A 48-minute beginners' Pilates routine, part standing and part mat. Brooke Siler instructs.

This is not just for beginners! Even if you've been doing Pilates for quite a while, you will get a lot out of this workout. Only high intermediate and advanced Pilates enthusiasts will find it too easy. As with all Pilates workouts, you will need a mat.

While I really hate it when exercise DVDs do the "weight loss" marketing angle (it generally hints at a workout that's too easy, and ultimately won't burn much fat), that's about the only complaint I have with this excellent Pilates workout. Siler manages what I was beginning to think was impossible: she offers instructions and cueing that are clear enough for beginners but that don't slow the workout down to snooze-level for the rest of us. She starts off with a series of standing exercises that warm you up and work your lower body, starting from the core on down. I hadn't seen this selection of pliés and standing lunges before in a Pilates routine. The next half hour is a traditional mat workout, done at a nice clip — once again, with enough instruction for beginners, but not too slow for more experienced exercisers. Even if you've done exercises like the hundred, the series of five, seal and the rest many dozens of times on other DVDs, Siler keeps things moving along so you focus on what you're doing without getting bored. The exercises are only slightly modified — your legs at 90 degree angles instead of 45 degrees, for example — and you can always do the full versions instead if you know them well enough (Siler only shows you the modified versions). If you're wondering how Siler is able to offer such excellent instruction, then you haven't looked at the Pilates section of your nearest book store — she's written a couple of best-selling Pilates books. She also owns a New York City Pilates studio and is founder of a Pilates certification program. Plus she learned from Joseph Pilates' protégé, Romana Kryzanowska. Siler's credentials are impeccable, and so is this DVD.