The Charge

You can bounce a nickel off of those abs!

The Case

From Koch Vision and Self magazine, one of the major women's health publications out there, comes this exercise video, which focuses on toning and strengthening the abdominal muscles.

The 45-minute program is broken down into multiple segments: warmup, stability ball exercises, yoga abs, Pilates exercises, and cooldown. Violet Zaki, a certified instructor and a black belt in karate, hosts the program. She is, in fact, probably the best selling point for the disc, as her abs look to be as hard as an oak tree. She leads her crew of two other jacked women through the exercise on a nice sunny beachfront. As for the exercises themselves, well, they appear to be blood-pumping enough. As I am not the target demographic and haven't religiously followed the program's game plan for several months, I can't comment on the effectiveness of the workout. But it absolutely looks like a solid regimen, and the sponsors of this disc are well known. Plus, I dare not say anything negative for fear of Ms. Zaki showing up at my door and ripping my spinal column from my body.

To fully participate, the program recommends a set of 2- to 5-pound hand weights, a floor mat, and a stability ball. You'll also probably need a relatively large area, as the ball workouts, specifically, will eat some space.

The production values of the disc are solid enough. Camera shots are varied and give plenty of close-up attention to the various moves. The full-frame video quality is sharp and the Dolby Digital stereo sound does its thing. As a fitness video, technical prowess isn't mandatory, but it's still nice to see a product sporting some slick-looking visuals. An additional five-minute cardio workout is included in the special features, so there's a little more bang for your buck.

Not much else to tell you folks. For you ladies searching for a DVD that works you through some pretty hefty ab moves, Self: Firm Flat Abs Fast should do the trick nicely.

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