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Rating: 
Summary: As always - Karen delivers the best!
Review: I have done several yoga tapes and I find this yoga workout very soothing and at the same time athletic. I like music, too. I am always very relaxed after doing this workout.
Rating: 
Summary: Some good workouts thrown in here
Review: I'm your typical middle aged male recalling the great athletic younger days but noticing more than a little extra developing :). So my wife and I bought Yoga Sculpt and the Pilates DVD by Karen Voight. I'll discuss the good and the bad-Good- Core Essentials lunge and squat workout. Just step aerobicky enough to make it interesting but nothing you men out there will be too humiliated to do. She gets those legs burning. Yoga workout. Especially if done after Core Essential lunge workout it is quite challeging but doable by a beginner. I like it. Voight is ripped! Especially in the lunge workout which seems to have been filmed years ago. Even to a man it is inspirational. Bad - After the lunge workout Voight takes you through some routines that involve special equipment you can purchase. Better stomach and legs workout in here pilates DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent yoga- and Pilates-based sculpting routines
Review: Karen Voight has always been one of my favorite exercise instructors. Not only is she extremely knowledgeable; her routines are challenging and deliver great results.
Yoga & Sculpting consists of 7 routines - ranging from a 45-minute core sculpting workout to a 10-minute abdominal session - designed to strengthen and tone muscles through simple yoga postures and Pilates.
Although I exercise nearly every day and try to do about 5 yoga workouts per week, Karen's workouts still give me a "burn" that I can feel in the areas where it matters... I really enjoy the Pilates matwork and try to do the 20-minute routine before work, and the longer version called "Core Essentials" in the evening.
The only negative aspect of Yoga & Sculpting is the fact that one or two of the segments seem to overlap. It isn't obvious and is probably due to an editing blooper. I just went back to the menu and selected the correct segment.
I highly recommend Yoga & Sculpting if you are someone would like to make yoga and Pilates workouts more challenging by adding a sculpting component.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but missleading
Review: Karen Voight is very cut. I doubt she got that way from these routines. The yoga is the best part. There are some good stretches. The instructions are pretty good. Its a good off day yoga routine. The sculpting was disappointing. First of all, you have to buy extra equipment (Green Genie Balls). You can get them at Wal Mart for half of what Karen Voight's website wants. The routine starts with some clunky cardio that's hard to follow. The instructions are poor. The sculpting routine is not very challenging. This may be okay for a beginner, but someone with experience will be let down.
Rating: 
Summary: Mediocre Workout
Review: Karen Voight is very cut. I doubt she got that way from these routines. The yoga is the best part. There are some good stretches. The instructions are pretty good. Its a good off day yoga routine. The sculpting was disappointing. First of all, you have to buy extra equipment (Green Genie Balls). You can get them at Wal Mart for half of what Karen Voight's website wants. The routine starts with some clunky cardio that's hard to follow. The instructions are poor. The sculpting routine is not very challenging. This may be okay for a beginner, but someone with experience will be let down.
Rating: 
Summary: motion sickness
Review: There are 2 workouts on this dvd--a yoga workout, and a core essentials workout. The continuous camera movement for the yoga portion makes me feel ill. So, the rare times that I view this dvd, I try to avoid looking at the screen. Unfortunately, I can still see the screen out of the corner of my eye. The music is of the ballet-piano variety, which I am not the biggest fan of. The instructor breezes a little too fast through the poses, and her voice sounds like Jenny Jones's--this I wish I had known before I bought the dvd. The core essentials portion of the dvd is strange--the instructor starts off with this weird speed floor aerobics. Then I realize that in order to do the workout, one needed to have purchased this weighted little ball (a catalog and order form is 'conveniently' included inside the dvd) from her store. Voight doesn't even suggest modifications in the event you do not have this ball, which I found annoying. There are much better yoga dvds out there.
Rating:
Summary: Impeccable Instruction!
Review: This DVD contains two of Karen's workouts: Core Essentials and
Yogasculpt. They both provide non-aerobic, Pilates and
Yoga workouts that are challenging and invigorating. Karen's precise, no-nonsense instruction is so helpful, especially to those who are new to Pilates and Yoga.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but missleading
Review: This DVD is a little missleading. When you buy it you think that you are getting several different workouts that last for different lengths of time. When I opened it, I chose to do the first workout. A 45 minute Yoga Sculpt routine. This is a great session for beginners like me. But, when I finished, I wanted to try out the 20 minute Pilates routine. Well, turns out, I already did it in the 45 minute Yoga Sculpt session. What they did was add the 25 minute Yoga Flow routine and the 20 minute pilates to get the 45 minute Yoga Sculpt session. I was a little disappointed with that. Plus, the pilates basically focuses only on abs. The second half of the DVD, like other reviewers had mentioned, required more equiptment, and included a wierd flailing of the arms warm up. Overall, the Yoga is very good. I was just dissapointed when there weren't more options.
