Ruminations

Comments on Cardio Exercise DVDs

I've tried a lot of cardio exercise DVDs lately.  Here are a few comments.

Denise Austin's DVDs didn't do much for me.  Maybe they just seemed to feminime for my taste (I'm a dude).  I didn't care for them much, though I suspect that women would like them more.

I did, however, like Fat Burning Workout For Dummies with Gay Gaspar.  It was still challenging, despite the Dummies label.  It was also pretty lengthy and provided a lot of helpful instruction.  I think she provides a great foundation for reasonably complex combo moves that you can learn to do on your own while watching TV.

I was not quite as thrilled with a related video, Fat Burning KickboxkingWorkout For Dummies with Keli Roberts.  It was still quite good though, and she provided a lot of helpful fundamentals.  I liked her 10 Minute Solutions DVD a  lot more, though.

I checked out one of Billy Blank's Tae Bo DVDs, and I didn't care for that so much either.  I guess I felt that there was too much time spent on trivial warmup, and that the exercises didn't do much for me.  In this DVD, he made extensive use of something called an "accelerator" bar, and perhaps without that gizmo, the workouts just didn't feel as effective.

I loved Gilad's Elite Forces Fat Burning Workout DVD.  Definitely doesn't feel girly, and it's great for venting aggression!  Yeah.

Oh, and I always like Kathy Smith's DVDs. Some of them appear to be geared more toward women, but I like her work in general.