Geri-Fit: The First Workout With Weights for Older Adults [VHS]

Geri-Fit was developed with the help of geriatrician and features fitness expert Francesca Gern and four of her students ranging in age from 50 to 72. All the exercises have been modified to adapt to the needs of the elderly. Superimposed graphics will explain and depict how each exercise is performed before they are actually performed on the video. You'll appreciate the filmed-at-one-time-setting so that when you see that we can do it, you know that YOU can do it.

The methods utilized in this video produce unsurpassed results if done on a consistent basis of two to three-times-a-week. An increase of 800% in strength can be seen in as little as three months if this workout tape is done faithfully. Range of motion and arthritic conditions will greatly improve in a few short weeks.

Give the gift of health! This video is ideal for an elderly parent or grandparent that is losing strength and flexibility because of aging, or has arthritis or osteoporosis. Geri-Fit will surely be their fountain of youth!

On that basis, let me say that I'm enjoying tremendous benefits from this regimen. Those benefits include increased mobility, flexibility, strength, and balance. I thought perhaps I had passed the age where I could recover what was lost, but this workout has proved me wrong. I can walk up the two flights of stairs in my townhouse without pulling myself along using the handrails; I can scrub the kitchen floor on my hands and knees; all my strength for opening jars is back; I can rise from a chair without leveraging myself up by hands on knees; and can do calf exercises on a rocker board without holding on to the doorjambs. The list goes on and on. I can't recommend this video more highly to mature adults who think they've passed the point of no return.

Perfect "Restart" after Recovering from a Long Illness
Review Date: 2001-09-10 Rating: 8 out of 10

As someone who is returning to fitness after years of illness (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), this tape provided the perfect "restart" workout for me. At 41, I'm younger than most of the people on the tape - but the workout is still plenty challenging for me. The pace is slow, and Francesca seems to hit all of the major muscle groups. These are classic weight training exercises, specially adapted for seniors. Many of upper body exercises are completed in a chair. The chest and ab work is done on the floor, but the program has been designed so that you only have to get on the floor once. There are very few standing exercises, and these are supported by a chair.

My only complaint has to do with the editing of the tape toward the end. At one point during a final quad stretch, it cuts away too quickly to the next stretch. You don't have time to get into the position, let alone give it a good stretch. But I think this has to do with the editing, not Francesca's teaching. I just pause the tape there so I get a good stretch.

No intimidating, perfect bodies here -- the participants all look like "real" seniors. I found that comforting and even motivating...I kept telling myself "if they can do it, so can I."