Confession: Until I saw these DVDs, I thought the Skinny Bitch books were chick lit. Well, now I know.
The books have spawned a couple of workout videos: Skinny Bitch Boot Camp and Skinny Bitch Body, led by the books authors Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. Boot Camp is a 30-ish minute cardio workout with toning intervals. There is also an abs section and 5×5 – 5 workouts, 5 minutes, for days when you don’t have much time. Body is divided up into 15-20-ish minute work outs for different target areas: arms, abs, legs, and ass.
The Good
I like Rory and Kim. I had to view the DVDs a couple times before I did. They are a weird combination of perky and grumpy. At first I just wanted them to stop pretending to hate what they are doing. But I got used to them. Well, Kim anyway. Rory needs to switch to decaf. Kim actually does seem to be annoyed by the workout, so I identify with her. Plus, sometimes they mess up and aren’t afraid to draw attention to it. Oh, and they curse a fair amount. I like that.
The background music is generic electro-pop. Not grating, not rave-y, just there, in the background, loud enough to hear and get you moving, unobtrusive enough that you don’t get a headache and don’t get that rhythm stuck in your head.
The workouts do as they promise. After Boot Camp, I was in so much pain I could barely step up our two front porch steps. I’ve only done a couple circuits in Body, but they were fun and tough.
Kim does a slightly easier version of the workouts than Rory for those exercise novices like myself. But… (see below)
The Bad
I would have preferred if I could choose “Follow Rory” or “Follow Kim” from the menu. I get a little distracted by Rory.
The camera work needs improving. Why do we need close-ups of the girls? It just makes it harder to figure out what they are doing, especially when they switch exercises in the middle of a close-up
This one is really my issue: I am way too uncoordinated to keep up with a lot of their combinations. Luckily I have gotten pretty good at dancing around like a loon to keep my heart rate up until I can figure out what is going on.
The things I didn’t like are truly just technical issues with the discs. Body is easy – each body part is its own chapter. But on Boot Camp, it is just the entire workout. You can skip to the 5×5 workouts. I know that you are supposed to do the whole thing, but I would like to at least be able to find the abs section and cool-down section.
Interviews and behind-the-scenes footage? Does anyone bother to watch that on a workout DVD? I sure didn’t.
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