Help me pick an at-home DVD workout

[cranhandler]

Hi there! I couldn't find an introduction section to the forum, so here's me and where I'm at:
I used to bike for transportation, and that was daily workout. Moved to an un-safely-bikeable city, and maintained weight by eating a balanced diet. Gained some weight when transitioning off a medication about 9 months ago. Just got a new job 2 months ago, and have been staying in a long-term hotel, eating restaurant meals until I found a place in the area---obviously that hasn't been good for physique. I'm finally getting to move to own place next week, and am looking forward to having a)a way to cook for myself and b)enough space to move around in, so that I can start feeling healthy again.

mom has been doing aerobics every morning since before I was born, and she is strong and fit in the way I would like to be. I think a workout DVD regemin would work well for me---I don't have to waste a car trip going to a gym or bike trail, I don't need to save up for too much equipment, and I don't have to worry about being a little too big for workout clothes because nobody can see me. Ideally what I'm hoping for is a program that would help me lose weight (30 pounds over ~4 months seems like a reasonable goal), but then after getting body back to where it belongs, weight-wise, I would like to keep working out regularly to maintain the same healthy and strong body mom has been able to maintain. Being able to lift more than is expected of women when moving furniture, or working a long day outdoors and working faster than people younger than her for the whole day, while still wearing the same pants size she wore when I was a toddler---those are the sort of thing that I'm looking for when I think of "good health."

And here's the boiled-down question:

Help me choose a workout DVD that will help me
-lose weight in the short run (~4 months)
-will transition easily to a workout DVD that I can keep using to maintain fitness and strength for the long run
-not high-strain or high-risk-of-injury ( right knee threatens to have problems sometimes)
-includes cool-down stretching
-not "too busy" onscreen. After I know how the workout works, I can mute it, so how the hosts talks won't be a long term deal-breaker. But I lose focus easily and would avoid working out if there's a lot of clutter onscreen.
-cost is not a huge issue

I read through this Women's Day article* and think any of them look like a good choice---can anyone speak from experience about any of these, and whether I might find it useful? Or contribute a thought of your own? What has worked for you?


*http://www.womansday.com/health-fitness ... 11#slide-2 (PSA: Don't open that unless you have "Clearly" or "Readability" or a similar plugin)

[Boss Man]

I can't speak from experience on these, but I can offer you simple honest pointers.

Don't bother with ones done by celebrities, I.E. TV personalities, musci stars etc, unless the people are qualified.

These are just purely marketing opportunities for them and I don't see why someone should call it their workout video, when they're just copying what some buff guy tells them.

I think they should say the trainer X workout, featuring media star Y, but then that might possibly shift the balance of roylaties in the trainers favour.

Plus how do you know a workout is even going to work, if the celebrity copying someone elses workout is visably overweight, as they are visable indicator of unproven results.

I've even seen evidnece of some celebrities doing more than 1 workout presentation, so what does that say? If the first workout regime you promoted was good, why promote a second or even a third one, when you were just some overweight TV star and not a qualified individual?

The better ones are ones done by former gladiators presenters or people listed as certified trainers or proffessionals, or well know former / current sports people, that you can see have a group of people off the street doing what they say in the material and you know are properly qualified to instruct groups of people.

Yes this makes money for the featured person, but it looks more genuine, as if the person is really trying to give back some personal experience / insight to the watcher.

After all it would serve no purpose for a former fitness star or sportsperson, to promote ineffective workouts on watchable media, because they'd get a bad rep and fail to sell more stuff in the future.

So maybe these points of note might be useful to you .

[coachj]

Hello cranhandler!

Have you heard of a program called T25? Its new from the makers of P90X and Insanity, and the trainer is Shaun T, the guy who does Insanity.

Its a good workout, intense, and allows for modifications for people who need to work themselves up to the full workout, the concept is 5 days of working out at home per week, for 25 minutes of intense workout.

It has been experience and shown in research that this type of training is actually better for you, then the ones that have you work out for hours upon hours.

[BigJed]

I recommend you check out https://www.wello.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. Wello is better than any fitness DVD because it is live! With just internet and a webcam, Wello lets you workout with a trainer over 2-way live video. That means you can get a gym-quality workout at home with a live trainer. I have used the site for about a month now and it has been a great experience!

[JohnJ305]

This DVD is the truth. I've been using this for about 2 months and not only have I lost body fat and gained muscle, but functional strength and flexibilty is getting awesome. I'm starting to feel like a super person! Definitely check it out.
http://www.marklauren.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[daphne333]

I dont know if you already have found your work-out dvd. i came across slimlot.com and they have a couple that has got great revieuws on amazon.com
this is the link ;http://www.slimlot.com/equipment/top-se ... -out-dvds/

[ChariceT]

I'm currently working out with Focus T25. It's more intense than I expected to be which is good. I used to run or work out for an hour and didn't imagine that a 25 minute workout like T25 would give me a good burn. There's a lot of full body movements which sometimes I can't keep up because of bad knees. But what I do is I turn to the modifier trainer (Tanya) who's doing the exercises in a less extreme way. The key is to keep moving. There's also a 2 minute cool down session at the end which is a nice ending. It's just some stretching.

This is a program I see myself using for the long term. Just 25 minutes a day to get a solid burnout.