To All the Slim Series Die-Hards...

[Aurora C.]

I too am a devotee of Debbie! After much trial & error I have found that these fast-paced, light-weight/high-rep circuit type workouts give me the best results & I love how they fly right by! I have achieved much more strength, endurance, & a leaner, more sculpted look than ever before, but I am getting sooo burnt out on them & stalling & hitting plateaus. I am quite curvy & I love my curves, but I can easily look somewhat round & need workouts that offer a long, lithe result...I'm happy with my belly dancer body but prefer ballerina limbs ;-) I need some variety, & to challenge myself in different ways. I would love to hear what you have graduated to or incorporated that has taken the stellar results from SS to the next level!

So far what I've tried, but keep coming back to SS:
I couldn't really get into Jari; had a hard time sticking with Jillian - though I may try again because I have them & didn't hate them, just found Jillian hard to wake up & workout to; Chalene Extreme bulked me up like the Michelin Man, despite her promises to the contrary; I love Tony Horton but I'm intimidated by P90X, afraid it will also add too much bulk; I love Tonique Mat Workout (though I find Sylwia a little irritating) but the other Toniques look like they have too many lunges that may aggravate my knees & feet; I finally tried Bob Harper's Pure Burn/Pure Strength I've had sitting on the shelf for ages & found that one really challenging & cool but it's just one workout, I'm likely to tire of that too if there's not more variety in my rotation.

Please help me advance to the next level with your ingenious experience & expertise! Thanks in advance.

All the Best,
Aurora

[bzar]

if you want something "like" SS but "not SS" (high rep, low weight) you might consider these:

1) classic firms (1st 3 volumes, although the other workouts would be good)
2) karen voight - her older ones
3) cindy crawford
4) anna benson's Kickbutt series (as opposed to fitprimes)
5) margaret richard
6) cathe's low intensity stuff and some of her low weight/high rep stuff
7) gilad (most people don't associate him w/high rep-low weight, but his is, and his older stuff has lots of floor work)
8) step workouts like from gin miller's reebok stuff, kathy smith

i've tried all of the above except margaret.

if you want something totally different, perhaps:
a) turbo jam
b) running
c) P90 masters (roughly 45 min apiece)
d) spinning


if you don't mind continuing w/SS and want a different spin on it:
i) do SS, choose "turn music off" option, and play your own
ii) do a halfsie (do half, do something else)
iii) mix it up with Si6 and KIU and her SSExp
iv) halfsie SS w/halfsie P90x

you don't need to quit doing SS all together and go to a totally different regimen by cutting over to another option. you can do half of a SS workout and do another one right after. if you go to the rotations forum, there's TONS of threads on adapting SS or weaning yourself from it and combining it w/other workouts, be it beachbody or not.

personally, i found reprieve by combining running with SS, and also going back to the firm classics. i had even thrown in some step workouts (non-cathe) as a change of pace. i've done a P90x rotation, so having had that experience, i've combined it w/SS on some occasions. however, i'd never stuck to a half P90x/half SS rotation for a long period. if anything, P90x gave me more definition but didn't bulk me. you can choose the resistance bands options instead of lifting heavy - he ALWAYS has someone using the resistance bands, and it's not always the female cast member!!!

a lot of it is just your brain getting too accustomed to SS. yet you want the success that SS is so famous for, and the length of the workouts (~1 hour) is part of the reason why these are so effective, but at the same time the length can become a dread factor. by doing half, and going to a different instructor, it tricks your brain into thinking it's a shorter workout.

[Helen S]

Since I like Bob Harper's Pure Strength, you might like his Rev Cardio, Ultimate Cardio, and Total Body Transformation workouts.

I also recommend Squeeze Stronger. It's a total body workout. It's also a great transition between a barre workout and a traditional weight workout. This might help you decide whether you like barre workouts.

[Tugger31]

Squeeze and Squeeze Stronger

Karen Voight's Great Weighted Workout

Cathe's Turbo Barre (great upper body, high rep segment)

Tracey Mallett's Booty Barre Plus Arms and Abs

(I'm generally not a barre person but the last two I mentioned burn both upper and lower body!)

Keep an eye out for Anni Mair's new Fierce Force too

[violingal3]

I wasn't expecting much when I bought them, but I love Brook Burke's workouts - to me they kinda combine SS with a little Tonique and Squeeze thrown in. She pays attention to those female trouble areas and has some killer ab work! Don't under estimate these!

[txfitmom]

I did a Slim Series rotation a few months ago and got really burned out pretty quickly and my results were not stellar. Since then, I have been doing a lot of Margaret Richard, Joyce Vedral (she has lots of higher reps workouts and they are a lot shorter than Slim Series), and the occasional Tracey Mallet or Ellen Barrett.

[Aurora C.]

Thanks! Great suggestions! I actually tried the SS Express & lost some ground with those, it seems my body responds better to longer workouts - which I don't mind so much with SS because they flow so well, they're over before you know it! I used to like the classic Firms, but something about them turns me off now - they're so dated...Margaret Richard's too. But I do like Gilad! I tried the Cindy Crawford's but didn't click with them either, I think I found the pace & flow didn't keep me motivated & some of the moves/transitions were awkward for me...but I have them & will revisit them because some of what I didn't like may have been due to my own inability to keep up or something...& I LOVE when I hated something before because it was too hard but now I can do it! Slim Series & Tonique is like that for me...also following Helen all the way through on Bob Harper's will be like that for me too! - I kept up with her most of the way but she took the lead in at least 3 exercises that I can remember ;-)

To make up for the lost ground I did start tacking on the upper body section of Squeeze Stronger (up to the waist segment), alternating with Tracy Anderson's arm segment on her Mat Workout DVD, & I'm about to try Leah Serago's upper body workout as an add-on for variety too. I switched out Firm It Up for BBL & Tonique Mat, alternating them, but then BBL got too easy & I've been doing Tonique 2-3X a week.

I do a 45-minute Spin class twice a week & I've just added running back in now that the weather's better & my foot is healing from surgery in January.

I also aim to do Kundalini Yoga every day, though sometimes it's more like 5-6X a week.

So far I have not loved any barre workouts that I've tried, they just don't get me panting, gasping for air & drenched in sweat enough to feel like I've really wrung out all I've got, & that's a very therapeutic & satisfying feeling for me...I look for that in a workout - I like to feel thoroughly worked ;-)

I have very limited experience with Cathe, she's always seemed too intense for me to keep up with & I've always associated her with heavy weights & too complicated choreography, but I welcome suggestions of what DVDs to start with aside from the ones mentioned - she's got sooo many!

I have no experience with Anna Benson's Kickbutt series, I'll have to look into those.

I'm glad Brooke Burke's came recommended because I was curious about those. And I'll definitely check out Bob Harper's others too since I got a good workout from the first one.

Thanks so much for all the great feedback! I'll take more if you've got it ;-)

[Aurora C.]

Which Joyce Vedral's, txfitmom? I've not done or even seen anything from her! I couldn't get into Ellen Barrett so much, I like her, but I don't get that worked out feeling from her DVDs...they're just a little too wimpy or something.

[Sharaz]

It seems that you and I respond to certain workouts on the same way. I'm curvy too and bulk with heavy strength focused workouts. I get guns quickly if I go too heavy. I know by experience because I was huge when my main training focused on heavy weights.

So, if you bulked up with Chalene, I don't recommend P90X. Keep with the light weight/heavy repetitions pattern. Circuit and Bodyweigh workouts will help too. You get strength without the bulk.

Are you looking for a system or individual workouts recommendations?

[akaAnnie]

Would the Dove series be along the lines of SS? They are available on netfix if you have that.