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Pilates Intermediate Mat Workout

Pilates Intermediate Mat Workout

List Price: $14.98
Your Price: $11.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: An Excellent Follow-up to the Beginner's Workout
Review: After about 4 weeks of Caban's Mat Based Workout for Beginner's, I have stepped up to her intermediate version. First of all, if you are new to pilates do not attempt this tape without first doing the beginner's tape. There are several poses in this workout that are the same as those in the beginner's, but as more advanced versions. It's important that you should learn the beginning versions first in order to understand exactly how the poses are executed.

As for the intermediate workout, it's wonderful. There are a series of poses where you are not allowed to rest your head back in between each one. This is where you will really start to feel that powerhouse at work. The side poses feature new exercises that tone your waist moreso than the beginner workout.

Ana's trusty sidekick is back, as well. However, she does not give as many simplified examples. In case of emergency, I go back to the old beginner poses. This time, you go much further with the teaser. If you've been doing the beginner workout religiously, fear not, you CAN do it.

Yes, the production value of this video is pretty bad. But don't let that hold you back from a fabulous workout by a wonderful instructor.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great for intermediates
Review: Ana Caban is a great instructor. I've been doing this workout about 2x/week for 5 months, and my abs look fabulous (this coming from a girl who never thought she could show muscles in her belly :)). I love the fact that its a 30 minute workout, so its easy to squeeze this workout in with a busy schedule.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Excellent instructions
Review: Ana Caban is an excellent instructor. Her cues are very precise, including hints and technique reminders. She concisely explains the upcoming exercise and yet her explanations never interrupt the flow of the exercises (which is remarkable).

Interestingly enough her explanations are even more detailed than ones I found on someone else's beginner's DVD. (a German one, so don't worry.)

The only reason this DVD is not getting 5 stars is the camera work. It tries to get "artsy", travelling around, inserting video quality black and white stretches, probably so the viewer doesn't get bored. But a) I'm not trying to watch a movie, I'm following the exercise so b) it's rather distracting.
Apart from that I love this DVD and will get more with Ana Caban as instructor.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent Intermediate Pilaties Workout
Review: Ana Caban's Intermediate Mat Workout is fabulous. I've taken Pilates classes in the past and wanted a rigorous Pilates workout that I could do at home. This workout is perfect. A couple of years ago a began alternating this workout and Ana Caban's Pilates Body Ring Kit workout with aerobics (jogging and biking). People now comment on my toned physique - and I owe it to Ana's 2 workouts. This workout and the body ring workout provide challenging workouts for the intermediate Pilates student. Ana's instruction is consistent with the 'live' instruction I've received from certified Pilates instructors. I cannot say the same for the Kries workout DVD which I received as a gift. If you want an excellent Pilates Intermediate workout, I would definitely suggest this Ana Caban workout.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Unprofessional, unfortunately.
Review: I am a Pilates instructor, and I can only assume that the instructor on this video must be a much better instructor in person. One reviewer has commented that this workout is smooth with few interruptions for instructions, and while there are indeed very few worthwhile instructions, the workout is not smooth at all; every time the instructor talks, she stops frozen in position. A viewer following along who stops in the same way and waits for her to finish her dialogue is likely to get hurt. While the instructor does explain breathing a tiny bit, she never uses the PIlates breathing technique in the entire video, and this special breathing is what makes Pilates more efective than merely doing crunches or stretching!! And, THE PRODUCTION QUALITY IS HORRIBLE. Over all, this is a very unprofessional video. Please try the Classical Pilates Complete Workout or Pilates for Dummies before you purchase this DVD. Better yet, splurge on a few sessions with a Classical Pilates instructor and then use the videos to maintain your practice. Remember, you will get the best results working with a traditional instructor who has had over one full year of training, (NO weekend certification classes!!). I know this because I myself wasted money on many nice but inadequate instructors when I began to practice. Also, in case you do not know, Pilates is meant to be performed ON MACHINES, and you will achieve much better results on such machines as the Reformer, which a good Pilates instructor should have in his or her facility.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great workout, challenging
Review: I am a Wellness Director with a degree is exercise physiology, and this video is top notch. I take Pilates regularly at the gym and this video is equally as good as classes in person. For this intermediate video it is important to be familiar with Pilates, but be ready for a challenging and easy to follow workout.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: dissapointing DVD
Review: I bought this DVD and when I got it home and put it in the DVD player, it said that there is NOTHING on the disk. I thought that the company would have some kind of quality controll. I am taking it back later today and if I am given an issue about this I will never buy one of there tapes again, let alone use Target. I gave one star because you can not give 0.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A good workout once it gets started...
Review: I bought this workout to augment my weekly pilates class. I think it provides a good workout once it gets started, but only after you're forced to sit through 5 minutes of warings, copyright boilerplate, and GAIAM commercials! That's really my only beef. And don't think you can just skip through it.
My morning work-around is to turn on the dvd player, go brush my teeth and shave, then begin pilates.
I'd suggest finding a different company's DVD or buy the VHS version, where it's
easy to skip all the cruft at the beginning.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great workout
Review: I did Ana's beginning mat workout for 2 weeks, then graduated to this one. I enjoy Ana's personality. She's calm and cues you through each exercise. I've surpirsed myself in being able to do almost all of the moves. It really increases your flexibility.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: i love it
Review: i love this tape. ive been doing it for about 2 years and it has toned my body, given me more energy and improved my self esteem. i am not an exercise person..hated situps..but this is actually fun to do. i started with the beginner's tape and worked my way up. it's the best $10 i ever spent! highly recommend it.


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