This is my first workout from Grace Lazenby, and I really like it. I had read positive reviews of this workout on a fitness forum, and decided to give it a try. I''ve been doing a lot of barre-style workouts lately (Physique 57 and Core Fusion), and am happy to add this in to my rotation.The time just flew by with this workout! The screen uses other shots of the beach, Grace and the backup exercisers dancing, scenes of the Santa Monica boardwalk, and nature views that are placed on a split-screen next to the exercisers. If you''re familiar with Cindy Crawford''s workouts or Tracey Effinger''s Squeeze workouts, which cut to different scenes, you''ll be a bit familiar with this format.
The music for this is from three male artists (the "rock" aspect of the Rockin Models workout), and each section of the workout is choreographed to the music. I loved the music, and it reminded me of John Mayer, Jason Mraz, and Coldplay.
To do the workout, you''ll need a pole of some sort (I used my barbell bar, but I''m sure a broomstick handle would also work), a yoga mat, a small hand towel, a playground ball, and an optional hat for fun. The workout is done barefoot.
Also, the workout description says that it''s 65 minutes, but it actually comes in at just under 72 minutes, so it''s a pretty long workout.
The workout is described as a combo of yoga, barre, and burlesque, and that''s exactly what it felt like. It''s divided into several main sections:
* The first section is thirteen minutes of flow yoga, beginning with some sun salutations.
* The next two segments use the pole/stick to work the legs, especially the thighs and rear. The hat is used in the second section sections for the burlesque vibe; I felt a bit silly at first, but then just loosened up and had fun with it! This section was similar to barre workouts, and it was very easy on the knees.
*After that, there is another flow yoga interlude, this time with more modifcations shown.
*Next comes another section using the pole (and optional hat) that incorporates ballet-style moves (arabesques, etc.).
*Then come three core training sections on the mat that use variations of V-sits and oblique twists.
* After that come several sections of lying leg work, including bridge work to target the buns and backs of the legs, clam-style work for the inner and outer thighs, and various other moves set to burlesque-style music.
*The workout concludes with a stretch.
There are some really nice variations on these moves that I hadn''t seen before that also made the workout feel fresh to me. For instance, the bridge portion doesn''t do regular bridges, but has you alternate legs and tap each leg onto the opposite knee. Many other exercises also felt fresh in this way, in that Grace put a nice spin on an older exercise to keep it interesting.
To do the yoga sections, you''ll probably want to be familiar with some poses such as Warrior 1 and 2, Crescent Pose, Down Dog, and Side Angle Pose. Since there is no explanation of proper form for these moves, you''ll want to be already familiar with them, although the exercisers do show three levels of modifcations.
If you want to make the workout shorter, you can probably skip the yoga poses that are at the beginning, but you may not feel properly stretched out.
As much as I loved the workout, there are a few reasons why I''m giving it four stars. First, there was little arm work in this workout, as it seemed to concentrate mostly on legs and abs, except for the arm work in the yoga sections. For a workout this long (about 72 minutes), it would have been nice to have some arm and back work thrown in. Also, Grace''s voice was really hard for me to hear over the music. I played with the settings on my TV to try to rectify this, but still had a hard time hearing her instructions in places. I also felt like her cueing could have been stronger in places during the yoga sections, especially when doing moves where you can''t see the screen. I''m sure that after I do the workout a few more times, I''ll get to know the moves better, but it was a bit frustrating at times to not be able to have better cues.
Overall, though, I really, really liked this workout, and know I''ll use it a lot. Grace''s personality is friendly and encouraging. I will be sure to update my review after I do the workout again if I can think of anything else to add to it.
UPDATE FROM THE NEXT DAY: The day after doing this workout, I was really sore in my glutes, outer thighs, and obliques! This workout really targeted those areas in good ways!
