Pure Barre Lowry Lofts 1

Here is a break down of the DVD:

Total playtime: 37:27 (on the DVD they say 45 minutes, but it is not that long)

Warmup & Upper Body (9 minutes):

Barre-style knee high march

Abdominal variations with ring between thighs

Forearm plank (20 seconds)

Straight arm plank (20 seconds)

(She says 30 seconds for the planks but they aren't that long)

Side plank both sides

Pushups (she does them all with knees on ground - I modify the hands-wide version and do as toe pushups) -

2 counts up / down, hands wide (4)

Single count, hands wide (16)

2 counts up/down, hands narrow (4)

Small pulses (10)

Child's pose

Tricep dips (7 single count, 17 pulses)

Standing upper body work with ring for resistance

Standing side stretch

Shoulder stretch

Thigh work:

Knee dancing holding ring in hands (hip tucks)

Parallel leg plie on toes with ring around legs, just above the knees

Knees turned out plie with ring between thighs

Stretching (just over 3 minutes)

Glute work:

Ring placed between back of knee and heel, lifting with bent knee

Straight leg pulses, ring drops

Leg bent, out to the side using side of ring pushing on the leg for resistance

Figure-4 standing stretch

Abs / Lower Back:

Ring between thighs (sitting higher than c-curve)

Legs straight, one raised overhead

Reverse curl with ring between thighs, toes touching

Cobra

Locust variation

Cat/cow

Stretching: 2.5 minutes, very brief.

COMMENTS:

Carrie's style is pretty straight forward - she doesn't show a lot of charisma. This didn't bother me, but for someone looking for a really "fun" workout, this might bother them. She doesn't give a lot of tips on form, or sometimes the tips are so subtle I didn't even realize they were there until I had done the workout a few times. If someone is completely new to barre work and prefers a lot of instruction on form, this might not be the best choice.

The ring that Pure Barre sells on their web page to go with this DVD seems to be a little too big for some of the thigh work. When placing the ring around my legs for the parallel leg plies, I had to move the ring higher up on my leg than what they say on the DVD or I would have been trying to do it bow legged. This wasn't a big deal and the exercise was still effective. When doing plies with legs turned out, the ring is too big to place between my legs. I substituted with a yoga block as they have recommended on some Core Fusion DVDs I had. A playground or exercise ball would also work fine as a substitute.

While overall I really liked the use of the ring, in portions of the glute work it felt as if they were trying to design the workout around the ring, instead of using it where it seemed to make the most sense. For the first portion where you place the ring in the fold on the back of the knee, this seemed really awkward to me as the handle of the ring is so small. I substituted with a small ball and this seemed to work much better. Although as I have worked with Lowry Lofts 2 a few times now with the same ring in back of the knee, I have got used to it. One time I did a ball on one leg, and the ring on the other leg and I actually felt the exercise more with the ring. So, maybe over time I it will continue to grow on me.

Also, I didn't really "get" the bent-knee portion where you push against the side of your leg for resistance. After trying it that way several times I dropped the ring later and actually felt the exercise much more as I was able to concentrate more on form and working the muscle, and less on pushing against my leg. On the Lowry Lofts 2 DVD they do not use the ring for the similar exercise.

Finally, the stretching at the end is so brief that I just skip it completely and do my own stretches.

Although there are some issues that I mentioned above, overall I really do like this DVD. It is a fast paced, no fluff workout. It was easy to modify for the issues I mentioned. I do plan on using this on an ongoing basis as part of my rotation.