Kathy Smith: Peel off the Pounds Pilates

I absolutely love Kathy Smith's workout videos and bought this one and was not disappointed. She does a short workout (about 4-5 minutes), and then comes a 20 minute cardio workout, then a 10 minute upper, 10 minute lower and a 5 minute cooldown. I am used to doing much 'harder' cardio workouts from her but this one concentrated on working your core, which is meant to strengthen your core and abs, not just give you a sweat. By the end of the 20 minute cardio, I was sweating (just not as much as I'm used to). Her upper and lowers were 10 minutes each and that was a little on the short side for me. I'm used to doing a 20 minute upper and 20 minute lower, which I feel is more beneficial. If you have 50 minutes to spare, this is a great all-over body workout that does cardio, upper and lower along with a warmup and cooldown. My favourite DVD from Kathy Smith is her "Lift Weights to Lose Weight Volume 2". I would recommend this DVD to anyone that is looking for an all-in-one workout. If you're looking for more of a complete workout, then go for her aerobics and do 40 minutes of that along with one of the workouts on Lift Weights to Lose Weight Volume 2.

At first I thought this DVD would be too "easy" for me. I was surprised at how much I felt the muscle fatique the next day. It seems innocent enough..starting out with knee bends then waving the arms side to side to engage the obliques...it gets harder from there. The "dance" part is a series of leg lifts, plies, lunges, gravevines with leg lifts, and always arm movements to go with them. I did sweat a bit--not a lot, but I did get pretty warm. (Say a 6 1/2 out 10) The mat work was perfect for me. I liked the leg and ab section especially. I felt it the next day. I only do this DVD every few weeks, but I am enjoying it more each time I do it ;-)

Not impressed

I have a few of Kathy Smith's traditional workout dvds thanks to recommendation from Amazon reviewer. I've had to change to Pilates from more traditional workouts because my back is still recovering. This entire workout routine covers all the bases, except make sure you've seen a real Pilates dvd before doing this one. I'm still fairly new at it. Bought 3, returned 2 - well thanks Amazon for offering me 46-79 cents free return. Bought 2 more & returned 1. I tried to read review as best I could if they would work for me - downward dog, ugh! please, some of them used that move every few minutes! At least this dvd does not. Keeping this one along with Denise Austin's Shrink you Fat Zones and her dance one too. This dvd does not cover anything about Pilates, just references it which is fine since it is not my first one. Nice because you can do entire program or select from 4 individual routines if you don't have time for entire: warm up, weights/strength, cardio, stretch (she calls cool down). Note, even the warm up gets your heart up. I only had to slightly modify 2 positions and only unable to do 1 (so I just replaced it with another movement). I am still recovering from herniated disc and am being very overprotective. After successfully doing this program I might try some of her other routines, just the modified/lower impact versions which she does touch on in this dvd as well (she does a more thorough job of lower impact options in her more traditional workout dvds) but she does offer a few. She does OK describing the different moves and when to start them, not great, but better than many. The first go round I had to stop & go back to catch 2 of the moves, but it was not an issue so I'll know them next go round. She does do quite a few repetitions but I have no problem with that, the moves are effective starting with the basic and then she adds arms. Music is again OK, not bad again better than many. I would have liked a bit longer option for strength/weights, it was short so I'll make sure to use another dvd with more weights tomorrow. Nice addition to mix things up a bit to avoid boredom. Enough trouble trying to stay motivated.

Personally I feel Kathy can be annoying, (not as bad as Denise) yet this DVD was great. Superb workout, great cues and OMG it's a bargain!!!

I love this video!! The 20 minute cardio workout is intense and works up quite a sweat! The upper and lower body pilates segments are also top notch. I have had a previous video from Kathy Smith and literally wore it out from faithfully viewing it. I use this video on the 3 days a week I don't go to the gym. Its a great supplement to my weekly routine. This video would also be a good choice for someone who doesn't want to go to a gym but wants results at home.

I usually avoid Pilates workouts as I find them dull. Not this one! It's a mixture of cardio/dance movements, weights and Pilates. I own over 200 workout dvds, and I think this is one of the best!!! I am a high-level intermediate exerciser, and I can't say enough good things about this Kathy Smith dvd. Do yourself a favor, and add it to your collection.

I just love Kathy Smith and wish she lived near me. I think we'd be best friends and I'd be nice and in shape! :D Her exercises are so well planned out that they are fun but you don't feel pressured. She has the most calming voice and I enjoy working out with her. Not easy, but I'm working on getting the steps down. No problem!

Fantastic! It's a milder version of Jazz Aerobics which I did (and loved!) about 20 years ago and now in my 50s am so glad to have it be part of my weekly routine again.

Kathy Smith is inspiring, motivating & just plain fun. This exercise DVD is not only easy to follow but it works and by that I mean you can see results after a couple of weeks.

As described

I really enjoyed this workout. I WAS expecting a pilates workout because of the title and so I rated this a 4 out of 5 because the title was misleading. There are some pilates moves incorporated in the video, especially during the lower body section. Although it was not what I was expecting I really enjoyed this workout. It had a great warm-up and cool down which is a nice change. 99% of all of the workout videos/DVD's I have purchased over the years (and there are many) do not have a sufficient warm up and cool down (stretching) but this one does. The 20 minute fat burning workout is your typical traditional aerobics routine (no pilates) but I really enjoyed it. It got my heart rate up so great cardiovascular intensity. If you have any knee problems, be VERY careful as there is a lot of knee twisting. I have chondromalacia patella (my knee caps do not track properly) and I suffered for a week after this workout. I had a dislocation a year ago and my legs are now very strong and muscular but the twisting in this portion of the video was dangerous for my knee condition. The upper body incorporates free weights and will give you awesome arms and shoulders. The lower body section did have lots of pilates moves. This workout was excellent because has a very good warm up and cool down; great 20 minutes of aerobic/cardo and an overall head to toe workout. You will work every single muscle in your body. Therefore if you do the whole hour, you will get what you need out of a thorough workout. Just don't expect for an hour of pilates.