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Ryckman: Just press play

Get a trainer-in-a-box with latest interactive workouts

Published December 13, 2005 at midnight

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Some days it's hard to even think about venturing out in arctic temperatures to go to the gym and exercise, much less actually do it.

But what if you could bring the kickboxing or step/sculpt or cardio dance class into your own home? What if all you had to do was peel all that plastic wrap and permanent tape and security doohickies off a DVD box, finally give up and pry it open with a screwdriver, stab your hand in the process, then run around frantically looking for a Band-Aid while you bleed all over the carpet you just had cleaned?

Relax - the hard part is over. Sure, the workout may be challenging, but the biggest challenge (after opening the box) is forcing yourself to make that first move by actually standing up.

The easy part is putting on your workout duds, although you can even skip that step if you want - as far as I know, there are no laws that ban jumping rope buck naked in the privacy of one's own home, no matter how very wrong it seems.

As I did these workouts, it struck me that the vast majority of instructors who make exercise videos are stark-raving blondes; of the eight videos I'm reviewing here, half of them are led by blondes, even though I made a conscious effort to inject a little diversity (three brunettes and a redhead).

Blondes may not have more fun, but as instructors, they certainly seem to be more fun.

Remember back about 100 words ago when I said that the hard part was over once you got the box open? That's true, honest - once you get going, exercise videos make it easy to keep going.

So turn on the television, pop the disc into your machine and press "play."

Now just follow the bouncing blonde.

Watch and burn - calories, that is

To do these workouts, you'll need a mat, a couple of sets of dumbbells - one light, one heavier - and, in some cases, a jump-rope or a step bench.

Your Best Butt - Fast!

• Rating: ****

• Suitable for: anybody whose butt could be better

• Available: collagevideo.com or 800-433-6769

• The skinny: How fast is fast? They say you'll see results in just four weeks, but they never say how many times a day you have to do this 45-minute workout to get results, and they never tell you what those results might be. For the record, I'm pretty sure this blend of kickboxing, dance and yoga could change a butt for the better (say that three times fast). This workout from Self magazine packs a high-powered cardio burn that reflects instructor Violet Zaki's karate bent (she's a black belt). Just so you know - you ain't getting off easy.

Turbo Jam 20-minute Workout

• Rating: ****

• Suitable for: Clock-watchers who like to kickbox

• Available: or 800-672-1007

• The skinny: Chalene Johnson's that really cute, popular girl everybody wanted to hate in high school but couldn't because she was so darn nice. The creator of Turbo Kick, a popular kickboxing class found in many health clubs, Johnson brings her special brand of blond, bubbly energy to this combination of kickboxing and funky freestyle dance grooves, all set to music designed to motivate. Here's the best part: a pair of clocks onscreen, one that counts down each segment and another that tracks the workout's 20 minutes. For some reason, watching the clock makes this workout fly. Go figure.

Mike Mayhew Trim & Tone 20- minute Workout

• Rating: **

• Suitable for: Mike Mayhew's mom

• The skinny: This is one of those "Hey - let's do the workout DVD right here in the barn!" kind of videos. It's a 20-minute weight workout that lasts 30 minutes because it repeats the first 15 minutes, but that's the least of its problems. Mayhew seems like a nice young guy, but his flat, halting delivery sounds as if he's making it up as he goes along. He spends half the time fussing over the form of the two anonymous unfortunates exercising alongside him and the other half looking into the wrong camera. Speaking of cameras, when the frame began moving up and down during a squat segment, I actually started feeling queasy. A video only a mother could love.

Leisa Hart's Gym in a Box (aka My Personal Trainer)

• Rating: ****

• Suitable for: Anybody looking to lose a quick five

• Available: collagevideo.com or 800-433-6769

• The skinny: How do they fit a whole personal trainer into that itty-bitty box? With a little ingenuity and a very appealing interactive design, that's how. This concentrated fitness/nutrition regimen promises to help you shed a dress size - that's defined as 5 pounds - in one week, and it has a calendar to guide you through a week's worth of workouts. Just click on a day and go for it: 30 minutes of cardio Sunday through Friday; buns, thighs and upper body on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday; Pilates and abs on Monday, Wednesday and Friday; and yoga on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. It works out to a 50- to 60-minute session that might well help you squeeze into that smaller dress, although you might be too pooped to put it on.

Pilates Complete Sculpt and Tone

• Rating: ****

• Suitable for: anybody who wants to try some pi

• Available: amazon.com

• The skinny: So you're pi-curious? This interactive personal trainer-style workout gives you a good dose of Pilates mat work, with and without weights. Pick from more than 20 workouts conveniently grouped as "under 15 minutes" and "over 15 minutes," depending on how harried you happen to be. Instructor Meghan White really challenges your powerhouse - and if you didn't know you had one of those, you will by the end of this workout.

Jump Force

• Rating: ***

• Suitable for: anybody with no time to exercise

• Available: collagevideo.com or 800-433-6769

• The skinny: It's a little bit kickboxing, a little bit boot camp and a whole lotta step-sculpt in this fast-paced workout. And I mean fast - each segment is just a minute long. It's actually a little too fast in some spots; it's not the best idea to do biceps curls double-time, for example. And instructor Anni should lose the face paint - who puts on makeup before they sweat? But she does give you lots of options in terms of difficulty as well as time: Choose workouts ranging from a hard-charging 10 minutes to a multileveled 45. A good choice for the time-challenged - and who isn't?

RopeSport Intermediate Workout

• Rating: ****

• Suitable for: Anybody with good knees

• Available: razordigitalent.com or 800-339-5287

• The skinny: The first part of this DVD, wherein a bunch of very fit people get fancy- schmancy with jump ropes, manages to be both fascinating and intimidating, so you might want to skip directly to the workout and watch the other part later. Louis Garcia, billed as the "World's Greatest Jump Roper," leads you through a routine that gets you hot fast - even if you're using an imaginary rope. I could've done without the celeb jumpers - some MTV workout guy and a Baywatch bimbo - but this is some excellent fun, and one of the world's best exercises. A more basic version is available.

Prevention Fitness Systems 3-2-1 Workout

• Rating: ****

• Suitable for: Anybody with six minutes to spare

• Available: amazon.com

• The skinny: From the Prevention mag folks comes this upbeat and sensible circuit workout with six intervals, each with three minutes of cardio, two minutes of strength work and one minute of abs (3-2-1 - get it?). A couple of intervals in the morning, a couple at night and you've got your daily requirement covered. The constant quick change and variety - the cardio comes in a range of flavors, from kickbox to bootcamp - are perfect for the ever-so-brief attention span and low tolerance for exercise that have helped make America the land of the inert and the home of the pudged.

Crunch Cardio Dance Blast

• Rating: ****

• Suitable for: anybody with hips

• Available: amazon.com

• The skinny: Got two left feet? No problemo, cabbagehead. Instructor Marie Forleo can get you hip-hopping till you're dropping, swinging island-style or shaking that boo-tay to a whole lotta salsa. One of the new generation of dance videos, this 40-minute class makes you forget you're exercising. Get confident in the privacy of your own home, then bust some of these moves on a dance floor. Face it - you are so hot.

Other places to find fitness DVDs/videos

• The Denver Public Library rents a variety of titles.

• Fitness Wholesale offers a rental option on videos that allows you to try out videos before you buy. Pay the full purchase price of the video at the time of your order, then return it within three weeks to receive a refund. Go to or call 800-537-5512.

• Limited selections of fitness videos are available at retail outlets such as Target, Wal-Mart, Kmart, Barnes & Noble and Borders.