If you’re looking to get fit in the New Year, a veritable
smorgasbord of exercise videos awaits. To whip into shape,
exercisers can learn to strip with Carmen Electra, have fat-burning
dance parties and boogie down in hip-hop cardio workouts.
If you’re looking to get fit in the New Year, a veritable smorgasbord of exercise videos awaits. To whip into shape, exercisers can learn to strip with Carmen Electra, have fat-burning dance parties and boogie down in hip-hop cardio workouts.
Or, if you’re looking to firm muscle tone rather than lose weight, pop in a DVD or VHS tape from a number of yoga instructors or experts who can help you achieve buns, abs and thighs of steel. You can even sweat along with Regis Philbin.
With all the choices on the market, what’s a well-intentioned couch potato to do? For starters, look for exercises that focus on two things: strength and cardiovascular health, said Jun Estrada, director of physical therapy at Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital in Hollister.
“If you can find a tape that addresses both strengthening and cardiovascular, you’re in good shape,” Estrada said. “Most videos focus on one or the other, which is OK, but then you have to get one of each kind. You have to address both counts – you can’t address one without the other.”
Dance and aerobic workouts will elevate the heart rate and are good cardio workouts, especially if the heart rate stays elevated continuously during the workout, Estrada said.
While cardio exercises improve overall endurance, strengthening exercises often focus on specific body parts. Some strengthening-exercise videos require basic equipment such as free weights to provide resistance, but yoga and pilates are forms of strengthening exercises that use the body’s weight with gravity.
“Yoga and pilates build strength almost like a push-up builds strength,” Estrada said. “I’m working my chest and arms just using my own weight.”
One video workout focusing on strengthening exercises is “Winsor Pilates Ab Sculpting,” hosted by Mari Winsor. Infomercials for the video feature a handful of celebrities, including Daisy Fuentes and Danny Glover, praising the workout.
The video lasts about 25 minutes and focuses on the abs. Viewers are told when to inhale, when to exhale and how to hold the body during some of the more complicated moves. The dialogue also informed viewers which muscles were being worked during which exercises.
Pilates beginners may not want to jump into learning pilates with this video because the basic terms and moves of pilates are not explained. Watching introductory videos first would help novices become more familiar with basic principles of pilates.
The major downside to the video is watching all of these sculpted and graceful instructors execute each move with style. Most people are not able to straighten their legs for a lot of the moves, nor will they be able to perform them without grunting, sweating or cursing under their breath. It would have been nice to see someone who hasn’t been doing pilates for 15 years on the video, if only to help viewers’ self-esteem.
For a more true-to-life exercise experience, consider watching “Richard Simmons’ ’80s Blast-Off.” The video is about a half-hour long, and everyone on camera sweats and has messy hair, runny makeup and average-sized bodies. In fact, some of the people in the video look downright ungraceful doing the moves, which is refreshing.
It’s hard to follow some of the moves at first. Simmons doesn’t alert viewers when he’s going to switch his steps, but it’s easy enough to catch on quickly. The music is fun, the moves aren’t technically precise and any beginner can do them.
Plus, Simmons is a funny guy. It’s hard not to crack a smile when watching the video, even if you end up laughing at his sparkly outfit or the come-hither looks he throws into the workout.
Although watching exercise videos appeals to some, for others, heading to the gym is more effective.
“I think exercise videos are OK, but really it’s best to go into a gym to work out,” said Jason Chapman, a personal trainer at Xtreme Fitness in Gilroy. “It’s easier to do exercises in person and have a trainer watch you. The instruction you can get in a gym is way better and much more personal than anything you can ever get on a tape.”
Working out in a gym also means you’re exercising around other people, and the social interaction can be motivating, Chapman said.
Before starting any exercise regimen, check with your doctor to make sure you’re physically fit enough to tackle the exercises you want to do, Estrada said.
“The most important thing is to find something that’s fun, not something you’re just going to put aside after one time,” said Estrada, who uses an exercise video called “Urban Rebounding.” The workout involves performing exercises on a mini-trampoline. “In theory, it’s better for the joints, but mostly it’s got that element of fun.”
