The FIRM BSS3

[midnightstar]

I am hoping to get mine soon, hopefully today. What do the people how have tried them think? Other than the incline step... how did the workout compare to other FIRMs you have tried. How do they compare to the older FIRMS? Was the Cardio workout good? Which workout do you like the best? I want all the dirt! Thanks a BUNCH!

[gemgigi]

I found the videos to be:
1. Fun! Especialy cardio on the incline!
2. Confusing! Trying to actually see what how to do the cardio on the incline, as they have it turned to side, while it is recommend that we face our box towards the tv.
3. Steph's workout is the best, IMHO
4. All the ab work sucks, unless you have some form of suction cup to keep you from sliding off the incline while doing lower ab work. Ouch
5.Hard to watch! Christa is so thin she looks like something is wrong with her
Gemma- who really does think the workouts are fun!

[Helen S]

I think the BSS 3 workouts are the same level as the BSS 1 and 2 workouts. However, I do think they are more fun because of the incline lunges and cardio. Like Gemma, I like Stephanie's workout the best. Lisa's cardio needs to be longer. She also cues late and sometimes the music drowns out her cues. However, she repeats a pattern enough times that I did get the choreography. I'm hoping for more complex choreography for future Firm workouts. I think they weren't getting too fancy since the long step and incline step are new to some people. For the ab work, I had to hold on to the top of the step. Otherwise, I would slide off of the box. It didn't bother me but I'm also only five feet tall. I think the box is too short for taller people.

Helen

[LCC]

My opinions:

"The Box" is a dangerous piece of junk that should be recalled and destroyed. (Even if it wasn't dangerous, it is too short to do lying work on and I would still slide off of it's super slick surface on the incline.)

Overall, I don't like the darkness in the new set, the way the beginners can't see Libby for most of all of the workouts, and the music is obnoxious---especially in Christa's workout.

Stephanie's workout, talking about the workout itself, is pretty good if you can find a way to substitute for the death box. It's on par with the BSS2 workouts.

Lisa's workout is short, kind of confusing at times with the side views of the box, and not super hard, but not really easy either. You can get a sweat up with it on a 6 inch club step. I would say about on par with the 6 pack workouts.

Christa's workout just doesn't feel complete, has the worst of the obnoxious music, there is something wrong with the sound mix so at times it is hard to hear her, and Christa looks...disturbing. (So does Pam in the background.) I won't rate this one because I honestly don't think it ever should have been filmed. Whatever made Christa look like that...it's not a look that should be immortalized in a Firm workout as something for young girls to aspire to.

All in all, I am extremely disappointed in this set.

Laura (LCC)

[gemgigi]

Did you all see that Collage pushed the release date back to June? I wonder if they are filming new videos and not just re-vamping the death box! I am supposed to receive a new set since my box came to me after being used as a test model.
Gemma

[Megan]

I just tried Christa's last night. I bought it by itself from e-bay so I can't comment on the box. I thought the workout was okay. It's certainly not as intense as the other FIRM's I'm used to, although I am feeling it today in the glutes and shoulders. Lots of lunges which aren't my favourite exercise. Other than the incline lunges and squats on the longer step there isn't anything revolutionary or new in terms of exercises. The abs weren't very difficult at all, and I usually have a hard time with abs segments. I was going it all on the floor though. The aerobics sections are really short and I wonder why they bothered to include them in the first place. They might as well have made this a sculpt workout with no cardio. Or made them longer to make a good 60 minute cardo/sculpt.

I kind of liked the music, and the loudness didn't bother me. There is one track that could get really annoying if you did this workout a lot. There were a few spots where I found Christa hard to hear but overall I didn't notice that too much.

One thing I did really like about this is that they sequenced the exercises so there aren't a lot of equipment changes and when there is a change they give you enough time to do it. In my older FIRM's I'm always pausing or scrambling to get my equipment set up so I appreciated that.

About the instructors, Christa isn't my favourite out of the new group from what I've seen. She is painfully scrawny looking, as is Pam. I actually let out a gasp when they focused in on her in the intro. Not flattering at all. The other three look much better, healthier and well toned. I really like Libby with darker hair. The set was arranged so that you could only see two or three of them at a time and I didn't like that, given the aforementioned comments about Pam & Christa.

I'm not sure if I'm going to keep this one or not. It'll be nice to have when I don't feel like killing myself with an older FIRM.