A 55-minute toning workout with a Baywatch theme. Beachy beauty Lauren Jones instructs.

Advanced beginning exercisers and up. The intensity varies with the amount of weight you use. You will need a mat, and while the DVD box recommends 2 to 5 pound dumbbells, you can go heavier if you aren't being challenged enough.

I have never seen Baywatch, nor ever had the desire to. In fact, I avoid the beach except on summer nights when the moon is full. I am allergic to sunshine, literally (without proper protection, I break out in hives) and figuratively (I like my skin nice and pale — and unwrinkled). Plus I'm smart and I'm a brunette. So this DVD seemed to go against just about everything I'm about. But according to the press release, the workout was designed by fitness trainer Terry Simpson of Abs Diet Workout 2 and Men's Health: 15-Minute Workout fame, so I figured it couldn't be all bad. And it wasn't. If you are looking for a basic, athletic workout with simple exercises, it's certainly here. After the warm-up you get some cardio to rev you up, then weight workouts for your upper and lower body, crunches for your abs, and even a few balance challenge exercises. On the back and chest exercises, I opted for 8-pound weights, used 5 pounders for most of the other moves and felt it was time well spent. But to really appreciate this workout, I think you need to be a guy. The routine is divided into segments, each with a lifeguard or beach theme — all from a Baywatch-style perspective, of course. You have the "Rescue Shape" upper body workout and "Surfing" balance exercises, for example. Jones kept asking you to imagine rescuing a drowning victim — and looking sexy while doing it (in fact, I'm not sure which was more important to her — looking sexy or saving someone from drowning). Her instructions for squats (to get that "bubble butt") were intriguing: she asked us to imagine we were holding a credit card between our butt cheeks, and we certainly didn't want to drop it, since we'd need it to go out and buy all those brand new bikinis! The whole workout was sex-focused, which I wouldn't hate (hey, sex is a good thing!), except it was done in the cheesiest way possible. Not my thing. Probably not the thing for most women. Like I said, guys might get off on it. Jones is pretty hot, especially if you like blonde, chesty women with enhanced breasts (and she's not as dumb as she pretends — she has several college degrees). One thing I have to bust her on, however: she cheated on the push-ups, only going about a third of the way down. I was doing full push-ups until I looked over and said to myself, "Well, if she's only gonna do 'em part way, so will I." (Honestly, I had already nearly fatigued my upper body by then, so I wasn't losing much.) I'm torn between hanging onto this DVD and getting rid of it — I did get a good workout, but I know I'll hate myself in the morning.

 

 

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