The FIRM Balance Trainer Kit
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Our Price: $16.60
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Category: Sports
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Equipment Details
Manufacturer: The FirmBrand: The Firm
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 51 minutes
Release Date: 2008-03-15
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Model: 05-52725
Color: One Color
Product features:
- FIRM
- Fitness
- Cardio
- Great workout
- The FIRM Cardio-To-Go Kit
- THE FIRM Fat Burning Body Sculpting Ball Workout Kit - With 6 lbs. Toning Ball & Instructional DVD - by Gaiam
- The Firm: Dangerous Curves Ahead
Sports reviews of The FIRM Balance Trainer Kit
Customer Review: Great workout but very poor instruction
Sport shop rating: 3 Stars
The Firm Balance Trainer kit comes with a balance disc (uninflated), a small pump, and the Skills, Drills, Thrills, workout DVD. Unfortunately, the included instructions provide little detail on how much to inflate the disc other than stating "do not over-inflate"; I would suggest that you want the disc to still be a bit squishy rather than completely firm. In addition, you may find the pump a bit difficult to use--a bicycle pump fitted with a needle attachment will do the job just as well.
The 46-minute Skills Drills Thrills workout (there's also a 25-minute express premix) is led by Firm Master Instructor Tina Smalley with two background exercisers, Emily and Dezzy. (Although Tina designates Emily as the modifier at the beginning, she confuses things later by sometimes suggesting that Dezzy will be taking it easy. Also, she states that the moves can be done without the disc, but this variation is generally not shown.) This was my first experience with with Tina, and I was shocked by the poor quality of her cueing, particularly for a Firm instructor. First of all, she did not mirror cue; secondly, she was often off the beat of the music, particularly during the warm-up; and third, the way she refers to things was simply confusing, such as saying "one more" even when there were multiple repetitions to go and insisting that she was still "warming you up" even when the warm-up had obviously moved into the first cardio segment.
Despite Tina's poor cueing, I actually liked the workout itself. The 5-minute warm-up begins with basic balance work on the disc, from simply standing on it to doing slow knee-ups and then repeater knees to tempo. This flows into an approximately 5-minute choreographed cardio segment (which Tina continues to call the "warm-up") that consists of additional knees and repeaters, L-steps, and plyos jumping on and off the disc--you definitely have to be careful with these! I found this segment to be fun, but as mentioned above, Tina was very off-time with the music, which made it a bit difficult to follow along. Next comes a 6-minute toning segment which alternates legwork with core work (push-ups/planks). The leg segments include squats with knee-ups, front lunges, side lunges, and front/side/back dips, and the core exercises are push-ups with one hand on disc, push-ups with one knee on disc, side plank with one elbow on disc, and elbow plank (both elbows on disc). Another 5-minute cardio segment follows, this one with jacks, scissors, v-steps, more plyos onto the disc, squat thrusts, and L-steps with shuffles over the disc.
Following the cardio, Tina moves on to an 8-minute core balance segment. This involves exercises with either one or both feet on the disc such as squats, abductions, reaches to the floor, etc. A 6-minute core segment comes next. Here you'll begin with a "walking push-up plank," which basically means moving the hands on and off the disc in a push-up position. Then it's on to your back for some abs crunches--you'll do these both fully seated on the disc and with the disc placed under the small of your back. Tina rounds out the toning work with 1 minute of bridge exercises (feet on disc) for the hamstrings and then another 2 minutes in a prone position (disc placed under the pelvis), working the back with superman and swim moves. Finally, it's time for the stretch. The 5-minute stretch is performed entirely on the floor and uses the disc; stretches include thread the needle, quad stretch, and hamstring stretch.
I did find this workout to be fun and enjoyable. Although it wasn't hugely intense, my heart rate did get up during the cardio segments, and according to my heart rate monitor, I wound up being in my target zone for about 15 minutes--not bad at all, especially for my first time through. I just wish that this workout had been taught by a different instructor, as I did not think that Tina Smalley maintained the Firm's usually high standards. Overall, I would give the workout a 4, the instructor a 2, so that's why my final rating is a 3.
Description of The FIRM Balance Trainer Kit
THE BALANCE TRAINER is a fun, high energy workout that uses balance to its advantage to creatue unique exercises that keep your abs engaged during upper body, lower body, and cardio moves---so you sculpt your abs throughout the entire workout. It's a safe and versatile training tool that helps develop core muscle groups while improving posture and balance. Includes the trainer and DVD with two workout options: A full-length workout and an Express Workout for when your time is limited.Sports and Outdoors
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