Physical fitness is essential for a healthy, energized body...not to mention exercise is deemed the single best treatment for depression and related issues. These are facts I've known my entire life, but since I love physical challenges and have been active most of my life, I never had to think about it much. That is, until my life took several bad turns, then I had a kid, and then so many other things took precedence over physical fitness. I found myself constantly discouraged from doing what I needed to do to be healthy, and as a result ended up with 245 pounds packed on to my 5'6" frame.

What Came First...

Workout videos have always helped me push myself a little more during at-home workouts, so along with a change in eating habits and the addition of daily walks, I added in Billy Blanks' Original Tae-Bo Workouts. These were great! The first ten pounds came off easily, then another five pounds followed within a couple of months. However, this didn't seem to be working the areas I wanted worked quite enough. My stomach, thighs, back, and upper arms had retained gross amounts of fat from my baby days, and about all I could see with this routine was a bit of shrinking around the thighs.

Something else had to be done, so I added in Gaiam's Total Body Cross-Train Kit, which combines a resistance cord and balance disk with three specialized 20-minute workouts led by Tanja Djelevic. I loved this! Within a week I saw drastic differences in the tone of my arms and legs, and within two weeks even my poor, neglected abs started showing a positive difference. I'd continued doing Tae-Bo twice a week and Gaiam twice a week, but after that first couple of weeks' results I dropped Tae-Bo. After four months of sticking more or less rigidly to working out four times a week, with one 20-minute workout twice and all three 20-minute workouts twice each week, I was down to 210 pounds and starting to feel MUCH better about my body.

And Then Something Happened.
 
The day finally came that I left my husband and that unhealthy lifestyle behind, but inadvertently also left my Cross-Train Workout disk behind as well. For a while I continued to do the exercises I remembered from the disk to my choice of music, but I quickly became bored. Soon it got to the point that even if I'd had my old workouts back I probably wouldn't have been able to stick to them. Through lifestyle changes after I moved I'd dropped a bit more weight down to 200 pounds, but I caught myself feeling even more out of shape than I'd been before. Then it dawned on me that I was losing muscle tone at an alarming rate, thus causing the subsequent "fat feelings."

Enter Crunch
 
I'd heard that my much-loved workouts from Gaiam incorporated Pilates-type moves, so I decided that Pilates might just be the right thing for me. Wanting something somewhat fast-paced that would help tone up the muscles again, as well as get rid of the stubborn fat - especially belly fat - still hanging on from the baby days, I selected Crunch: Fat-Burning Pilates with instructor Ellen Barrett.

What is Crunch: Fat-Burning Pilates?
 
This DVD consists of about 20 minutes of standing, cardiovascular exercise combined with about 20 minutes of traditional Pilates matwork. There is stress throughout the workouts on the correct posture, proper Pilates moves, and proper use of "the breath." Additionally, there is a person in the group who demonstrates alternate exercises for some of the moves. In some cases, these alternate exercises are designed to make a move harder for more advanced people, but in most cases they're meant to make something easier for beginners.

Pros
 
This is an energetic workout led be an equally energetic instructor. Barrett leads in an upbeat style typical of fitness instructors, but with a pleasant voice and a positive attitude that's tempered enough not to get annoying throughout the workout. Personally, an annoying instructor, no matter how gifted in fitness, is the single most effective way to keep me from exercising. The workouts themselves are well-balanced, working all of the major muscle groups and interspersing muscle-relaxing exercises to keep the muscles from getting knotted and sore, which could lead to injury. The entire cardio workout stresses a tight abdomen to keep the core strong, and the matwork has extra emphasis on the abs. For women who are still seeing and feeling the effects of having a baby (even years after actually having the baby), like myself, these extra abdominal workouts may be difficult, but absolutely necessary and appreciated.

Cons
 
There is very little I did not like about this DVD. The music stays pretty much the same throughout, but it has a good beat and doesn't add in the kind of techno-type flair that can make some workout videos grate on the nerves. There is a small learning curve involved, especially if you have had no previous Pilates experience, though it should be easy enough to catch on within a couple of workouts. The only truly negative thing I found is the tendency to switch the camera over to the drummer right before a switch to a new move, so that by the time the camera goes back to the main group you're already behind. Obviously, familiarity with the workouts will prevent falling behind, but until then it can be a little frustrating.

My Experience

I have to say, I don't think it gets much better than this for my personal requirements. I do have a weak left knee from an old injury, as well as a pinched nerve in the left hip from my son's birth which I'm told will never go away, but can be helped by losing weight and getting in better shape. None of the exercises bothered my knee; however, the leg circles and leg taps during the matwork were fairly difficult for me on the left side because of the injured hip. This difficulty has gone down in the month since I started using this workout (3-5 times a week), but I am still patently aware of the deficit on that side through those exercises.

Overall, there has been enough variety and challenge in these workouts to stay interested and keep to my workout schedule. I have dropped another 10 pounds down to 190, which I attribute to a combination of these workouts and continuing with healthy eating. More importantly, in one month I've lost about an inch off of my chest (mainly fat being lost off the back) and thigh measurements, a half inch off my upper arm, and two inches off of my waist. The lost muscle tone came back almost immediately, with definite tone improvements that my other half commented on within the first week. This is an awesome workout that I highly recommend to others with the same kind of fitness challenges I face.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older