Action Hero Babe - My review.

sancho

sancho

Cathlete
For anyone considering buying the Action Hero Babe set, here's the review I posted on VF . . .

Well, I'm going to have to say that this set is not for me. I'm glad there are a few positive remarks before I make mine. I really like to be challenged, it's part of what motivates me. This just didn't do it, even with the increased weights. I'm sorry, I just prefer to have my butt kicked and this wasn't it. Val mentions a few times how she is sweating, as if this was a surprising and icky side effect. Personally, I want to sweat. The more the better. It's hard for me to be motivated by someone who seems to dislike the sweat and the work. I didn't feel like the woman likes to workout. I'm coming off an Insanity rotation (which I absolutely loved). Compare Val to Shaun T and you can decide who is more motivating for you. Different strokes.

From a production standpoint, I thought the quality of these was fine. I always kind of felt like Cathe over does it and I'd rather she lower her quality a bit to get out more quantity. But, the fact that this set costs as much as a Cathe or a BB set is a bit ridiculous. I don't care who Valerie Waters trains. Her workout is certainly no better (or special) than Cathe, Jari, KCM, Amy Bento, Shaun T, Tony, etc. I'm sure they train famous people too, they just don't use it as a marketing tool (probably because they think it's as worthless as I do . . . and cheezy).

If you are someone that prefers an Intermediate level workout and is motivated by new rotations, this may be something good to try. Otherwise, I did not see anything today that makes this series revolutionary. Maybe it's in the other disks, but I just don't think I'm going to get around to trying them. By they way, I didn't even notice there wasn't any music. But how can she charge $100 for a series that doesn't even include music. IMO, This is SO not worth the price.
 
I sent mine back yesterday.
I was extremely disappointed. I posted a few comments in another thread here.

Here are my thoughts.....
I was not challenged and didn't care for Valerie as an instructor.

Valerie's form is very awkward during several moves and what I considered unpolished. I was frustrated with the upper body work. I thought the moves were too fast, used momentum with very little focus for peak contraction (both band and dumbbells).
After completing the first two 2 workouts, I couldn't see myself following this program without extreme dread.
Some of her comments were extremely annoying to me.

I like Valerie's paper workouts because they are easy to modify to a more advanced level, and work great with my TRX suspension trainer. ;)
 
i agree with you ladies. i viewed mine last night and they totally aren't for me. I'm sending them back this week to get a refund. I liked her workouts on paper though; mabe b/c i push myself a bit more when i'm doing them on my own? i'm enjoying turbulence training right now anyway.
 
Sancho and Fit44, thanks for your reviews. I was tempted by this but I'm so glad I didn't jump on the bandwagon.
 
Sancho - Thanks you for your review. From your review is seems that the type of workouts that I like are very similar to your taste. I too recently finished an Insanity rotation and I was considering purchasing Valerie's workouts after I finish my current P90x rotation. You saved me money and aggravation. Thanks again!
 
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Hi Regina,

I think I'm going to start mixing P90X with Insanity. I'm also going to try one of the Pit workouts and some Kettlebells. If you find anything new that you like, please PM me.
 
I'm sorry you ladies didn't like it......but I REALLY did. Here's my post from my check-in and then I'll ellaborate further.

"This morning I did Valerie's AHB - Build 1 workout. As expected....I loved it. Workout was 47" and I burned around 430 calories. I used more weights than Val on most moves and I kickboxed during her 1 minute rests between circuits. I only took brief breathers to get water and such.

Val is very sincere and inspiring. She is working out with you in real time. She doesn't have any annoying habits. She is breathing heavy and working along with you. You could make this as hard or easy as you want by lifting heavier, lighter, adding cardio during the breaks, etc. She uses a kettlebell for plie squats and resistance tubing with a door attachment for triceps, as well as Valslides.

This is classic Val with her great core work and leg work with Valslides, two of the places you'll feel this most. I did an extra long stretch and previewed the other DVDs from the series and I'm VERY satisfied with what I see. Heck, this might even inspire me to reach for some of her paper workouts when I get sick of the DVDs, as Val works along from paper and makes me think, I can do that too!! LOL.

Between Action Hero Babe and The Pit Skills & Drills, I'm one happy camper with my workouts the last few days!"

Okay - now for some brief history on me. I'm 50 and have been working out steadily since I was around 27 (and off and on before that). I am advanced, but do a variety of levels and modify up or down as needed. I am easy to please and don't complain about much with workouts or instructors. I am biased towards Val's workouts, as her AHB workouts on her Blog were some of my fave's and I also have all of her E-books.

As long as you realize Val's not into heavy lifting and see this program for "what it is", I don't think you should be unhappy. Val does more functional type moves and does not lift super heavy like Cathe. If you try this, please keep an open mind and don't compare it to P90X or Cathe's STS, as it is total different. I always feel Val's workouts in my core! I think it has adequate upper body, but not overkill. I might prefer to see a bit more upper body and a longer stretch at the end (since I'm 50). Other than that, I can't complain about this.

I didn't mind the no music feature, as I like to play my own Rock music anyway! I thought the production was nice and I liked how it was done in real time. I have to double up on my bands to make enough resistance for chest flies and rowing, but that's normal for me. The only equipment change I had trouble with was moving the resistance band to the correct height ...other than that, it was easy to follow.

I can see myself changing this up in the future and going a bit heavier and maybe even doing less reps and going a bit slower....but this would be after my body got used to the program the way it is and I felt I needed to change it up. I do this with a lot of videos when I want to get in some heavier lifting. Even today when I did this....when I selected heavier weights than Val, if I needed to slow down, I did and did a couple less reps. I didn't mind that at all, as I feel 8-10 reps are good for a Build workout.

I'm VERY happy! I love using the Valslides ...as it makes the workout FUN. I like the other equipment she uses in the other workouts that I previewed. I really like the resistance loop around your ankles. I'm very happy with my purchase!

Kickboxing during the rests (and I mean REALLY putting your ALL into it and concentrating on getting low with your legs and punching forcefully concentrating on your recoil) will REALLY make you feel like an Action Hero Babe!!! LOL!!
 
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lorajeanne said:
Kickboxing during the rests (and I mean REALLY putting your ALL into it and concentrating on getting low with your legs and punching forcefully concentrating on your recoil) will REALLY make you feel like an Action Hero Babe!!! LOL!!
Click to expand...
Great idea!
And a good way to get in more upperbody work at the same time.

(I still haven't gotten my AHB order yet...maybe today.)
 
430 calories burned?? Wow...I did it this morning with heavier weights as well and my GWF only registered 157 calories!! I did like the workout but once I saw my number I was so disappointed I did another total body workout!
 
Yes, 430 and that is actually low for a Valerie workout for me. I remember RCR running in the 500's. My HR actually stayed in the 125-140ish range for the workout, however, I kickboxed during the breaks and lifted a bit heavier. I am actually sore today also, especially in the core.

I'm in good shape also and rarely get sore. I guess I'm in the minority with liking this, but I have a very open mind and do TONS of variety and intensities to keep things mixed up and fresh constantly. I never mind modifying up or down for a workout as needed. I prefer VARIETY! It is the key to muscle confusion and I think Val's work is unique in that it's not the same ol' same ol'.
 
Just did Build 1 today (had to wait a week because I came down with a bad cold the day after my marathon!) and I really enjoyed it! I think all of the lukewarm/negative reviews definitely lowered my expectations LOL. But it was no less enjoyable for me than RCR or the Bikini Body workouts, and I actually liked the "realness" of the videos. It wasn't perfect/polished by any means, but that actually added to the enjoyment factor for me.

Can't wait to do the other ones now!
 
You can't think of this as strength workouts. It's more like cardio. It's all about the calorie burn, not building muscle. Try to move through the circuits quickly and get your heart rate up. Move through the exercises as fast as you can with proper form, modify by going heavier (not too heavy, keep it lighter), add more reps, you can wear ankle weights for some of the exercises, etc.. you can make this more challenging if you need too.

This is like metabolic training .. the benefit from this type of training switching from upper to lower body to core.. is that your blood rushes from place to place which burns more calories than if you just move in one place. Your body gets more confused which increases your calorie burn, both during and post workout.

I wore a heartrate monitor and burned about 90% of the calories I usually do of a moderate cardio session of the same duration. Plus I worked my muscles a bit... granted I modified. I did "feel" the exercises, but not enough to call this strength training. It's not strength training. it's cardio with strength built in.

The exercises are different, some I've never seen before. There is a low dread factor. The workout goes by quickly. The exercises are kinda entertaining.

I don't know if it's worth the price, but I like these workouts.

I'm currently alternating them with my STS workouts in place of pure cardio.
 
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