THE PRAGMATIC PERSONAL TRAINER: INSOMINA LEFT ME MORE CONFUSED ABOUT FITNESS DVD’S!

Recently I went on a break for a few days with my family. We had an absolutely cracking time except when it came to sleeping, because I’m about as comfortable in someone else’s bed as Theresa May in a workingmen’s club! This inevitably led to several sleepless nights, which in turn meant watching the TV into the wee small hours of the morning.

As I sat there channel hopping (with the same regularity of a smuggler trying to avoid the tax on their booze and fags) I was left dismayed at the number of different fitness training DVD’s available to the Great British public.

You know the ones I’m on banging on about, the ones produced in an infomercial style. You’ve got the high intensity works-outs which guarantee ‘AMAZING RESULTS’. You’ve got the low intensity work-outs which guarantee ‘AMAZING RESULTS’. Then you’ve got the dance-inspired work-outs which once again guarantee ‘AMAZING RESULTS’, heck you’ve even got Pilates and Yoga fusion workouts. Without labouring the point, there’s an almost infinite number of different fitness trainers out there all flogging DVD’s which offer different exercise regimes, yet all guarantee the exact same amazing results!

And the plot thickens a little deeper once you realise that most, if not all, of these infomercial-style fitness DVD’s are produced by the same company! Just a cursory look at their website and you can see that the claims made by some of these instructors completely contradict each other. Whilst one, exceptionally fine looking physical specimen of a trainer claims that high intensity interval training is the way to get a svelte, chiselled muscular body, another equally as impressive trainer claims that low intensity training is the way to get an impressive-looking physique.

So, with all these DVD’s all offering different exercise routines, it begs the question: which type of exercise is best?

The answer is simple, yet the time, effort and research which I have invested in getting to this conclusion has been far from easy. The answer is: the exercise routine which you can stick to. That’s right it’s as simple as that. For your average person, doing something is much better than nothing. So, find the exercise or activity which is right for you, which you enjoy doing, and which fits in with your lifestyle and do it, and then keep doing it.

Just as the consistency of your dough is the key to making good cakes, consistency in your training is key to a happier and healthier you! Oh, and if you really want to put some icing on those cakes try to include in some weight training to your exercise regime too.

In conclusion…

Don’t be confused with all the hype which surrounds some exercise DVD’s or certain exercise routines, almost any type of exercise is beneficial to your health and fitness provided you do it consistently.

Oh, and the slight irony which I see with this whole fitness DVD industry is that nearly all the trainers have clearly been doing some form of serious weight training (which, of course is a good thing) to get the impressive physiques that they have. But often, the inference, is that it’s the DVD routine that has given them that body, not the endless hours spent pumping weights in the gym!