The Firm - Burn and Shape (DVD, 2007)

I have owned The Firm videos from 1986, the originals.. This one is like the other Firm workouts, very fast moving with not much coaching. I catch on after a couple of times. Burn and Shape will make you sweat... so wear your heart rate monitor to see the actual calorie burn! You will be surprized. I bought this dvd because of the description of the workout and I have seen Emily Welsh on other workouts. I rate it a good only because the volume has to go up a bit to hear the instructions. Enjoy!

I like this work out. A lot of the moves are challenging from a coordination and intensity perspective, so the DVD keeps me engaged and I don't tune it out as easily. The one bad thing I think about the newer series from the Firm is that several moves are done facing the side. This makes it hard when you're learning the moves, you have to keep your head turned to the side to know what you're doing. Generally speaking, though, I like this workout and it does a good job of combining moves so you can complete the workout a little faster.

This is a great workout combination! It makes it different because you're doing two exercises at the same time mostly throughout the video! Emily begins it with a nice warm up. You then go into lunges & dips. You hinge also with the weights while you're doing the lunging & dipping. From there, you go into plea's & squats. While doing the squats, you lift the weights (kind of swinging like), from side to side. After, comes bicep curls & push ups with one weight. You do dips with one heavy weight while working your triceps. It then goes onto doing lat rows while kneeling. There are squats, kicks, then dips with plyo's in between. There is also while lifting heavy weights, lunge to the side & sweep your leg to the front. Emily also incorporates walking lunges with shallow strides & dipping back while going backwards. Combining this with clean & press + hammer curls! Then into row & hinges with kickbacks afterwards. Ending the video is, "Standing abs." They call it the, "Seesaw." This is where you hold a medium weight & lift your leg up then tap it while leaning back just a little. Eventually you combine this move with bringing in your knee to meet with the twisting of your weight in your hands. Then finishing it up with planks, push-ups, planks & finally pec flys while stretching your leg outward & back in to feel the full motion of your abs working! You do some normal ab work after this move, too! It's a perfect, "Not that same ol' routine" dvd! Plus, to get the cardio moves in between! Emily makes it fun & completely interesting!

I was very surprised that I liked this video as much as I did! The instructor was a bit irritating in some of the other videos in which she wasn't the lead instructor, but she was great in this video! The beginning was a bit fast and hard to catch on (typical of the Firm workouts), but after a few times you get it. The Firm workouts have been the only exercise videos I've been able to stick with. They don't make you so sore that you can't move, but they tone your muscles and provide great cardio! All at the same time! I've been doing them faithfully for 6 weeks and can notice a difference. I am definitely a Firm Believer!

I rated this DVD as "good" because it really isn't a beginning exercise DVD in my opinion. The exercises are somewhat difficult for the beginner.