Where to start with The Firm

[Carol K]

I don't have problems with my knees, but I just didn't feel secure using weight on the 14" height anymore, even with the dowel.

[prettyinpink]

Originally Posted by Camember

I've seen that a lot of DVDs use the fanny lifter or the transfirmer.

As they are unavailable in my country, I've checked for possible substitutes of the transfirmer, which seems the most versatile of the two, and found two options:
https://amzn.eu/d/gdKlKtJ

And this one:

https://amzn.eu/d/5baNNJW

Although the second one looks pretty cool, as I'm very, very petite I'm thinking of purchasing the first one. I have read that it has more or less the same length and width of the transfirmer.

If by more versatile you mean that more Firm workouts use the Transfirmer, I don’t know all the workouts well enough to know that. I never did any workouts with the Transfirmer.

But otherwise, I’d say that a regular step as a sub for the Fanny Lifter is much more versatile and can be used with many more workouts and exercises. I had a plastic version of the Fanny Lifter and much prefer a regular stackable step, the small one sometimes called a “high step” with risers, once I got one.

[Carol K]

The workouts that use the Fanny Lifter switch between heights far more frequently than the workouts that use the TransFirmer. I've found it is less awkward to use the Fanny Lifter for those workouts, but many people use the TransFirmer and position it vertically.

[Camember]

I may even try them all before without any step, modifying to floorwork, just to see if I can do them without hurting my right hip (piroformis syndrome + chronic trochanteric pain). A common step is pretty cheap, but a reclinable one is more pricey (not much, but I have not much space to store equipment).