Rachel McLish Movies

Rachel McLish, who has won such titles as Ms. Olympia and World Women's Body Building Champion, has put together this simple yet highly useful exercise video. It includes some rather unusual routines, such as "tricep cross-chest extensions," "oblique twists," and "stiff-legged dead lifts." There's also an advanced ab segment for those who've been working on firming up their abs for many weeks or months. To fully follow along with this tape, the viewer will need dumbbells weighing between one and eight pounds, depending on each person's individual strength. A weight bench will also prove very useful, though it's not a complete necessity. McLish provides viewers with a complete body workout, carefully isolating different muscle groups through a series of routines.
~ Elizabeth Smith, Rovi

After the success of his 1975 documentary on male bodybuilders, featuring the subsequently famous Arnold Schwarzenegger and Louis Ferrigno, director George Butler created this follow-up on a bevy of distaff weight lifters as they prepare for a final muscle showdown at the 1983 Caesars Palace World Championship. Interspersed with rock music are interviews with the contestants focusing on social pressures to stop bodybuilding because "it is not feminine," but also giving some details about their personal lives as well. Although their own training regimen is not discussed, nor their future plans, the contestants come across as unique, involved women and by the time they are pitted against each other on stage, most viewers will have one or two that they are cheering on to win. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi