Product Description

Movie DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8676 in DVD
• Brand: Lions Gate
• Released on: 2004-09-07
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 120 minutes

Amazon.com
Veteran fitness expert Denise Austin's Personal Training System is one of several exercise programs designed to take advantage of a valuable feature of the DVD format: namely, the ability for viewers to customize their own workouts by picking and choosing from various elements presented in Austin's prescribed routines. These include sections devoted to cardio (available at low and high intensity levels, both about 20 minutes long), upper and lower body exercises (offered at low, medium, and high intensity, each about ten minutes long), and abdominal and stretching segments (the same for all levels, these also last about ten minutes). Meanwhile, the "custom workout" option enables users to combine any or all of these elements according to taste and fitness level. There's nothing especially innovative here--indeed, the cardio sections are pretty much old school, Jane Fonda Workout-style aerobics, while the upper and lower body sections include light weights, bends, lunges, push-ups and other tried-and-true elements--but those looking for a thorough, sweat-inducing regimen will certainly find it here. Austin's relentlessly effervescent style will no doubt prove inspiring to some and cloying to others. On the other hand, the entire program can be done without her audio instructions, and those who simply don't want to work out at all can occupy themselves with an accompanying booklet filled with diet pointers and recipes. --Sam Graham

Customer Reviews

Really good addition to home DVD collection
I bought this because I like the option of short workouts and the programming ability. I am a beginner and this is a DVD I can grow with. This would also be good for intermediate. If you are advanced, it would be good for light days or you could do more of the workouts back to back.

Here is what you get:

2 - 20 min. Cardio (low and high intensity)
3 - 10 min. Upper Body (low, med., and high intensity)
3 - 10 min. Lower Body (low, med., and high intensity)
1 - 10 min. abs section
1 - 10 min stretch section

These are good workouts especially the toning sections for medium and high intensity! The cardio isn't exciting but it gets the job done. These workouts don't require much space. All you need is weights and a chair for the toning.

If you don't take to Denise's personality style then don't buy this. I personally feel she really cares, is sincere and wants to motivate you so she does not annoy me.

This one DVD will add a lot of versatility to your exercise routine!! (and you get alot of different routines for the money!)

Denise Takes you from Unfit to Fit in Just Weeks
Having recently decided to get fit, I searched and searched for an exercise video that could take me from beginner to as advanced as I want to be in just a few short weeks. The custom workout is perfect for gaining not only strength but confidence in the fact that you know you are getting better with each workout. I have only been using this DVD for 5 weeks and can now make it through 95% of the abs workout without missing a beat...and that's after laying on the floor through most of it the first time (I'm 44)!! I highly recommend this for anyone wanting to get fit and stay fit.

Nice Use of Technology to Personalize Your Routine
I have been doing Denise Austin's Shrink Your Female Fat Zones for 6 weeks, and 2 weeks ago added this DVD to put some variety in the routine. I love it!

What I love most about it is the technology in the DVD, which allows you to customize your routine, choosing from a menu (in most sections with subcategories covering your level of expertise) of arms, legs, abs, stretching & cardio. If you pick one from each category, you'll get an hour long work-out, but you can go as low as 10 or 20 minutes.

Denise is her usual chatty self in these routines, offering you encouragement and explaining what muscles you're working--occasionally piping in late with an essential bit of instruction (like how you're supposed to be breathing during a particular exercise) and on one exercise forgetting a step (which she does perform on the other leg). As with my other Austin tape, I like her and her presentation enough to make allowances for this, but you do need to remember these belatedly mentioned techniques so that you can begin to anticipate them on later use of the DVD. When you're familiar enough with the routine, if you like, you have the option of shutting off Denise's voice and working out to the music alone. Since I can't watch the screen during many of these exercises, I'm not sure that's a route I'll ever go.

The cardio routine seems a little complicated to me. It feels like a slightly frantic line dance, but it does get the pulse going, which is the point. The stretches, arms, legs & ab exercises are nothing too unusual, but as with the other tape I have, Austin presents a good variety to cover all the major muscle groups involved. I find some of the workout here more difficult than on Austin's Shrink Your Female Fat Zones, which moves around from area to area, even though I suspect you're hitting the same muscles with the same intensity. When you group the exercises together as they are here, you really feel it. By the end of the 10-minute arm workout, my muscles are really straining.

Equipment required: 3 to 8 lb. handweights, a towel & a dining room table type chair (I'm using my stability ball).