The old Firm

[Helen S]

Barbara,

Thanks for sharing your trip stories and pictures. Joni, we'll be waiting for your trip report.

[TinaT]

I just started a thread about Vol. 6 Boomers WO and then I saw this thread. I just did Vol.6 this morning for the first time in a very long time. I wore out my VHS copy and never replaced it until recently with the DVD version.

The "Old" FIRM is definitely the best. (IMO) I guess if you are one those folks who didn't know about it until after Anna had to sell, these might seem odd, but to those of us who "grew up" with Anna's production style, these are a great marker for what fitness WOs should look and feel like. I'm not knocking other methods by any means, I just think Anna knows how to put a workout together from start to the finished product.

I bet GAIAM is learning a ton from her on these new remakes in the time and care she takes.

BTW ~ The Splits are truly tough workouts with some of the best segments created. Though I don't reach for them very often b/c of the length of time.

[Marianne G]

Gosh, this brings back memories - I just saw myself sitting next to Cynthia Benson in the front (grey shirt) in the 1999 picture! The FIRM Vol. 1 started it all for me. I went on 2 trips, worked out, in a PT session, with Tracie and Allie, and of course all those group classes! My most memorable one was a Kickboxing class taught by Jen and Robin (happened to be my first one, too).

Now, I'm sort of a re-starter and doing Leslies and will do PowerFit in addition.

[Barbara P]

Marianne!! How are you sweetie! I haven't seen you in a while! How is Emma, she isn't a little girl any more, I am sure. But Justin isn't a little boy either (he is <gulp> 17).

Those were the days, weren't they?

Love your cat avatar!

[Christine L.]

I was on the 1999 trip! I'm in the back row looking red, horrible and sweaty! LOL I'm between the girl in the black t-shirt and the girl in the striped tank (on the right side of the group)

That sure was a fun trip! I still remember being so sore. I took multiple classes and did two personal training sessions with Tamela Hastie.

[Marianne G]

Hey Barb!
It's funny how we catch up every once in a while when we're in a FIRM thread of some kind .
Doing well, after finally getting a little better from some terrible fatigue issues: the net of it is that I couldn't really exercise for over a year, but now I'm finally able to re-start, which makes me feel better in many ways.

Thanks for the compliment on my cat Kali; she has a sister, called Mimi, but she didn't pose near any weights, so she's not pictured, plus she's eaten away the padding on my FIRM barbell! Do you still have a lot of cats, too? I figured the relaxed one on your profile is one...

Emma is now a freshman in High School I guess you're starting to look at colleges for Justin... Yikes!

[FitBoop]

I envy everyone who went on a Firm trip! I remember the "old days" when there weren't a lot of great workout videos and the Firm was revolutionary---the thought of actually going to the Firm and meeting the super-strong instructors (like Susan Harris) seemed like a dream come true. It still does, actually!

Joni, have a great time and take a LOT of photos!

[Lissa]

I did Vol. 4 on Tuesday. Gosh, I love Susan! I wish I had Vol. 1 on dvd. Any place you can order that one?

Today I did Maximum Body Sculpting with Tracie Long. Great workout! I even added some floor work from Sculpted Buns, Hips & Thighs.

I used my Transfirmer for both workouts. That really helps me alot with the lunges.

I just love the old Firms. They don't feel dated to me. Brings back good memories of great results.

~Lissa

[JENILU]

Since this thread is about the old Firms, I thought maybe I could pose a question here? When I've read about the results people got years ago with Volume 1 and so- on, they acted like they did it every day. Any rotations I see these days, of course, do rest days in - between. Is it safe to do them every day if one day very light weights are used? Example: Becouse of the jumping around, I could stick with light weights in volume 1, and do Maximum Body Sculpting on day 2? It appears, from some old reviews at Amazon, people claim to have done Vol. 1 everyday- or 5 days a week. If any of you used to do this, did you use very light weights and was it still successful that way? Sorry for all the questions.
(On a side note, today was my first day ever to do vol. 1, and although I had to split it apart and rest a bit before finishing it, I LOVED it!! I'm in my early 30's and very out of shape, but loved it- and even like hervoice. Maybe becouse I'm from the south? And I barely noticed the outfits- even though I was all prepared to cringe. Loved it, loved it, loved it!!)
Thanks,
Jen

[kat999]

I've been using both old and new Firm videos off and on for the last ten or eleven years or so. Every time I start an exercise regime anew, I always start out doing a rotation of all different kinds of workouts, just to keep it interesting. That lasts about a week before I finally realize that the Firm is what I start actively craving! I don't even care that some of the outfits and music seems dated. I started doing workout videos with my mom as a kid to the original Jane Fonda's Workout--believe me, the older Firm tapes look positively futuristic compared to Jane's crew of guys and gals in things like stirrip legwarmers (!!!), belted leotards, and terry cloth bands on every possible appendage. Susan Harris seems positively cutting edge by comparison.

That said, I may be in the minority here but I actually do like some of the new Firm stuff, too, although I'm considering also getting some of the Fit Prime/Kick Butt stuff straight from Anna Benson's current company (I've ordered old Firm stuff direct from her before with no problem--I was missing the Vol. 6 original series, for example, and my Vol. 5 tape wore out). I'm not quite in the age bracket for the Fit Prime, though. Does anybody think that I'll feel like I'm not getting enough of a workout? Or will these still pack a punch?

With the new Firm DVDs, some of them are fabulous, some of them not. I think Allie is a tough little trainer who always challenges me, but I recently did one of the workouts that uses the weighted stick and while it was actually a lot of fun, I felt like it was too easy. I'm sure if I did that workout on a day I didn't want to push myself, that would be fine, but I don't know that one could get results from new Firms only without rotating in the old ones, too. The new ones feel too much like the '90s Firm Basics series, which I always thought were designed to introduce non-exercisers to working out, not that you would actually want to STOP there, you know? (I still do the three main Firm Basics tapes but use bigger weights so that they're actually challenging.) The new Firms can sometimes be modified like that, but not workouts that use, for example, the stick or the bands.