There is no such thing as an exercise DVD that will work for everyone. This statement has nothing to do with the content of the DVD; even a DVD that is absolutely guaranteed to contain exercises that will get a person into shape is doomed to fail in many cases. The reason that there this no such thing an exercise DVD that works for everyone is because the capacity for an exercise DVD to work has to do as much with motivation as with content.
For an exercise DVD to work, it must be exciting and enticing. A DVD with perfect content that will guarantee two minutes abs and the ability to lose thirty pounds in two weeks is destined to fail if the instructor has no personality and there is no exciting music that gets you up off the couch. The death knell of almost any exercise DVD can be found in bland instructors, disinterested participants, and music that either puts you to sleep or that you makes you want to kill the artist.
Exercise DVDs built around fad exercises are likely not to work well at all. Some fads catch on and become cottage industries, such as boxing workouts. The jury is still out on whether hot fads like belly-dancing or pole-dancing exercise DVDs are in for the long run. Fad exercise DVDs usually become popular because the specific exercise has worked either for a celebrity or a professional fitness guru. The problem is that both the celebrity and the fitness guru have more time than the average person to make the exercise work. For this reason, these videos are generally less likely to actually work for the average person and this could be a reason why they remain popular only for a short time.
You increase your chances of an exercise video working substantially if you go with a proven entity. While videos that promote fun booty dancing or take advantage of an exotic object like a stripper pole may be exciting, it is worth remembering the various arms of the US military have been turning flabby people into lean, mean machines for over a century. Kathy Smith has not been making fitness videos for nearly as long, but she definitely has a proven track record. Sticking with tried and true methods of getting into shape greatly enhances the ability of an exercise DVD to work.
Ultimately, finding an exercise DVD that works comes down to two elements. First, it must be contain exercises that have been proven to accomplish whatever your fitness goal may be. Almost as important, however, it must be a DVD that actually motivates you to start working and, of course, continue working out. An exciting fad DVD filled with meaningless routines is just as bad as a boring DVD filled with proven exercises. Try to find a combination of both elements and you will discover the elusive animal known as the exercise DVD that really works.
As for me, I’m waiting for an exercise video from the Darling Mermaid Darlings. Wouldn’t that be fantastic!
References
- User Advice on Effective Exercise Videos
- How to Find Exercise DVDs That Work
