Physique 57: Classic Volume 2

I really enjoyed Classic Volume 2. For me, Vol. 1 seemed to drag on for hours, and I could never bring myself to do it. Talk about dread!

Anyway, back to Vol. 2: loved the arm work! It felt very similar to the arm work from Arm & Ab Booster, which I enjoy.

The thigh work was okay...I generally only tolerate barre-thighs (much prefer the glute work from barre). Parts were a little awkward with the ball between the thighs and when it was in the staggered foot position. But that set of curtsey lunges was killer!

The seat work was tough (my standing leg was dying) and I LOVED that there was FLOORWORK! And SIDE-LYING floorwork, which is the kind I love the best. It's like Winsor Bun & Thigh Sculpting and tough-barre had a love-child and this is IT!

All-around enjoyable workout! Very wobble-inducing.

This is a breakdown of this DVD. There are no chapters on the menu, but it is chaptered:

o Warmup (9.5 min): Starts with the traditional barre style marching warmup. She then has you pick up weights for upper body work, the first portion while doing wide leg plies. You move on to pushups (5 pushups, hold in plank and pulse right leg, 5 pushups with right leg raised, hold in plank and pulse left leg, 5 pushups with left leg raised) and then forearm plank pulsing knees up and down from the ground. The last set is tricep dips followed by a brief chest and shoulder stretch.

o Thighs Round 1 (6 min): Hold the ball between your thighs while doing a variety of standing thigh work. Ends with a brief stretch.

o Thighs Round 2 (8 min): Curtsy, curtsy with leg raise, wide leg plie variations, kneeling thigh dancing, pushups (4 two-count, 6 single count), stretch.

o Glutes (12 min): Standing glute work, floor work (the L, clam variations), brief seated stretch. Repeat on second side.

o Abs with leg variations (<4 min): You need a playground ball for the first part of this segment, holding it between the legs. It is followed by a brief stretch.

o Abs round 2 (5 min): Starts with pilates based ab work, continuing with the leg variations. Then moves to a high c-curve using a cushion for support under the lower back (you need your playground ball as well).

o Back Dancing (<2 min)

o Back Extension (1 min, ball needed)

o Stretch (4 min)

They used either 5 or 8 lb weights for the upper body segment. I used 5 lbs as I was more interested in range of motion during the wide leg plies. I would have liked another minute of back dancing, but this was really a great whole body workout. I liked the inclusion of floor work in the glute segment, as well as extension work after the abs. The stretching between segments was perfect, although the last stretch was too short for my preference so I did additional stretching after.

OTHER COMMENTS:

I received a free Physique 57 ball with my DVDs. It turns out it is just like the playground ball I already had. It works fine for the thigh and ab segments, but next time I do the glute segments from the other Vol 2 DVDs using the ball I will probably use my Fitball Mini as the P57 ball kept slipping out from in back of my knee.

It took me a little while to find the right support for the c-curve abs. I started with a thin cushion that looked similar in thickness to the one they use on the DVD and placed it under my mat, but it seemed to bother my lower back more than help it. I then tried a folded towel, but it was so thin it didn't do much. The best option was a small throw pillow off my sofa, placing it on top of the mat to support my lower back.

I'm 48 with a bad knee and hip dysplasia, although I'm in pretty good shape despite my limitations. Barre has really helped my knees although I waited a few months after finishing up physical therapy before trying the thigh segments. The 57 minute DVD did bother my hip a little bit, but not enough to cause any serious problems

General Breakdown: Like the original P57 Classic, this is fast-paced barre workout based strongly on the Lotte Berk method. It starts with knee raises in a brief warm-up before moving to upper body work. This was fairly similar to the original one with some minor variations like one-legged push-ups. It looked like everyone was using 5# - 8# weights for these, so heavier than the original, but the general idea was that even in the first one you should be going heavier if it's getting too easy. Thigh work came next, mostly standing work with the ball with the legs in a curtsey (versus parallel) position with some thigh dancing at the end. Standing glute work was next and this included some new moves (the swirl) that also targeted the outer hip. Next was floor work that included the L and clam before repeating everything on the other side. Next was abdominal work which was a mix of pilates based moves and C-curve based variations.

Production Quality: I thought the set was nice and bright and that you could see the different exercises performed well. I also loved the music on this one. The workout was chaptered. Towards the end of Tanya's introduction she does give some brief form pointers on one of the new moves used in this workout.

Overall Impressions: I thought this workout had a nice blend of traditional barre work and some new variations that weren't used before. I also thought it was very balanced for thigh and glute work. On the whole I found it slightly more challenging than the original workout.