Working out to videos is a great way to exercise; it's cheap, you can workout regardless of the weather, it's convenient and there are tons of great videos with excellent instructors. On the downside, working out with videos can get a little boring and there are plenty of awful videos out there. Use the guidelines listed below to choose the best video for you.
Determine Your Fitness Level
Videos are usually marketed for Beginner, intermediate and/or advanced exerciser. If you've never exercised, you're a beginner. If you've been exercising continuously for 3 months, you're intermediate and if you've been working out for more than three months, you're advanced. When choosing a new video, beware of descriptions on the videos. Some claim to be beginner workouts, but turn out to be intermediate or vice versa. Visit Videofitness.com before you buy anything.
Decide How Much Time You Have to Exercise
Before you slap your money down for a video, find out how long the workout is. Will you really do a video that's 90 minutes long? Probably not, if you have a busy schedule. The total time listed in the video description usually includes an introduction, a warm up, the workout and a cool down. If you only have a few minutes a day to exercise, consider getting a circuit training workout, a DVD that allows you to mix and match workouts or a timesaver series.
Decide What You Want to Accomplish
Are you looking for a cardio workout or strength training? Yoga or Pilates? Kickboxing or Step? There are hundreds of videos on the market and some combine elements of different workouts while others focus on one specialty. To get the most bang for your buck, consider a video that includes more than one type of workout. Using a video catalog, like Collage Video, can help you choose videos to fit your needs and schedule. Be sure to visit Video Fitness and read the reviews there.
Do Your Research
Before you buy a video, check to see that you have the necessary equipment. Make sure the instructor is well-known and certified. Also, make sure you're not buying a 'new' video that has been repackaged from an old video, which means it may be outdated or unsafe. Use common sense when reading the video description. For example, some yoga videos promise 'fat burning' workouts. Yoga is not a cardiovascular workout and isn't necessarily meant to be fat burning.
Rent It
Before you buy a video, check at Blockbuster or other local video rental store to see if they have workout videos you can try. There are also websites that rent videos and DVDs (including workout videos) for a monthly sum...might be worth a try before you shell out money for a video you don't like.
