Before I can even share with you the best work out DVD exercises I have tried, I must share with you how they have even come about to begin with!

Some of you are asking me now: so, what does a work out DVD do?

Well, if you are aged enough like me to recall those sometimes bubbly and silly broadcasts on the TV featuring a pair of folks in leotards, headbands and wristbands, then you know what a fitness show is. You pretty much show up to the TV with your own leotards, leggings (complete with whatever 80s style print you fancied) at the same time every day (or week), and you follow every fitness move the perky and optimistic fitness instructors on the screen were making.

Of course, during those decades there were some simple jingles and basic images flashing across the screen to lighten the mood even more. While you saw nothing but the TV fitness instructors’ smiles, you wondered why they weren’t breaking any sweat while you also weren’t, either.

To be honest, I was rather entranced by the fitness instructors’ exercise attire–I was rather jealous as I wanted to find out where they got such nice-looking spandex!

You don’t have to worry about me or anyone else judging you for “Sweatin’ to the Oldies”, or for working out to a UHF/VHF television set. There is nothing to be ashamed of. After all, what other choice did you have if you couldn’t afford a gym membership?

Thanks to technology, the VCR came to life. And, people were able to see many things as many times as they wanted to. This includes seeing an exercise routine. Not only were these recordings able to reach so many people, they could reach the universe. All for the love of us folks who want to do our cardio exercises at any given time of the day (and in the comfort of our own home).

With the luxury of having a television set (with a VCR) in our homes, we could collect those work out videos, pop our favorite one into the VCR, and exercise away.

Then, they brought on the advent of DVD players, where DVDs were so much more smaller (the same size as CDs) and could hold twice as much information on each side.

What an even more fantastic way to be able to work out at home. Not only did these work out DVDs take up far less space than work out videos, they had space on the top side for some neat little graphics or pictures of a swimsuit model, or an extremely muscular bodybuilder. Surely, seeing images of that were a bigger incentive to keep lifting those weights and doing those jumping jacks a little bit harder.

Once a fan of Sweatin’ to the Oldies and Richard Simmons, Beth Prager moves on from work out videos to stay up-to-date and embraces work out DVDs

If you found me in a previous life, you would have seen me in a gym. But, what changed all of that was the day a big silly trainer came by to tease me at the tricep-dip machine. I finished a set there before he asked a really good question, “Why do you use that machine? I bet you have no clue that over 90% of these machines here are good for nothing. They do absolutely nothing to build muscle. And you could tone your body without lifting any weights. I can show you some working out movements that I got off of a DVD”.

Not only did I feel so much pain in my gluteal muscles than I ever did during the past few years of using the useless machines, but I also felt the most annoyance with the trainer’s constant teasing and distracting in between my exercise repetitions and sets. Add to that the horrible smell of the work out machines and the people there.

Overall, I thanked that bizarre trainer for opening my eyes to a world of happy fitness and health that I did not think of before. A world where I could spend little of what I spent on gym memberships for a set of exercise DVDs I could mix and match, pause and fast-forward. I am kidding, folks. I would not fast-forward through weight-lifting DVD program if I am serious about looking and feeling my best! And neither should you! But, all jokes aside you can see that working out is like meditation–you should be able to do it where you live. You should not have to go to a specific place other than your choosing.

There are plenty of different brands that offer a lot of exercise DVDs, for cardio, for weight-lifting, for toning, for yoga, and many more. You will hopefully find, like me, that within 60-90 days you will achieve so much more than you ever have in one year. With measurable results that you can see (in pictures, measurement tapes, clothes size), you will be moved further to consistently do these programs and see an continuation of results.

For home workout programs that shape you up, check out Beth Prager’s reviews on workout DVDs.