[.ca] Cindy Crawford: Shape Your Body

From Amazon.com:
At a time when we know so much about choosing safe, effective exercises, reissuing Cindy Crawford's 1992 best-selling disaster, Shape Your Body, is inexcusable. Swimsuit-clad Cindy puts herself through flings and gyrations that show off her body but aren't any good for anyone else's. She presents one after another of the exercises that fitness professionals threw out of their routines two decades ago because they're ineffective and risky to back and joints. Her alignment is awful; her control nonexistent. She rounds her back and flings her leg into high kicks. She does squats letting her knees go way past her toes. Even when the exercises are decently chosen and performed, she does them much too quickly, relying on momentum instead of muscle power, such as two-second bent-over rows. Trainer Radu, who designed and coached this workout, should be sentenced to an eternity of fast donkey kicks, leg swings, and trunk circles. This "toning" video would be a joke, except that you really could get hurt following it. In fact, when Shape Your Body first came out, fitness expert Peg Jordan, author of Fitness Instinct, appeared on CNN warning viewers about the risks of this video. "I received a call from a chiropractor who had treated 12 patients' back injuries from that video alone!" she recalls. If you've got to have this one, watch it only, don't do it. --Joan Price

The best:
So what if HER form is bad? Now that you know, do it right!!! I think this video is the best! It got me back in shape after each of my three pregnancies (30-40 pounds in about 4 months) Combine with THE NEXT CHALLENGE for a change once in a while and I can guarantee, you WILL see results FAST!!

Poor Form:
Routines are done far to fast and with poor form. Cindy seems to just want to get through each set of repitions and the whole things seems rushed. Her trained Radu doesn't really explain the benefits of each exercise. Don't waste your money.

This WORKS!:
I have never understood the poor reviews this video has recieved. I have suffered numerous back and knee injuries in the past (while kickboxing and skiing) and have never had any problems with this routine. I have been doing this workout since it debuted in 1992! I have, however, injured myself while using other well-reviewed exercise videos such as Tamilee Webb's Tighter Assets CardioBlast (which is HELL on the knees!). I suppose that any workout or sport activity can be unsafe for anyone with pre-existing conditions, and it is a person's responsibility to work-out SAFELY, and only within their personal limits. My only criticism is that her form does need a little improvement - and could possibly be a bad influence on someone who is inexperienced at exercise. But these moves can be easily done safely and effectivly, with great results! I still think this is one of the best home exercise videos I've done - and boy, have I tried a few! I recently ordered a new DVD because I wore the old tape out! And unlike MANY other highly-recommended videos... you will see results FAST!

Terrible form; dangerous to your back & knees!:
Run, don't walk, from this video, before you get hurt using it! There are so many well-done, challenging, safe videos on the market that there is no excuse to follow a bad, irresponsibly-made video like this one. Crawford's form on some of the exercises is not only awful, but potentially very harmful to backs and knees; Radu, the trainer who devised & supervised the workout, and who should know better, sells us a very unsafe workout. Given the well-documented problems with this program, it's astonishingly irresponsible that it was ever reissued. I wrecked my knees doing what Crawford demonstrates: allowing the knees to come way out over the ankles. Now, after working with a physical therapist and a knowledgeable trainer--and reading extensively about the knee joint--I know that the knees should not move past the ankles while doing squats & lunges, but I didn't know it when using this video, and I copied Crawford's movements, never dreaming that her trainer would have her doing unsafe moves. Wrong! I have had terrible knee pain in both knees as a result of using this tape. Using strict form and care (in other words, not using this tape), my knees are gradually improving. But this expensive, activity-limiting, painful injury was totally preventable! If you didn't see this review, please read what a 15-year-old reviewer named LW wrote on 12-03-03, entitled "Good...But Not Good For Your Back": "Because of this workout, I have developed a bad back- and I'm only fifteen! I can't and don't want to do this tape ever again because ever since the first time I used it a year ago, my back hasn't been the same....I like the video overall but it unfortunately killed my back." Why on earth did this poor young girl give the video 4 stars and say that she "like\od\c the video overall"?! I regret having to give the darn thing 1 star--it deserves none. If you want a lifetime of healthy exercising, then choose instructors who are scrupulous about using correct form. They deserve your time, money, and sweat--*not* the bunch who made this video. There is no excuse for poorly-done, sloppy videos like this one being on the market.

Just A Great Work!:
I'm 24 year old and I've been doing this workout since I was 13. There is no other workout that could make me lose weight and look great! Something more - the result came much faster than I expected. I've been doing traditional aerobics, and more other useless stuff and the only result was in gaining big and really looking FAT muscles mostly on my thighs. For all those 9 years I have no injuries at all. When I bought The Next Challenge I started combining these two workouts and felt even better. So don't even read the editors' reviews - I don't even think that anybody of them has tried this workout.