Skinny Bitch: Body

I purchased this out of curiosity. I had not heard of the instructors prior to seeing the DVD's come out last week.

There are a couple reasons I say it's not for everyone.

1. If you find the title offensive there is more of the same language used throughout the video. You definately wouldn't want children around when watching this.

2. There is very little focus on queueing and form. They frequently change the step without any warning and if they do mention the change they are 2 to 3 steps into the sequence before they do. They like to talk a lot about how much it's hurting or how sweaty they are and occasionally promote eating healthy.

There are some positives which is why I gave it a 4, although I'm sure many will disagree with this rating.

1. From what I gathered neither Rory nor Kim are professional instructors, and if that is true then they did an excellent job for their first time at this. I've studied to teach group classes and it is a lot harder than it looks. I give them kudos for even taking this on.

2. All the workouts are done entirely with your own body weight. No weights or bands required. This is rare these days, but might be appreciated by someone just getting into working out in their home.

3. There were a lot of new moves I've never seen and I've been taking classes and working out to DVD's for years. The workout is choreographed by Patrick Goudeau who is a pro. Even though the queueing is almost non-existant, the choreography is such that you're always able to see the screen and the moves are simple to pick up.

4. I have bad knees and typically any kind of all body or leg workouts include a lot of lunges and squats that kill my knees. There are some lunges and squats in the workout, but they are performed in such a way that I didn't feel any stress on my knees.

5. Overall the production is not bad. The music got to be a bit annoying to me a couple times. For each section they repeat the same beats over and over. Thankfully it is very faint. Lighting and camera work are good. I was always able to see what I was suppose to be doing.

A bit of an overview of each section (by the way, the package says they are 20 minutes each, but it's more like 15):

Abs - very pilates like. There's a tiny standing warmup then it's all mat. If you can imagine doing pilates without any instruction on correct form, and doing the moves faster that's a good description of the abs section.

Arms - Your arms will get tired. Think of arms circles for 15 minutes. There are a lot of variations and some weird boxing like moves that take a bit to catch on to. There's also some foot movements that don't really sync up well with the arm moves, but they're doable.

Legs - Think Jane Fonda and Pilates combined but again, no focus on form and moving pretty quickly. These exercises seem more for your glutes than legs.

Glutes - (they use "A**" in the DVD) Mainly standing moves; this is where some of the lunges and sqats come into play, but the movements are very fast, like plyometrics. While not difficult, I found this workout least memorable.

To summarize I would recommend this for someone who has no objection to profanity, is in reasonably good shape (gets exercise walking or in their day to day activities and has no health problems) and wants to start exercising in their home. The reason I say no health problems is that there is very little mention of the proper form. If you're just looking for something to get you moving, want to feel like you're working out casually with a group of girlfriends and are generally laid back you'll like this DVD.

I would not recommend this if you're a serious exerciser looking for a challenging workout... even though they were complaining of sweating, I didn't break a sweat and didn't find this to be a particularly challenging workout. There are also sections where they don't seem to be working out to the beat of the music which will annoy an experienced exerciser.

These are beginner level and not hard-core (they do not use weights), but this is what I needed when I got back into exercising. The set is elegant, the music is pleasant, the moves are flowing and never boring and I felt as though my whole body got a nice stretch. There is not much cueing, but after having done each workout twice now I don't find I need it. The workout was designed by Patrick Goudeau, a recognized fitness pro. What I liked best was the feeling that I was working out with good friends.

The arms segment is the only one I've tried so far but it was horrible. I have to say this is the worst workout DVD of the twenty or so I own for a number of reasons:

-The segments are billed as 20 minutes each, but according to my DVD timer, the arms segment only ran 15 minutes.
-The workout was too easy. I didn't sweat, my heart rate didn't rise, and my arms didn't get sore. You don't use any weights.
-The moves were hard to learn and there weren't verbal cues to tell you when to move to your left, right, etc.
-The instructors are amateurish and their "we're so cool" banter is extremely annoying. They often missed steps. This seemed more like something someone would post on Youtube than a serious workout video.

Save your money!

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