Selecting a Fitness DVD - What to Look for When Buying an Exercise Video

Benefits of Using Exercise DVDs

Convenient: do your workouts in the comfort of your own home, at whatever time best suits you and your daily schedule.
Low Cost: buy the video once, and then use it over and over again, rather than paying for individual sessions with a personal trainer.

Exercise Styles:

• Weight Training: if you want to build up your muscles and improve your body shape, this is for you.
• Dance Fitness: want to have fun while you get fit? Why not try dance fitness.
• Walking: the most natural form of exercise you can do, and best of all, it’s free! Great for people who live in rural areas, especially if it’s hilly.
• Aerobics: this type of exxercise combines stretching with rhythmic aerobic exercise, resulting in an improvement to all areas of a person's fitness (flexibility, muscular strength and cardio-vascular fitness).
• Pilates: Joseph Pilates invented this physical fitness system in the early part of the 20th century. This method's goal is to increase strength, flexibility and body control.
• Yoga: this ancient set of mental and physical disciplines originates from India. Many people associate the word "yoga" merely with the stretching and toning exercises, but yoga is much more than this.
• Exercise Ball: a variety of exercises are done using an inflatable ball as the equipment, for example athletic training, physical therapy and even weight training. Some people even claim that even just using an exercise ball instead of a chair is good for developing the abdominal muscles.
• Stretching: exercises that seek to deliberately elongate a specific skeletal muscle or muscle group so that elasticity and tone are improved.
• Kickboxing: like Dance Fitness, this is also a fantastic fun way to improve your fitness.
• Pregnancy Workouts: pregant women have specific needs and limitations, yet exercise is still important. Pregnancy Workouts aim to provide the mother with optimum exercises that are safe for the baby.
• Tai Chi Chuan: translated literally as “Supreme ultimate Fist”, this form of exercise is actually an ancient Chinese martial art, and is practised both for its defence training and health benefits.

Top Workout Trainers to Look Out for

Many different workout instructors have exercise videos on the market, but some are definitely better than others. Here is a short list of the biggest names in fitness training. You will probably recognise some of these names from their appearances on TV.

• Jillian Michaels: A well-known exercise instructor from LA. She is widely known for her appearances on TV shows such as Losing It With Jillian and The Biggest Loser, and she is known for her intense, forceful manner, pushing people to their limits. There are 202 exercise DVDs in her range.
• Bob Harper: An American personal trainer from Nashville, Tennessee. Like Jillian Michaels, he has also appeared on the TV show The Biggest Loser. There are 39 videos in his range.
• Jackie Warner: Another American trainer, this time from Fairborn, Ohio. She is most widely known for the TV show Work Out, and she has a total of 38 workout DVDs.
• Leslie Sansone: A fitness expert whose spciality is walking. Her videos will be more suited to people who generally want to get in shape and lose weight, rather than people want to tone up and develop their muscles. There are 119 videos in her range.
• Denise Austin: American fitness instructor, author, columnist, and former member of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. She has 86 exercise videos available.