The Firm Wave: Ride the Wave

This is the 10 minute instructional workout that came with the Firm Wave kit. Emily leads alone with no background instructors, in the otherwise vacant Wave set with the five Wave steps set up. Emily shows you a move, both demonstrating how to correctly do it followed by what NOT to do, then she does a few reps which makes the instructional into a very quick semi-workout. No equipment needed except for the Wave (the step and the blue mat that goes underneath).

First she shows you how to use the stable part of the Wave as a step, an idea which I'm not completely sold on, because the step is slippery and curved, which might lead to tripping, especially amidst a quick moving step aerobics tune. The curved part might make stepping on it unique, but I just don't know how safe this will be.

Emily then flips over the Wave onto the unstable side and shows you how to step onto it safely. She recommends that you step one foot up into the center, followed by the other foot, and heel-toe it out so your feet are towards the outside edges of the step (beginners recommended to keep their feet in a narrower stance). Alternately, she shows you how to step up, move one foot to the edge, which pushes the other end higher, then step the other foot. She has you step on and off with each foot leading, then she moves into squatting and rocking on the Wave.

For squatting and rocking on the Wave, she recommends you stand "like you are riding on a horse" which isn't any more information than what I would have gotten from a full Wave workout anyway (based on my experience with Speed Slimming Scupt). However, she does show you what NOT to do, which is to let your knees cave inwards or to lock out your knees. Then she rocks back and forth a few times at tempo, and tells you to have fun with it. And it is fun!

Then she shows you how to lunge on the Wave, standing sideways on the unstable part and rocking back and forth (see Rock it Off DVD cover for reference). I was really curious about this move, and was looking forward to it, but she just really did not give any insight to technique. Should the rocking come from pushing the feet into the edges of the step (which is confusing to do without locking out your knees), or from your bodyweight and your core controlling the rocking motion? The only advice she gave was to not lock out your knees, which I could have gathered intuitively. At any rate, I am hoping I will develop my own technique to make this move effective, or maybe one of the instructors in the main workouts will be more descriptive.

She also shows you how to do pushups with your hands on the unstable part of the Wave. These are really pretty challenging so she demonstrates them on her knees, but she does do the last four reps on her toes.

All in all this is a good DVD to have to introduce you to the Wave, but for most exercisers you will only need to go through it one time (I won't be using it again). I wanted to ensure I started out using proper form, and that's why I did this before trying any of the full workouts, but I think for an instructional workout, and for such a peculiar piece of equipment, I wish Emily could have given more description on technique on some exercises. Be that as it may, the short length was appropriate, and Emily covered what I assume will be all of the moves used in the other workouts, and it is good that an instructional workout was included, especially for any beginners starting with this kit. Overall grade B.