email can handle it , just ask me.
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Old 02-06-02, 06:57 PM  
Barbara F
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FitPrime Forum - Tracie's comments

In case you haven't noticed, there's a long thread over there, entitled "Anyone disappointed in the quality of the new video?", which has lots of both negative and positive comments. . . and Tracie Long actually posted to this thread! (near the end of it at the moment). I thought her comment was great.

I'm not sure I know how to post the URL, but here's a try:

http://www.fitprime.com/cgi-bin/ulti...c&f=2&t=000497
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