Does anyone work out to Richard Simmons? (come on, admit it!)

[swee2th]

Now that you mention it, I've considered buying his workouts because it sounds like he was able to use music by the original artists for the oldies workouts. Am I right about this? Are those the original tunes by the original artists? If so, that music would really motivate me.

[horsemom2]

Originally Posted by swee2th

Now that you mention it, I've considered buying his workouts because it sounds like he was able to use music by the original artists for the oldies workouts. Am I right about this? Are those the original tunes by the original artists? If so, that music would really motivate me.

I believe it is mostly the original tunes but not sung by the original artists. Many of the songs are done by a live band that do a good job. In one of them, the singer had written the original song she was singing (don't remember exactly which song that was though).

Barb S
who usually follows a background dancer rather than Richard, himself

[bluecaffeine]

I tried my first Richard Simmons workout the other day.
It was the Latin one.
I LOVE the music, but I felt like I was pretty much making up my own moves as I went along. Cuing seemed pretty nonexistant, but the music was so much fun that it almost didn't matter.

[ziggy2306]

A few years ago when I started exercising, he got me going. Now that I am starting over again...I am back with him until I get my groove back for my harder videos...

As far as fun factor goes...I love the original Sweatin to the oldies...it seems less forced and less annoying than his subsequent attempts at the oldie videos....and the end, where they do the walk of weight loss thing...it is very very inspirational. i can remember crying the first time I watched it.

Another one that tops the charts for fun factor is Disco sweat. I had this on VHS and got rid of it with the plans of acquiring the DVD...but haven't found the dvd in any store since....I think I'd better get back out there and look for it again cuz i just had an urge to do it!

[Donna Mc]

Originally Posted by horsemom2

In one of them, the singer had written the original song she was singing (don't remember exactly which song that was though).

Barb S

"The Rose" in Dance Your Pants Off was sung by the woman who wrote the song. Too bad it wasn't Bette Midler!

Ok, I know way too much about his workouts, LOL! I only did them exclusively for a year and a half! Thank goodness I found VF!

[Donna Mc]

Originally Posted by ziggy2306

Another one that tops the charts for fun factor is Disco sweat. I had this on VHS and got rid of it with the plans of acquiring the DVD...but haven't found the dvd in any store since....I think I'd better get back out there and look for it again cuz i just had an urge to do it!

Believe it or not, his DVD's are chaptered by song! I didn't think goodtimes chaptered any DVD's but his are nicely chaptered. I just traded for Sweat & Shout, my all time favorite of all his workouts, with Disco being second. I did about 35 minutes of it the other day, just choosing the songs I wanted to do that day. The nice thing about his workouts being on DVD is that you can choose to skip the beginning stretch and second warmup and go right to the more intense part in the middle and stretching after the workout. That's the main problem I have with his VHS workouts, it takes him forever (about 20 minutes or so) to get to the main part of the workout!

[carole r.]

One of my first videos was Sweatin to the Oldies. I don't use it any more but it helped me a lot. I liked the fact that it featured normal and people, all works in progress. BTW, did any one see him on Ryan Seacrest the other day? I have also seen him on Who's Line is it anyway? and Late Night with David Letterman. I've got to hand it to him: he's got a great sense of humor about himself.

[Kerri]

Originally Posted by Donna Mc

Believe it or not, his DVD's are chaptered by song! I didn't think goodtimes chaptered any DVD's but his are nicely chaptered. I just traded for Sweat & Shout, my all time favorite of all his workouts, with Disco being second.

Sweat & Shout is my favorite of the ones I've seen (love the music). I didn't realize that his dvd's are chaptered by song. That's great! Now if he would put in a music only option, he would sell a whole lot more dvd's IMHO. I was preveiwing a stretch tape of his the other day (found it at a discount store for around $3 and the songs listed appealed to me). My DH had to leave the room when Richard started singing along to "Just the Two of Us". :rolleyes:

Kerri

[GymRatt]

I traded for Blast and Tone several weeks ago, and JUST got around to previewing it.

WHAT A GREAT WORKOUT!

It's a very well constructed 30 minute strength workout in the following format:

WARM UP 5 minutes
You hold use light weights for some nice 4-limb work a la the FIRM

ENDURANCE STRENGTH 7 minutes
Light weights w/ Hi Reps (12-24 depending on the exercise)

HEAVY WEIGHT STRENGTH 7 minutes
Heavy weights w/ low reps (8-12 depending on the exercise)

ABS/Back 5 minutes
Challenging ab section with fast AND slow reps. Works entire ab area.

COOLDOWN 5 minutes
A truly AWESOME song!!

This is a great 30 minute workout, imo!! Glad I looked at it!!

[horsemom2]

Originally Posted by GymRatt

I traded for Blast and Tone several weeks ago, and JUST got around to previewing it.

WHAT A GREAT WORKOUT!

and here I was worried you were remorseful about the trade!

Barb S
who just did Richard's very old Everyday and couldn't believe how much was in this video from abs to lower body to face exercises and even great cardio for the rebounder (he was doing the high impact barefoot!)