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Choosing a Fitness DVD for Weight Loss

A Great Home Work Out!

Fitness DVD's are a great way to burn calories without even having to leave the house! With so many choices the fitness DVD market can be slightly daunting, so the key to successful buying is to know what your preferences (with relation to type of exercise styles) are! If you have no preferences and simply want to burn as many calories as possible then we recommend workouts that focus on a high-energy aerobic-style component as well as a 'muscle toning' component.

What determines the amount of calories burned?

The effectiveness of your work out and the calories burned depends on a variety of factors. These are:

• The type of activities that makes up the content of the DVD - the more time dedicated to aerobic-style, high intensity movement (i.e. boxercise style, dance, step) the higher the potential calorie burning. Time given to yoga/pilates/stretching will be time spent at a lower intensity, demanding fewer calories.

Personal level of fitness - if someone is a beginner to exercise or to the specific workout, they could potentially find the workout more demanding and so use up more calories. As we adapt and become more efficient at the workout through consistent use, so the calorie demand will drop. Vary your exercise routine to combat this.

The quality of techniques - if someone has good technique and can activate the right muscle groups then they will burn up more calories than someone who is cheating themselves on some of the movements / holds.

Calorie Burning

Exercise preferences

• If you like dancing......Try Latin American Dancing Workout by Lilia Kopylova. It is split into five dancing parts and each section targets a different area of the body.
• If you need to fit exercise into a busy lifestyle...... Try Davina McCall; 30-Minute Workouts. Good length 30min sessions that are realistic to people's lifestyles. However there is poor technique on some exercises, and it does not take account of different fitness levels of potential viewers.
• If you want to blitz love handles......Try Billy Blank's Rock Solid Abs. Billy has incorporated great isolation moves and a floor routine, which will get your heart pumping as you burn tons of calories and work those abs.
• If you like using Swiss exercise balls......Try Roll off the pounds - Aerobic Gymball Workout (2005) by Lucy Knight. This DVD takes you through a warm up, a full aerobic routine, a fat burning circuit, tummy toning and a stretch.