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What you need as the new year dawns is a pinch, or even a whole handful, of celebrity workout. With sales of fitness DVDs up 75% on the same period last year, you won’t be alone as you clutch yours at the till. But with, it would seem, every celebrity cashing in, the question is: which one do you choose?
Natalie Cassidy, aka Sonia from Eastenders, is the unlikely fitness guru of 2008. This week finds her fitness DVD the biggest and fastest selling exercise programme of all time, prompting ITV to approach her to give her a weekly fitness show. Go girl!
But what should you look for in a fitness DVD? When choosing said DVD, try to find one that gives you the kind of workout a good personal trainer would provide, without spending all your student loan this early in the game. You need one which gives you both cardiovascular and muscle strengthening sections, with the choice to get to tougher sessions as your fitness increases (promise it will!).
Everyone has their finger in the fitness pie it would seem. Even the WAGS are in on it. In their offering WAGs Workout Nicola Tappenden, Melissa Johnson and Lisa Munday go through three 10 minute circuit sessions, with an easy, moderate or tough version available depending on how liberated you're feeling. What’s even better is that they give hair, make up and fashion tips at the end (and no, it doesn‘t count if you skip the DVD to this section, you will be found out).
This one’s worth purely for the fact that the WAGs themselves look to be struggling at times.
For any wannabe cheerleaders there’s Paula Abdul’s Cardio Cheer. The American Idol judge’s fitness regime comes in a five disc set comprising of skipping, step aerobics, arm weights, hand-clapping and lunges, which at first looks frankly terrifying. But after getting over the initial shock this is great fun.
If, like me, you love dancing then there’s Strictly Come Dancerize which fuses steps from the cha cha cha, salsa, jive, quickstep and samba with aerobics. These mini routines are fun to learn, but you have to move fast. It’s most definitely not like your average night in Toffs.
We all love the programme Fat Friends and all wish not to become one. Well, Gaynor Faye’s Fit Friends workout (got to love the word play) gives you a series of 10 minute sessions. And Gaynor claims that after working out three times a week for three weeks she dropped a dress size! Maybe three could become your lucky number.
Alternatively, how about a little yoga? This is fabulous for strengthening the body and also reducing stress (we all need this after spending too long over Christmas with the family!). Big Brother’s Shilpa Shetty will show you how, and she even includes a 15 minute quick fix for when you’re in a hurry.
If you'd rather consider the offerings from a fitness rather than a celebrity perspective then you could do worse than listening to Louise Sutton, a principal lecturer in health, exercise and nutrition who tested a number of different DVDs and gave her top score to Nell McAndrew’s Cardio, Core and Stretch. She concluded that Nell’s fourth DVD provides a workout as good as one would get from a personal trainer.
Also, for the more adventurous of you out there, Davina McCall’s latest bash, High Energy Five, throws at you aerobics, leg exercises, pump, abdominal strengthening and boxing which, although the choreography is a little complex at times, will leave you completely energised.
Click here for the top 11 (yes not top 10, how odd) fitness DVDs for 2008, with links to buy. Go on, let the celebs teach you something. If nothing else, most of these DVDs will give your laughter lines a workout.
Ben Diesel does not endorse fitness videos. He says: "A man's workout is on the streets fighting."
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