I’ve professed my love for exercise videos ’round these parts before. I will be forever indebted to Kathy Smith for both getting me hooked on yoga and being my personal trainer while living in Peru, her workout dvd’s were a staple in my routine during that year abroad.
Last month at FitBloggin’ a rep from Acacia offered to send me some of their newest exercise dvd’s and a week or two later I got a stack of workouts in the mail.
I was already a 10 Minute Solutions loyal customer so I was excited to see a few of these in the mix.
The 10 Minute Solutions brand has a great formula. All the dvds include five 10 minute segments, each focusing on a different fitness element such as upper body, abs, lower body, cardio, or stretching. You can do each segment on its own or pre-program the dvd to play in whatever order you want. I usually plan on doing one or two segments but once I get going it feels so good to move and the time flies by that I end up doing 3 or 4.
Acacia added Tighten & Tone and Cardio Hip Hop* to my already ample and well used collection of 10 Minute Solutions.
*This title releases December 2012
One thing that consistently impresses me about these dvds is the quality of the workouts and the quality of the instructors, not a loser in the bunch and this is no exception!
Cardio Hip Hop is fun, challenging, and definitely a good distraction from feeling like you are working out. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE feeling like I am working out and I rarely get bored with it but sometimes I do. And that’s when it’s awesome to focus on dancing!
The choreography is not the most basic but the repetition is just enough so that I felt like I ‘got it’ before we moved on without getting bored. If you don’t have any dance/hip hop experience it might take a few times through before you feel like you really get it but that’s the beauty of a dvd, you can repeat as much as you want!
Both SparkPeople’s Total Body Sculpting* and Canyon Ranch’s Strong and Sculpted dvd’s include a 20 minute full body strength routine, which I did on different days.
Both workouts felt like they worked my whole body efficiently and included good progressions to keep me challenged and engaged physically and mentally. I love 10-20 minute strength workouts so these were right up my alley.
Total Body Sculpting also includes a ~20 minute cardio workout and a ~20 minute barre routine, both of which I look forward to trying!
*This dvd releases November 2012
Strong and Sculpted also includes a 20 minute yoga and a 20 minute core workout as well so you can put it all together for a great hour-long workout or do any segment on it’s own.
Fall and Winter are my favorite times to pop in a workout dvd, especially if it’s dark and dreary outside and I’m lacking motivation to get moving on my own. I’m excited to have new additions in my arsenal, winter blues don’t stand a chance when I’m sweating in my dining room!
Hey, Faith! Long-time reader, first-time commenter. I’m an editor at SparkPeople. Coach Nicole of the DVD you tried is, too. So glad you liked it. Her DVDs always kick my booty!
Nicole is great! I’m really looking forward to trying the rest of the DVD, I’m hoping to do the barre this afternoon before I go teach 3 classes back-to-back (Tuesdays!). Thanks for getting in touch!
Hi! I was just wondering if you tried out the 10-minute Pilates DVD? It’s one I’m thinking of buying and when I saw you have it, I wonder what you think of it?
It’s awesome! Highly recommended, especially if you already enjoy Pilates but are ready to mix it up with some variations and the band. Let me know what you think if you buy it.