I'm the first to admit I'm not the most sporty or active person on the plant, I've always been the one curled up with a good book or watching endless Youtube videos (oh the exciting life I lead!)
I have, however tried out a shed-load of home workouts, diets, fitness fads, gym classes and just about anything else you can think of, in the effort to loose that dreaded 'Freshers 15' (It's not even a 'Freshers 15' anymore, I've been carrying an extra stone for the last 3 years, I cant even blame uni anymore!)
Anyway, onto the point of this post. I wanted to make a little collection of some of my favorite home workouts and some which haven't impressed so much (to put it nicely!) Workout DVDs are a really good way to workout at home, granted its the same routine every time and they'll make the same jokes/comments/explanations every time, but if you mix it up and do a couple they can be a really good way to fit some exercise into your day without having to go to a class at the gym.
Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred DVD is one of my faves. Man can she kick some ass! The DVD had 3 levels and to complete the shred you're supposed to do 10 days of each level, working out 6 days a week. Each level is 30 mins long with a warm up and cool down and the 3 circuits made up of 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio and 1 minute of abs.
I went into this all guns blazing and managed 2 weeks of 6 day per week workouts but I felt so drained at the end of each one! I cut down to 4-5 days a week when I started my new job so I can't vouch for what would happen if you stuck to 6 days religiously, I also didn't follow a calorie controlled diet plan when doing this DVD, I just ate sensibly.
The levels do get easier the more you work on them and you can definitely feel them working but, unlike the box will have you believe, I didn't loose 10 lb in a month. I know I would have lost more if I had stuck to a religious diet plan too, but honestly the workouts take it out of you and I was left feeling dizzy more than once.
Overall a really great workout, and probably something I'll do again in the future, maybe with a diet plan too to see if that makes anymore of a difference.
I recently bought Jillian's book 'Making the Cut' and am planning to follow the plan in that to see if it works better than the shred for me, I'll let you know!
Davina McCall has more workout DVDs out than you can shake a stick at (weird expression that!) but my old fave is the Davina Super Body Workout. Davina is fab and although I couldn't do this everyday (she makes way to many little comments and jokes which I know would grate pretty quickly!) I really enjoy it when I'm feeling the need for a fun workout.
The DVD has two 40 minute workouts, Super Fit and Super Sculpt and then you can bump it up to 50 mins by adding Super Pump, Super Abs, Super Legs or Super Six Pack (killer!) onto the end.
All in all really good workouts and they make me smile when I do them, which can't be a bad thing!
On the flip side Mari Winsor's Pilates with Mari Winsor is definitely not a fave! I picked this up a couple of years ago when I found out Miley Cyrus had been using Marie's classes to gain THOSE abs (what can I say I'm a sucker for a celeb endorsement!).
Doing this DVD is painful, and not in the usual workout sense! I get that the moves are probably very good for you and for toning the body but it's just so slow paced and Mari spends and age explaining every detail of the move or not explaining it at all and leaving you suuper confused and behind.
I think it's just the set up of this DVD that I find so uninspiring, along with the overly smug looking women doing the moves along with you (yes I can see that you can do the move a billion times better than me, you don't have to rub it in!) To top it off I find some of what she says quite patronising, and there's only so many times you can listen to someone tell you your'e movements are 'beeeautiful!'
In my opinion, not worth your hard earned!
Youtube workout videos have become my latest love when exercising. I've got two faves that I've recently subscribed to.
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I've also recently been loving JessicaSmithTV's videos, man does she make you work! I really like her ballet based routines for beginners and she has some great ab and arm workouts too. I love that her videos are all of different lengths so you can pick one that will fit in with your day and she runs little challenges too which is really great.
Jessica puts out a new video at least once a week so you don;t really have the time to get bored and she's got such a variety on there. Plus her adorable dog Peanut is always on hand if you just need something to distract you while doing the hardest moves!
So there you have it, my favorite, and not so fave, workouts to do at home. With so much out there there really is no excuse for not doing something a few times a week (that's what I keep telling myself anyway!).
I'm always looking for new ways to work out and change it up, so let me know if you know of any good sites or trainers who can kick me into shape!
Steph
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