Fitness: Post-Christmas workout DVDs put to the test

Dec 29 2009 By Diane Parkes and Sarah Probert

IT’S ‘New Year New You’ time again as fitness gurus and celebrities launch their exercise regimes.

But with all the titles available, which to choose is often the hardest option. Today the Birmingham Mail saves you a bit of legwork by checking out some of the new releases.

Coleen Nolan’s Let’s Get Physical (Universal, £19.99) ****

Loose Woman Coleen’s third fitness DVD sees her teaming up with GMTV’s Deanne Berry for a series of four mini-workouts.

All are relatively simple although they will demand a certain amount of stamina as even in 20 minutes Coleen and co are working up a sweat.

Exercises are a blend of dance, yoga, cardio-vascular and toning with separate warm-ups and cool-downs for each section.

With cheesy 80s music from the likes of ABC, Bananarama, Level 42 and Yazz, there are plenty of lively tunes to get you in the mood for exercise – and to remind you just how awful some of that music really was.

Coleen recommends working out at least three times a week and, combined with a sensible diet, this regime should help shift the pounds.

While the exercises are pretty traditional there is plenty of variety across the different sections to ensure high impact as well as floor work and all areas of the body are targeted at some point.

While Deanne and the backing dancers make it all look easy it is heartening to see Coleen huffing and puffing – and even cheating, a bit.

Once the exercise is over, put your feet up and turn on the optional extras as the filmed snippets on the filming of the DVD are good fun and it never hurts to see a celeb in rollers.

The Biggest Loser: New Year, New You (Lionsgate, £17.99) ****

The exercise video to follow the TV reality series The Biggest Loser, where contestants competed against each other to see who could lose the most weight.

Not only did the title put me off (along with the price), but I also assumed that it was for beginners only and would not really challenge people with a certain level of fitness. How wrong I was!

What is great about this DVD is that it has four different workouts, which you can do individually, or put them together to make a longer routine.

There are also extras if you want to focus on specific problems area such as bingo wings and bottoms.

You need weights for these workouts as well (so out come the bean tins) and the workout is a very traditional, yet effective one, so forget dancing around the room to Steps and think more about ab crunches and squats. By picking a selection of routines, I did a 60-minute workout and I certainly felt it the next day. I really enjoyed this one, and it is perfect for people who have small spaces to exercise in, as you don’t have to move up and down too much.

It was also nice to see some of the contestants from the show exercising in the background rather than the usual super-toned models.

Great DVD for all levels of fitness and gives people a chance to build up from doing one or two routines, to trying the whole lot.

Rosemary Conley’s Real Results! (Universal, £19.99) *****

Diet and exercise guru Rosemary puts the newcomers in their places by releasing her 30th fitness DVD.

After all this time it would be hard to believe she has anything new to say and in many ways she doesn’t but if this is your first fitness DVD you cannot go far wrong.

Rosemary has put together a series of routines ranging from a 23 aerobics workout down to an abdominals blaster lasting just four minutes.

A bit like a pick ‘n’ mix it means we can create a tailor-made fitness DVD depending on how much time we have available and that, as Rosemary tells us, there is ‘no excuse for not doing something every day.’

None of the exercises are earth-shattering and most will be known to people who attend aerobics and fitness classes but taken together they will ensure every bit of the body gets a workout.

Plus Rosemary ensures there is plenty of advice and information to accompany each move.

Also on the DVD are six women who have lost weight on a Rosemary Conley programme, including local girl Allyson Wicklen, aged 19.

Doing the exercises with Rosemary, they are working to different levels, ensuring this is effective for absolute beginners through to hardened fitness enthusiasts.

Their stories at the end will also inspire women wanting to shift the pounds although the ‘Rosemary is wonderful’ quotes are a bit over the top.

Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred (Lionsgate, £15.99) ***

More like a circuit training routine than a soft, dance aerobic session, this workout is intense and hard. You will need a pair of weights for this one – I didn’t have any to hand so I used two tins of beans (and I still found this difficult).

However, the beauty about this workout is the fact that each routine is only 20 minutes long, so it makes it a lot easier to fit into your day than the usual 40-minute routine you get in most workout videos.

There are three levels to choose from, each providing a six-minute circuit combining three minutes of strength exercises, two of cardio and one minute for your abs.

You start on Level 1 and progress when you feel fit enough – believe me, Level 1 was hard enough!

Forget the obvious grapevines and step touches and think more like plank, press-ups and plenty of sit ups. If you still like the idea of doing all of these along with star jumps and boxing (yes that did look rather silly holding my beans) then this is the workout for you. I definitely felt I got a lot more out of it than the traditional style routine.

Jillian Michaels, who claims to be the superstar of America’s fitness trainers, promises that you will get a lean “shredded” body” within 30 days if you follow this workout.

Great for fitting into busy schedule but could get monotonous after some time.

Clubland - The Workout of Your Life with Deanne Berry (Universal, £17.99) ***

Firmly aimed at the a younger market, this features Deanne Berry again but this time as the star of the show.

And boy does she love the limelight. When she isn’t pouting or posturing before the cameras Deanne is leading workouts dressed in sparkly sequin crop tops and gold micro shorts.

With warm up, cool down and a series of exercise routines, much of this is dance-based and is set to club tunes by bands such as The Saturdays, The Black Eyed Peas and Cascada.

There are four routines plus a warm up and cool down with each focusing on cardio, toning, dance or boxing. All aim to work all areas and get the pulse racing.

However a good deal of them seem to be about Deanne rolling her very toned, and very visible, stomach which becomes a bit tedious. And when it does get dull, Deanne livens things up by smooching up to the male dancers – are we supposed to have one of those to practice on at home?

The exercises are solid and following this religiously should help to blast the fat and tone the muscles across the entire body.

But it would benefit from offering more adaptations for different levels of fitness.