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"Team Fonda Fast Abs Sculpt" DVD Review
Posted on Jan 17th 2011 12:00PM by Kristen SeymourFiled Under: Fitness
An abs-specific DVD can be a tough sell. Sure, we all want a flat, toned belly that everyone on the beach will envy, but I have yet to meet anybody who has any interest in spending a full 30-45 minutes on crunches. And, to be honest, most of us aren't going to spend our money on a DVD that's much shorter than that, are we?
The 46-minute "Team Fonda Fast Abs Sculpt" DVD takes an unusual approach in that it offers four completely different ab workouts, each led by a different member (or set of members) of Team Fonda. There's a cardio abs workout by Jeanette Jenkins, a yoga abs workout with Tara Stiles, Karena and Katrina's dynamic compact series focusing on isolating and contracting each abs muscle group, and a Pilates-style workout with Kamala Mathis.
The DVD certainly offers quite a variety, but did they all measure up?
Level of Difficulty
Intermediate.
Next-Day Soreness
Moderate.
Who's It For?
If you're looking for an abs DVD that focuses on only your abs, this is a great option.
Likes
I really like the variety -- it's great to have so many options on one disc. The first two, with Jenkins and Stiles, were my favorites, in part because they were so different and in part because they were really tough. I was especially pleased with Stiles, since I wasn't too keen on the last workout of hers I did. The second two were fine -- don't get me wrong -- they just didn't excite me the way the sections led by Jenkins and Stiles did.
Dislikes
Despite the fact that the premise of each workout is quite different, if you do them all back to back, there's definitely some overlap that probably could have been avoided. The Karena and Katrina workout, while challenging, left me a bit bored. They went through their circuit multiple times, and considering it was just 10 minutes or so, it felt a bit monotonous. Mathis' workout was a bit slow moving -- I might have enjoyed it more if I'd done it earlier in the workout, but as the fourth one, well, it kind of dragged.
Also, the DVD menu doesn't offer any options in terms of playing just one workout or putting them in a different order -- something I think was a major oversight.
Bottom Line
I don't know that I'd do the whole DVD at one time again. Each workout certainly has merit, and my abs felt tight enough the next day to prove it, but I would be far more likely to tag just one of them on at the end of a different workout since, unlike, say, Jillian Michaels' 6 Week Six-Pack DVD, this is not a workout DVD that happens to work the abs -- these are solely abs workouts.
I have several more Team Fonda DVDs to check out, and I'm remaining optimistic -- I have no doubt that these are all talented instructors, and I look forward to seeing them do the types of workouts they do best.
The 46-minute "Team Fonda Fast Abs Sculpt" DVD takes an unusual approach in that it offers four completely different ab workouts, each led by a different member (or set of members) of Team Fonda. There's a cardio abs workout by Jeanette Jenkins, a yoga abs workout with Tara Stiles, Karena and Katrina's dynamic compact series focusing on isolating and contracting each abs muscle group, and a Pilates-style workout with Kamala Mathis.
The DVD certainly offers quite a variety, but did they all measure up?
Level of Difficulty
Intermediate.
Next-Day Soreness
Moderate.
Who's It For?
If you're looking for an abs DVD that focuses on only your abs, this is a great option.
Likes
I really like the variety -- it's great to have so many options on one disc. The first two, with Jenkins and Stiles, were my favorites, in part because they were so different and in part because they were really tough. I was especially pleased with Stiles, since I wasn't too keen on the last workout of hers I did. The second two were fine -- don't get me wrong -- they just didn't excite me the way the sections led by Jenkins and Stiles did.
Dislikes
Despite the fact that the premise of each workout is quite different, if you do them all back to back, there's definitely some overlap that probably could have been avoided. The Karena and Katrina workout, while challenging, left me a bit bored. They went through their circuit multiple times, and considering it was just 10 minutes or so, it felt a bit monotonous. Mathis' workout was a bit slow moving -- I might have enjoyed it more if I'd done it earlier in the workout, but as the fourth one, well, it kind of dragged.
Also, the DVD menu doesn't offer any options in terms of playing just one workout or putting them in a different order -- something I think was a major oversight.
Bottom Line
I don't know that I'd do the whole DVD at one time again. Each workout certainly has merit, and my abs felt tight enough the next day to prove it, but I would be far more likely to tag just one of them on at the end of a different workout since, unlike, say, Jillian Michaels' 6 Week Six-Pack DVD, this is not a workout DVD that happens to work the abs -- these are solely abs workouts.
I have several more Team Fonda DVDs to check out, and I'm remaining optimistic -- I have no doubt that these are all talented instructors, and I look forward to seeing them do the types of workouts they do best.
