Home workouts (DVDs that work!)

Tracy Anderson dance cardio and mat workouts

My favourite home workout DVDs are by Tracy Anderson. They are dance-based and body-sculpt using Tracy's original technique 'The Tracy Anderson Method'. She has sculpted the bodies of Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cheryl Cole, JLo (walking adverts enough no?!).

She uses movements that tire the main muscles groups and force the accessory muscles to wake-up. They often counteract the movements from standard repetitive exercise, to counteract bulking and shape formed by them.

The choreography is not easy and takes some work. But this is why I love the cardio sections as I love dance and it engages the brain for a more effective workout. They really get the heart pumping, but mostly I notice the difference in areas like my waist that is reached more through her dance-based routines. However it was only when I added the mat workouts that I saw the biggest difference.

Her mat workouts use lifts, crunches, and movements I've never come across before but are SO EFFECTIVE. It takes a few times to complete the sequences without stopping as the 'burn' is so strong. Her 'muscle fatigue' is literally that, you can feel how tired they all are afterwards (I've even had a nap after to recoup sometimes).  And it really shows results, after just two mat workout DVD sessions the lines appeared down my obliques and my thigh muscles started slowly to change from their years-of-gym-and-swimming bulk.

I only do sections of these dvds and at times when I can, whereas in an ideal world, what TA proposes (and what the celebs do) would be a good hour of these cardio and mat sessions every day. However, I think any TA is better than nothing and her method, even the small pieces of it that I can do at home, has been the best female-body shaping work that I've found.

Her website is: http://tracyandersonmethod.com/