Pure Callanetics

I am a longtime fan of Callanetics so I was looking forward to the new dvds very much.I am rating this 3 stars for the workout with 1 additional star for the Callanetics team making new dvds. Yay! First, my opinion is only mine. My pros may be someone else's cons and vice versa, but either way, I hope this is helpful.Pros: A new Callanetics dvd! Shorter than the original, no extraneous instruction, moves right along, adds some new moves to traditional Callanetics, appealing and pleasant cast. I liked that some of the classic exercises were shown without the use of a barre. I thought this was very helpful.Cons: Budget-minded production values, music was monotonous and worse, made it even more difficult to understand the instructor. I am hard of hearing and she does not move her lips or vary her voice much. No introduction, no reference to Callan, no history, left a rather impersonal feel (which of course wouldn't be noticed by someone new to Callanetics). If I wanted to do pushups or planks I wouldn't be doing Callanetics. No instruction that I could tell for pushups and the form of some of the exercisers was very bad for beginners in my opinion. She kept saying move a quarter of an inch, but her movements were quite exaggerated (for demonstrating the move?) but it could be confusing for some. The set was drab and boring.I will use this for variety, but I wouldn't recommend it as an introduction to Callanetics. I personally never minded the 80s exercise gear and colors in the original videos, it was the exercises that were important. I know many found the original to be cheesy and dated, so to each their own. I think many of the things that I didn't care for in this new dvd would be the things that either don't bother others, or that they would positively like. Overall I would recommend this as an addition to the Callanetics lineup.Edited to add: A definite con is the complete lack of chaptering. There is no menu. The only option is to Play. You can fast forward and skip from one exercise to the next, but you can't select an exercise. There are no pre-set programs such as play all, abs, legs, etc. This is really just inexcusable in this day and age. The old vhs original Callanetics put to dvd has chaptered programs, for goodness sake.

Like others here I was really happy to see an updated version of Callanetics. I did the original work out for years, but got bored. But as others say, it works.Here's the good and and bad for me. Good: Less instruction along the way. The original Callenetics recording has a lot of instruction filler once you know what you are doing. So, this flows a lot better. But, this may also be a drawback.Bad and Warning: All in all I agree with some other reviewers that this workout deviates enough from the original workout that it just isn't the same. No, I cannot imagine Callen's 80 year old mother doing this workout. In fact, because there is no focus on "gentleness" and modifying the poses the workout has a real potential for injury. Especially if you are new to callanetics, a bit older or not in great shape. Now the warning.I do kettlebell workouts which require swinging up to a 25 lb kettlebell for 20-30 minutes. I have good stability and core strength. I wanted to add Callanetics back into my workout to provide more stretching and elongation.First, the add'l arm work was a surprise. I think having more arm work is definitely good, but it was kind of a jarring shift into moves that are fairly advanced. Second, throughout the workout I found myself pushing to do more as I watched the instructor and others doing moves that made the exercises a lot more challenging. There was no, gentle, soothing, voice of Callen and the pace was a lot more rapid.The next day I noticed that my knees really hurt and it struck me that I hadn't had any knee problems with workouts since stopping Callen. The culprit is the deep knee bends while on your toes. Not a good move if you have any knee issues. Later that day, I got up out of a chair and my back went into terrible spasms. Long story short it was the worst and most painful back muscle pain I have ever had and it lasted days. Three mornings in a row, I couldn't even bend over the spasms were so bad.After looking online and finding someone else with the same issue, I am convinced it was caused by side leg work on the floor where you are instructed to roll your knee toward the floor. In the original Callen workout she emphasizes throughout to move very slowly and gently. Well, I guess I needed these reminders because instead of doing that I pushed myself harder based on what the instructor was doing in this video- and I really hurt my back and knees. If you haven't done this move or haven't done it in awhile you should us a bar of a piece of furniture - this video shows the exercise primarily done on the floor at an advanced level.I have never hurt myself doing kettlebell or other workouts including deep knee bends with a 20 lb kettlebell. I think anyone who hasn't done the original Callanetics should remember that while the moves look fairly easy, they are designed to work muscles deeply and you should learn them and not try to match what the instructor is doing. I haven't done the workout again, but if I do will back way off on following the instructor. This does stick mainly to the original workout but it lacks the original intent of Pickney who developed a gentle but effective workout to address her back injury issues.

I am so glad they finally did an update. The exercises are excellent and the instruction is good. The music is fine- not too anything just nice background workout music. I like the cover of the video and was expecting a nice modern cool set with cool lighting. I did not get that. I wish I could give it more stars but the production quality and set are disappointing. There is no DVD menu. The is no intro which after all this time would have been nice. Modern before and after pictures would have also been nice. The set looks cheap like they taped paper over windows in the background. The lighting isn't horrible but isn't great either. It doesn't seem like high quality professional lighting. The original is old and the leg warmers are funny but it had more pizzazz than this one somehow. I frankly expect a bit more pizzazz for the price I paid. I was going to buy the other new one but I'm not paying that much for amateur video making. I understand they may not have the budget of Shaun T or some of the other big name video productions but they are none the less in competition with them and need to spend more on production if they want to sell DVD's at this price point. Towards the end of the video the sound gets shaky like it's low quality video that won't last. If it doesn't bother you to do a video that looks like it was made by the small studio down the street on shoe string budget then buy it for the exercises. I hate to give it this review that because these exercises really do work.

I am a gym and heavy weights type of girl, I’m 26, 5 ft. 6 and 142 pounds. I bought this, ‘Callanetics Extreme’ AND the complete Ballet Beautiful collection due to a knee injury that keeps me from going to the gym and working out as hard as I used to. I want to stay in shape, toned and flexible and am very excited about starting out this new type of workout. I need something that is ‘no impact’ but still works.I received this two days ago and plan on doing it at least 4-5 times à week for at least a month (along with Ballet Beautiful). This is part one of my review, when one month of doing these videos religiously will have passed, I will post the second half of my review. First thing's first; I am not one to complain about the trainers, sets or music in exercise videos because I am not doing said videos for entertainment, I am doing them for results. That being said; the trainer is very easy to understand, explains the exercises very well and is motivating without being pushy.The first time I did this video, I was left a little bit disappointed with the lower body exercises. I was expecting more of a burn. The Pelvic Rotations are funky to do, I was not used to these kinds of movement but they really work your quads. Lacey explains the form required to do these very well which is good. They are a bit tougher on your knees though, so as Lacey says, quality of the movement over quantity, which is what I focus on when doing these. The pliés and up-downs are tough, but very doable for someone used to resistance training.The abs section is VERY tough, could not get through it without taking breaks. One thing to note however is that the core section mostly focuses on the higher abs, right below the breast bone. I could barely feel it in the middle abs and not at all in the lower portion, which, for me and many others, is where the ‘pooch’ is.There aren’t many arm exercises except for the pushups and planks which require some arm strength.There is a good stretching portion to this video that really lengthens and frees your muscles; it is a welcomed moment in the workout.Would this be a good workout for a beginner? Yes, because there are modifications to make things easier while you build your strength up. I think this could also have benefits for intermediate and advanced exercisers as it does utilise some parts of the muscles we aren't used to using and helps with flexibility and posture.All of this being said; I feel motivated to keep doing this video, I do feel the deep burn when performing the exercises included but as mentioned above, I was expecting MORE burn in the lower half of the body. I will keep doing it, and let you know if results are noticeable or not!