Total playtime: approximately 70 minutes
WARMUP:
"Firefly", Matt Goss Warmup: Childs pose, knee dancing, downward dog, standing work
YOGA & BARRE:
"How the Day Sounds", Greg Laswell Yoga: Sun Salutations
"Ghost Town", Cary Brothers Yoga: Standing poses (includes downward dog, crescent pose, side angle pose, warrior 2, reverse warrior)
"Evil (Dave Aude Remix)", Matt Goss Standing Ballet Burlesque: turned out thigh plie variations with hip movements
"Long Way Around", Greg Laswell Standing Ball: turned out thigh plies with ball between leg
"Your Medley", Greg Laswell Yoga: slow sun salutation, once each side
"Honestly", Cary Brothers Yoga: Standing poses (very similar to previous standing pose flow, replacing crescent pose with warrior 1)
"Take Me Home", Matt Goss Standing Ballet Barre: standing gluteal work, figure 4 stretch, leg extensions for thighs
FLOOR WORK CORE:
"Comes and Goes (In Waves)", Greg Laswell: abs
"Off I Go", Greg Laswell: abs, uses hand towel
"Someday", Cary Brothers: obliques
using hand towel, swoop to each side and then forward;
seated attitude (pretzel)
FLOOR WORK GLUTEALS (Bridge Varations)
"Our Time", Matt Goss bridge "walk" on toes: extend one leg straight up, bring foot down to tap on other knee and then extend leg up again, and then back to floor
FLOOR WORK THIGHS:
"Along For The Ride", Matt Goss Outer Thigh: clam style variations
"Into the Sunset", Matt Goss Outer Thigh: clam style variations on other side
"Gravity", Matt Goss Outer & Inner Thigh
Outer Thigh (4 count side lying leg raise toe to bottom leg, extend up, straighten leg and tap on floor forward and then back)
Inner Thigh (leg circles on back)
"Evil", Matt Gossmore Inner Thigh, and then leg extensions while sitting in a V, etc
COOL DOWN:
"High & Low", Greg Laswell Cool Down: brief hip openers, stretching lasts about 2.5 minutes)
*****************
COMMENTS:
I''m 47 and the whole Rockin Model theme doesn''t mean a lot to me. I want to look good and all, but at 5'' 1" with an athletic build I don''t think there is any chance I''m going to look like a model and I''m just fine with that. What is important to me is that I enjoy myself, feel challenged, and get a good workout. Grace met my requirements.
While I really liked this workout overall, there were some issues with it. For me Grace''s weakest point was the yoga. Her verbal cues during the sun salutations were awful. I had to keep my head glued to the TV screen to maintain the timing. If she had said when she was transitioning from one pose to the next it would have been better. I''ve done sun salutations quite a bit so didn''t really need to watch her all the way through. Her yoga had more of a mainstream "Jillian" type feel to it than an experienced yoga instructor. That having been said, I liked the yoga as an addition to the whole routine.
There were very few pointers on form during either the yoga or the barre work. If you have never done barre work before, I would recommend starting with something like Core Fusion or Bar Method to get some solid form tips before doing Rockin Models. As for the yoga, some familiarity with sun salutations and basic yoga poses would be helpful.
As for the overall program, there was no upper body work. For such a long workout (approx. 70 minutes) I would have expected some good upper body exercises. There was also very little stretching at the end so I put in a different DVD to stretch by.
Despite my criticisms, I really liked the workout and time flew while I was doing it. I felt Grace''s strength is her floor work in the last half of the DVD, abs included. I found myself comparing the floor work to Tracy Effinger''s Squeeze Stronger, in particular the pretzel/clam combo and back dancing. Very nice.
I used a chair for the barre work. I have tight hips and can''t sink down quite as low as Grace and a chair worked fine.
I wasn''t familiar with the music but thought it was very pleasant. I usually tune out the music on my exercise DVDs but several times found my self thinking that I liked a certain song. Although I was mostly focused on the workout, some of the split screen effects were nice. I didn''t really notice the hats very much as I was too busy exercising!
I see myself using this DVD quite a bit. I liked Grace''s personality. I also had some soreness in my hamstrings and inner thighs after doing this!
UPDATE: I just completed this DVD again today. It really does grow on you and was a lot of fun. I barely noticed some of the imperfections I noticed the first time around. It was a great all around workout, and I loved the mix of yoga, barre, and floor work. My inner thighs were sore the rest of the day! I did throw some upper body work in on my own before doing the DVD and additional stretching at the end.
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I''ve been getting into barre workouts to compliment my running regimen (I do 5 miles daily, and I like running half-marathons every few months), and I''m absolutely thrilled to add this into my normal rotation of Tracy Anderson, Physique 57, and Core Fusion.This workout absolutely flies by. The music is sick and the set is gorgeous, and Grace is a fantastic and very inspiring (LOOK AT HER!!!) instructor. I''m not the biggest fan of yoga, but the yoga-style stretches at the beginning serve as a great warm-up and the core/leg/glute work throughout the DVD is phenomenal. The burlesque sequence is fun and sexy--I''m not one to strut, but I think I''m somehow getting better at it.
