The FIRM Cardio Sculpt Review

The FIRM Cardio Sculpt

Allie Del Rio, 2002

This is a 60 minutes AWT (though mostly strength work) workout led by Allie with 4 background exercisers. Libby provides the beginner modifications. The set is the bright white BSS1 set with blue-ish accents in the background. You will need your Fanny Lifter or another step and a variety of dumbbells for this one.

First off I have to say-I DO NOT do this one enough! Though not as challenging as the Classic Firms-it is really reminiscent of them. It has a weighted step segment like Vol 4 & Vol 6 and ends with floor work-pec fly & leg lifts and donkey kicks. She also goes slow enough to allow for heavy dumbbells. I was pleasantly surprised!

After a warmup up Allie goes into a strength set starting with hover squats and lat row. You do some leg press and other dumbbell work and then she moves into a cardio segment. She alternates the strength segments with cardio, but the strength work also gets your heartrate up with dips, lunges, leg press, and squats. The cardio is straightforward and athletic without being boring or repetitive. The cardio includes floor, step, and 4 limb step work.

She thouroughly works all the muscles though I did find the shoulder work a bit lacking. After the lying floor work you do an ab sequence that is comprised of crunch & crunch variations and then move into the stretch.

I would rate this workout a solid or maybe even high (?) intermediate if you use heavy weights. You can also up the intensity- I really heavied up on #age, used the 8" portion of the FL and added some plyos and jumps to my workout and felt I got a great strength AND cardio workout today. I must use this one more often (I know I say that all the time).