Rating:
Summary: top-notch
Review: This tape is a great workout, has great production quality, and is a good value (two videos in one DVD). I highly recommend it!! The Yoga Sculpt has a 25 minute yoga workout that does chair pose, downward dogs, planks, and some nice twisting spinal stretches (among others). It then has a 20-min. pilates routine, focusing on ab strength. The pilates centers around a modified teaser-type pose. My only concern regarding this DVD is that at first it is tricky to achieve proper form in this pose (to fully use ab muscles and not cheat with your back). She does explain it, but if you haven't done Pilates it might take some time to do it correctly. The second half of the DVD comes from Karen's "Core Essentials" video. This is my favorite workout!! It is broken up into sections, but the best part is the killer warm-up found at the beginning of the full version. It is approx. 15 minutes of squat & lunge variations with upper body movements. The pace is quick, aerobic-like, and will warm up and work out your whole body, especially your legs. The next section is 10 minutes of intense legwork, but I've found I have a hard time getting through *both* the warm-up and leg work. I usually get through one and a half and then collapse with a great after workout burn. Then there is a 10 minute ab section with curl variations, followed by 10 minutes of arms. Each of these is accessible through the DVD menu. The great thing about the DVD is that you can pick and choose and create your own workout. I love warming up with the yoga portion and then going through core essentials. All in all, a great workout, and a great value.
Rating:
Summary: YogaSculpt & Core Essentials-2 Different Strength Programs
Review: Workout Description: This DVD is a compilation of YogaSculpt and (Pilates) Core (Fusion) Essentials (aka Core Plus More), both of which have been released separately on both VHS and DVD. YogaSculpt = about 40 minutes of toning (25 minute Yoga Flow focusing on lower and upper body strength through traditional yoga poses and 15 minute Pilates matwork focusing on abs) with 5 minute cool-down stretch for a total of 45 minutes. Core Essentials = 30 minutes of toning (5 minutes of standing legwork; 25 on the floor: 10 legs, 5 upper body, 10 abs) w/ 5 minute warm-up and 6 minute stretch for a total of 40 minutes.
Workout Level: intermediate
Instructor: Karen Voight (fitness instructor since 1978; IDEA Instructor of the Year and Business Person of the Year; an IDEA's 5 Star Presenter; certified ACE Group Fitness Leader). Karen is an excellent cuer and very focused on proper form and technique. She exercises each side evenly and intends for you to mirror her movements.
Class: Karen alone
Music / Set: YogaSculpt has soft, classical music. Core Essentials has beat-driven synthesizer music. Both have minimalistic interior sets. YogaSculpt is brighter and lighter while Core Essentials is darker and stranger.
Equipment Needed: YogaSculpt needs a mat and an optional yoga block. Core Essentials needs sneakers for standing portion only, 1-2 pair(s) of dumbbells (your choice of weight), 1 pair of Green Genie balls (substitute any 3 lb. weighted ball or, if in a pinch, dumbbells), mat, and a towel.
Additional Comments: You have enough space for most of both programs if you can lie down with your arms and legs extended and move your legs out to the side. You'll need a little more space for the standing portion of Core Essentials (two big steps to each side).
Karen does not intend for either program to be your usual strength training routine. They are meant to be good workouts to shake up your rotation. If you keep using the same workout all of the time, you'll eventually hit a plateau because your muscles will adapt to the movement and resistance. Both will reawaken your muscles and maybe even work some muscles that have been forgotten.
Karen does expect you to be familiar with traditional strength training moves like squats and lunges as well as weight lifting moves. You do not need much familiarity with yoga to do the yoga segment, although Pilates experience is helpful for the Pilates matwork sequence. Karen's strength as an instructor is really form and technique, so pay attention to her cues.
The DVD contains the following options: YogaSculpt entire program (45 minutes), YogaSculpt YogaFlow (25 minutes), YogaSculpt Pilates Matwork (20 minutes); Core Essentials entire program (40 minutes), Legs & Buttocks only (10 minutes), Arms & Back only (5 minutes), or Abdominals only (10 minutes). The only "extras" are introductions by Karen and a weblink.
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