If you''re into barre workouts, I strongly recommend this DVD. What I like about Grace''s barre work is that it shifts the axis you''re working on; instead of holding on to a horizontal barre, you work to stabilize a weighted bar (or broomstick if you''re not willing to shlep out to Target to buy a real bar) vertically as it stands on the ground. This doesn''t seem like a HUGE difference, but I can definitely feel my abs being targeted and engaged in a way that I don''t typically find with the horizontal barre. Food for thought, anyway.
The one issue I have with this workout (and this has been mentioned previously by other reviewers) is that there is absolutely no arm work. As a runner, my arms are the least toned parts of my body (seriously, I was approaching Gumby territory before barre workouts saved me), and I was a little disappointed that this workout did nothing for them... especially with Grace''s own awesome guns.
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Originally, I thought that the original All the Right Moves was harder, as I remember really struggling to get through that workout. For a comparison, I did the original ATRM in its entirety, last week.To my surprise, it wasn''t as difficult as I remember, so I realize I have gotten stronger since the last time I had done it. I now have a more fair and accurate comparison of RM and ATRM.
I want to comment on the RM "warm-up." I do find it creative, and it did just as described. It got my heart rate up and my body warm. However, there are some quick movements that can compromise the back. I have heard of some people tweaking their backs with the warm-up, and I myself am now feeling a tweak in my sciatic area. Other than to keep with the tone of the workout, I don''t find this warm-up necessary, and probably won''t do it again. I found the yoga before the leg work more than sufficient to warm and loosen me up.
On to the yoga. Yes, Grace still has bad form, but I know to just ignore her and do the moves as I know to do them. Their is less total time devoted to yoga in RM compared to ATRM, and Grace doesn''t hold the poses as long. I find this much more doable. One big difference with yoga in RM is that Grace makes the moves more dynamic. She''ll remain in locked position for the lower body and fold over and back or stretch out from the core. I like how the flowing movements and stretches worked my waist. The flow also added intensity without testing my patience from a long hold. So I would say the yoga for ATRM is definitely harder.
Leg work. Now that I have had a chance to compare ATRM with RM, I would say the leg work is a bit harder in RM. I find two reasons for this. First, there are lot my reps. Although I don''t go as low as Grace, I can get through all the burning reps in ATRM. By the time we got to the ball work in RM, I had to stop and shake out a few times. Another reason I find the standing legs more work in RM is that, once again, Grace uses more dynamic movements by swaying the hips side to side, going down very low to the heels, or both.
Upper body, the only upper body work in RM is yoga. That''s not necessarily bad, as the yoga does seem to hit the major muscle groups. However, I did appreciate the small weight work and side planks in ATRM. So I would say ATRM was definitely more challenging for the upper body.
Abs. I was disappointed that there wasn''t more Pilates style abs, as there are in ATRM. However, I have to admit, Grace did pretty well at hitting the abs at different angles. She did particularly well at getting at the lower abs. Most of her c-curve work is up higher, or uses a towel behind the head to support it. I felt this made a difference in how I was using my abs. Probably, I was able to engage better than I normally do during c-curve abs. I really liked all the waist work in RM. Grace provides lots of twisting between the yoga and oblique work. She also uses a variation of the pretzel in RM, not for the glutes, but for the side waist. Over all, I would say the ab work is just a tad harder in RM than ATRM.
Glutes. Although I was disappointed that Grace didn''t include her classic pretzel for the glutes, she did provide several variations and positions on the glute work. This part reminded much more of an iBallet glute sequence. Grace was creative in using varied kick-outs at the end of the workout to follow that Burlesque theme. The kick out variations seemed to polish off the thighs, glutes, hamstrings, and lower abs. Overall, I found the glute section to be comparable to most iBallets, but less intense than the original ATRM.
Thoughts on music and scenery. Honestly, I didn''t feel the music or special effects, split screens, etc., took away or added anything significant to the workout.
I like the music better in iBallet, but it is definitely better than ATRM.
As far as the screen, I was typically so involved trying to follow Grace and perform the reps, I didn''t pay much attention to the screen activity.
I didn''t notice any problems with Grace''s cuing, other than a couple of fast changes in position that I''m sure I''ll be prepared for as I get to know the workout better in the future.
I did RM yesterday, and I''m definitely feeling some DOMS in my glutes and inner thighs today, with some potential in my waist and quads. However, I don''t believe I will have trouble walking due to DOMS, as some people have reported. All in all, I am glad I made this purchase. I find that it has reignited my love for Grace''s work and their effects on my body. Even with all the upcoming new barre releases, I think RM, ATRM, and iBallets will keep me occupied for a while.
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