3-In-1 Total Body Fitness

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An hour’s worth of exercise, divided into three segments of approximately 20 minutes each — cardio, strength and flexibility. Desi Bartlett instructs.

Beginning and advanced beginning exercisers. You will need 3–5 pound weights and a mat.

There are loads of beginning exercise DVDs out there. But then you start to narrow them down — eliminate the ones that are too easy, too cheesy or that are somehow incomplete — and the field shrinks quite a bit. So it’s always a pleasure to see a new exercise DVD that offers an all-around workout that beginners can do, but that they won’t grow out of in two weeks. Desi Bartlett leads you through an hour’s worth of exercise, delivered in 20-minute sections so that you have the choice of doing one, two or all three. The first segment is a lively cardio routine, filled with easy moves and done at a quick pace to nicely rev up your heart rate. Second is a full-body toning segment, which begins with a brief warm-up in case you happen to skip the cardio the day you do it. Bartlett starts you off with one move at a time, but then segues into compound moves to give you the most exercise bang for your time. The moves are done quickly so you get some fat burning in along with the toning. Exercise newbies will want to start off with lighter weights, but after a few weeks, they should be able to graduate into the next weight level up (i.e., from 3 pounds to 5, or if you’re very new, 1 to 3). The final segment is a stretching and flexibility routine that really lengthens your muscles and winds you down. If you think 20 minutes is long for stretching, guess again — flexibility is one of the most underrated parts of an exercise program, and the wide variety of stretches here will make the time fly by. Because of the extended stretching routine, this DVD is great for all age groups, but is especially good for those over 35, who may have ignored flexibility training in the past but who really need it now. Best of all, each segment stands on its own, so if you’re time-challenged (and who isn’t these days?), you can do just one routine and save the others for later, or the next day. Hint: for a nice way to unwind, do the flexibility routine right before bedtime.

 

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