Hi there! If you have been keeping up with my challenge to join my friend Mary Kay to get healthy post-baby, then you know that I’m making a big effort to squeeze in 30 minutes of exercise on most days. Other than walking with my family, my work-out of choice has become exercise DVDs. Specifically, exercise DVDs that use basic choreography, target a beginner-to-intermediate fitness level, and get the job done in an efficient amount of time!
I have three young children, I work part-time from home, and I don’t belong to a gym. As a result, I have learned that if I’m going to get active (other than playing with my kids), I better do so first thing in the morning.
As often as possible, I get up before the kids, pop in a DVD, and work up a sweat to get my day started on the right foot. I have a vast library of DVDs (and I’ve been doing them for years), but today I’m sharing my current list of My Top 10 Favorite Exercise DVDs with you. These are the exercises that I turn to most often, and that I’m sure you will enjoy, too. The convenience just cannot be beat! Try one for yourself and add it to your exercise rotation…I promise you will not be disappointed!
Note: some of these require a set of hand weights (such as these)
1. Leslie Sansone has about a zillion different walking-based DVDs in her Walk Away the Pounds series. She’s enthusiastic and motivating, and I love that the exercises are low-impact but still manage to make me sweat. She breaks the workouts down to individual miles, so you have an option of doing one or two miles at a time, or completing an entire DVD for up to 5 miles. Hooray for flexibility! My current favorites from Leslie’s many options are:
7 Day Calorie Blast
Walk it Off in 30 Days
Walk to the HITS Party Songs
2. Denise Austin is another classic favorite who has many, many DVDs to choose from. I appreciate that many of her workouts are efficient on time and they manage to combine both cardio and toning into one quick workout. Two of my top picks right now are:
Fit in a Flash
3. Ellen Barrett’s workouts have a very different feel than Denise Austin’s or Leslie Sansone’s. Her tone is calmer, she focuses more on graceful dancers’ exercises, and there is a lot of emphasis on the breath (reminiscent of yoga). I’m always pleasantly surprised, however, by how intense her low-impact exercises can be. I’m often sore for a few days after completing one of her workouts because she manages to challenge my muscles in new ways. I also finish her DVDs feeling relaxed and energized. Love them!
Super Fast Body Blast
4. Chris Freytag has made a number of DVDs for Prevention Fitness, but my favorite is quite a few years old. It’s called Shortcuts to Big Weight Loss, and it provides a couple of different workouts that can all be done in less than 30 minutes. I appreciate that Chris keeps the exercises moving so I don’t get bored, plus I get both cardio and toning in my workout. It’s a workout that I turn to year after year!
5. Turbo Jam is an older fitness program from Beachbody, but it’s still fun! I like the music, the dance-style moves that utilize very basic choreography, and the fact that there is a 20-minute workout option for busy mornings. I also love the countdown timer for each segment so that I know exactly how much time is remaining as I work my way through the DVD.
6. “10-Minute Solution” DVDs are great for those days when I only have the time or energy for a very brief workout. Even just 10 minutes puts me in a better frame of mind and makes me feel like I have accomplished something. Plus, you always have the option of adding multiple 10-minute segments together to create a longer workout. One of my newer purchases, 10-Minute Solution: High Intensity Interval Training really gets me sweating – even in such a short amount of time. I also really like the 5-Day Get Fit Mix and Rapid Results Fat Burner.
And my next challenge? The Beachbody T25 series, which includes 5 workouts per week, 25 minutes each, for 10 weeks. I think I can, I think I can…
I’ll let you know how that goes! And in the meantime, let me know if you try any of my suggested favorites. Are there any DVDs that you would add to my list?
Interested in other health-related topics? Check out these previous posts:
How I Lost the Last Few Pounds (and Learned to Control My Migraines!)
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