Posts filed under 'Consumer Whore'
Okay, so the word got out that another new Firm workout will be released on May 20, 2008. Which workout? It’s the cardio jump rope one with Annie called Firm Cardio To Go. Both Amazon and Overstock are taking preorders on it, but the Overstock.com price is cheaper than Amazon - for now. It looks like the kit is going to contain a jump rope and a DVD and will come in a pink drawstring bag. It’s kind of hard to tell if it comes with anything else since the picture at Overstock is soooo tiny.
I think it is going to definitely be a must miss workout for me. Annie just doesn’t seem like she would be a very good instructor and well, I don’t like high impact stuff right now anyways.
Although, I am curious to see a preview of this thing mostly because it finally looks like the Firm is trying to take some “different” approaches workout wise - except for the gadgets thing. Grrr. Gadgets!
Oh yea, and I don’t write about Cathe Friedrich that much - mostly because I am in no shape to do her workouts - well not like I am in shape to do some of these Firm workouts either, but I digress…..
Well, Cathe has been talking about it for awhile now, but she is coming out with a whole new series pretty soon too. She’s calling it STS, which I think stands for shock training system. I think she is trying to come out with a version of P90X, but she is going absolutely Cathe crazy with making this series. What am I talking about? The series itself is going to be compromised of 37 - yes 37 - DVD’s! OMFG! She already started her presale and this is the time to really jump on it actually. Why is this good time to jump on it? Okay, I admit the presale price is really high, (it’s $200 plus shipping I think), but if you think about it, it comes out to about $5 a DVD! Saweeet!
Also each DVD is going to be about 45 minutes to an hour long. Not bad at all. She is already in rehearsals and has posted a ton of pictures on her blog. Dang! Those people got some muscles on them!
If I was in better shape, I think I would probably cave on this one - just because the price per DVD is so darn good!
February 25th, 2008
Gah, I totally splurged this past weekend and got myself a Nintendo DS lite in Cobalt and Black! OMFG it is freaking awesome! I had been wanting to get one - mostly because of those stupid Brain Age commercials. I like interaction in learning and I really need something that will help me with my logic skills and thinking and heck, it’s a video game system! Yea!
The cobalt and black one was just released this week too, I think. I like it. I thought black would be stylin’, but boring. Too bad that there isn’t a purple or green one. Oh well.
I started playing the Brain Age 2 game and man, I think my initial test put my brain age in the 50’s! Bullkaka! The second test brought me down to my 40’s, but still, it’s not that great. It literally is brain training in just minutes a day. It’s just too bad that I play it shortly before my bedtime, so I am either 1) really tired or 2) it stimulates my brain so I can’t fall asleep! Doh! It also includes over 100 sudoku puzzles. Sounds exciting, but I have never done a sudoku in my life, so I got stumped just looking at one. LOL!
I also picked up this game called Professor Layton and the Curious Village. It’s another game that is full of puzzles. I have mixed feelings about it though. One thing that is really cool about it is that it has over 100 puzzles and you can also download a new puzzle every week - for how long I don’t know, but heck even 10 extra puzzles is cool. It also includes a bunch of full action animation to get you between scenes, which was pretty cool in the beginning, but I am over that part now and just think that some of the transitions are wastes of time. The puzzles are pretty challenging, especially for my brain that’s in the 40’s in age. LOL.
I will probably scour the ads this weekend to see if any other games are on sale because I think I need some mindless entertainment game - to take a break from the critical thinking. Heeheee.
Oh well, it is still KICK ASS! GO ME!
February 13th, 2008
Personally, I have never ordered anything from Total Fitness DVDs, but I have read nothing but positive reviews about them from the various video fitness boards I go to.
I am mentioning them today because they have a few new Firms available for preorder right now. The Firms available for preorder are the ones that are set to be released on March 4, 2008. There is a possibility that they might have them sooner than that, but don’t quote me on it.
They are currently showing these new Firms available for preorder -
Tight Buns and Killer Legs was part of the initial add on pack for the Transfirmation system and one I am looking forward to, even though I haven’t worked out in ages. Ha!
I am also looking forward to the Balance Trainer one. I have seen those types of discs at the gym, but never tried them. It looks interesting though. I should probably try it at the gym though - to see if my wonky knee gets affected by it - that should make or break my purchase of it.
The prices at Total Fitness DVDs actually are quite reasonable - more reasonable than Collage actually, and I have heard that their shipping is pretty fast too. I am surprised, but a few of those new ones aren’t even available for preorder at Amazon yet.
In other workout news, Cardio Coach is running a pretty awesome sale until February 1, 2008 right now. What’s Cardio Coach? Okay, again, I have never done one myself, but they are audio workouts designed to help your cardio fitness. The people at the video fitness boards swear by them and I can’t wait to get them actually, even though I have no idea when I am going to use them - again HA!
You can use them on any type of fitness machine, but most people use them for running on a treadmill, I think. I will probably start off with walking on the treadmill and see how that goes.
They are offering a New Year Special, which is just incredible. You get 6 CD’s, 1 mp3 download and a $20 gift certificate - for $30!!!!!!!!!!!! Each workout is normally between $15 and $19 dollars, so you can see why this is such a bargain. I ordered them really early Friday morning and they should be here tomorrow actually. I would have gotten them on Monday, but there was no mail on Monday because of the holiday.
I would highly recommend picking this up now - just because the price is so good.
One thing that is really bad about getting the Cardio Coach’s though, is that it is making me want to get one of those ultra mini mp3 players for the gym. I just got a new one which I don’t want to talk about yet, just because I am weird like that, but I am now thinking about getting a Creative Zen Stone Plus. It’s like an iPod shuffle, but costs a bit less. The Zen Stone Plus holds 2 GB’s and also includes a display, a radio, a stopwatch, clock, timer, voice recorder and can be used as a storage device - for around $50. Those new fangled shuffles only have 1GB of storage, no display and costs around $80!
Yea, I know what I would rather spend my money on. I really like the Creative products, I just don’t understand why their market share is so low. I mean, heck, there is even a freaking keychain case for the Zen Stone Plus, so you can use it as a keychain! How cool is that?
Oh, but if you like the sound of the Zen Stone Plus, Creative is actually coming out with a newer version soon which is going to include a built in speaker! ZOMG! I don’t need a built in speaker though, so I think I will pass, but the price shown at the Creative site is still really reasonable - I think it is going to pretty much be the same price as it is now.
January 21st, 2008
The Firm Transfirmation system has been out for awhile now. I don’t really have any reviews for that stuff yet since I’ve only picked up a couple of the new workouts.
I am hopefully going to review at least one of the new ones I got this week. We’ll see.
But, if you were planning on getting it, it has gone retail and you can pick it up at various online retailers. The cheapest one I’ve seen is at Overstock.com. It retails there for about $30 and their shipping is always really reasonable. The main difference between the retail kit and the one you could get through Collage or the Firm directly is that the retail kit only comes with 8 1 pound weight plates versus 12 pounds with the normal kit. Plus the kit costs about $75(!) at Collage plus shipping.
Personally, I don’t see the point of selling the videos with the weights. I mean, I already have weights. I heard a lot of people with weights already would set the weights up at 4 and 7 pounds since those types of dumbbells are a little rare to come by. I am pretty sure that most of the videos are going to hit regular retail in the next 6 months anyway though.
I am attempted to pick it up through Overstock though - just because the cost per workout for the price is really cheap. Oh yea, Overstock lists it as being out of stock. They had a whole bunch a little while ago, but sold out within a week I think.
Oh yea, if you want to see preview clips of the new videos, you can check out 2 to 3 minute clips of all of the new releases here. These are clips that are available to members of the Firm Believers club, but they didn’t do a very good job of keeping the preview address “secret.”
A lot of people on the video fitness boards I go to all gave Hi Def Sculpt by Annie really poor reviews. Tight Buns and Killer Legs by Kelsie has gotten universally good reviews - but that is part of that add on pack they released shortly after the CardioWeights release. This video looks pretty good from the preview clip I saw. It is also going retail in March 2008.
There also some new Firms set for release next year. This is something I picked up from the Firm boards.
We wanted you to be the first to know about new programs that will be released via retail in 2008. We have tentatively scheduled these for release throughout the year so look for updates and announcements here about when each of these new FIRM programs will be available. A few will be available as early as May 2008 while others will be released later in the year.
· Cardio Dance workout led by Alison Davis
· 60 minute calorie blasting workout led by Kelsie Daniels that is slated to be packaged on one DVD with a 30 minute AWT led by Emily Welsh
· Sculpting workout led by Rebekah Sturkie
· Kickboxing Cardio workout led by Kelsie Daniels
· Balance workout led by Tina Smalley
· Travel / quick workout led by Annie Lee using a jump Rope and other fun compact equipment
· A new Cardio Sculpting Ball Workout led by Rebekah Sturkie
The most amazing news is that some of your fellow FIRM Believers will be in the cast of some of these workouts! They will be able to share the behind the scenes making of The FIRM workouts!
These sound pretty good and they were all filmed this past September. The only drawback to these? Well, I am pretty sure that most of them are going to be released with new gadgets. What the hell!!???!!!! Ugh, it’s so sickening how they are pushing so many gadgets. I think I am pretty much done with the new Firm. I mean, they were so great in the early years because they were different from other videos out at the time and they used weights! The early workouts were a little gadgety to a certain extent too - I am not denying that. But, it’s not like you would have to buy the gadget in order to get the workout.
I also heard somewhere that the Cardio Dance Fusion workout with Allison is going to be released in March 2008. I am really curious to see how that turns out - mostly because she is in the dance workout with Allie in the lead and well, the girl ain’t got no rhythm.
I also don’t know why they are having Annie lead workouts as my understanding is that she doesn’t seem to be a very good lead at all. Then again, the majority of the old school Firm instructors have left the Firm and are now working with Nancy Tucker at BodyFit in Columbia, SC.
One of the sleuths over at one of my fitness boards found this image. It basically looks like a new Fanny Lifter, renamed Body Trainer and it’s pink and purple instead of blue and purple. There was a rumor that a new Fanny Lifter workout was filmed back in 2006, but no details were released about it. If this is the new workout and considering the way Gaiam has been operating, the workout probably is not going to be available without the purchase of this thing. It’s also been speculated that the name of the gadget was changed because fanny means something completely different in the UK than it does in the States.
November 19th, 2007
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