Mat Workout

Tracy Anderson
Year Released: 2008

Categories: Ballet/Barre


NOTE: I received a free review copy of this DVD from the distributor.

First, a little about me: I'm an avid exerciser in my mid-40s who generally works out daily and has done so for years now (since my late 20s). I exercise mainly at home with videos and enjoy a wide variety of activities, including kickboxing, kettlebells, circuits, yoga, Pilates, and stretching.

However, I'm not one to hop on bandwagons, and although I was well-aware of Tracy's workouts, I didn't really have much interest in them; I've never overly clicked with barre. Despite this, as time has passed, I have come to hear more and more about the Mat Workout, and it has sounded like something I might enjoy. In particular, I was interested in Tracy's upper body work, in which she combines both unweighted moves and use of light weights (I've found that this type of work combined with alternate days of heavy weight work really keeps my own arms in shape) as well as her targeted lower body exercises, which seemed like they could be especially helpful to me, as this is where I carry most of my weight.

The Main Menu of this DVD offers the following chapters: Mat Introduction - Mat Routine (which is NOT chaptered) - Gwyneth Interview, Mat - Tracy Main Interview. In her brief (1 minute) introduction to the the workout, Tracy suggests doing the Mat Workout 4-6 times per week; she recommends not doing anything else other than her Mat and Cardio Workouts. During the slightly longer interview (3 minutes), Tracy elaborates on the development of her Method, explaining that it grew out of 8 years of research experimenting with both herself (she stated that she had trouble losing weight/getting the body she wanted after trying dieting, Pilates, spinning, etc.) as well as other women of various body types. Paltrow's short interview is similar, supporting how Tracy's Method helped her to get into shape.

For the workout itself, Tracy is alone, instructing live in an attractive, mostly-wood studio with large glass windows in the background. Unlike with most barre-style workouts, which are usually performed barefoot, Anderson is wearing shoes here. Her cuing is often late or non-existent; you definitely have to keep your eye on her and sort of follow along (which, luckily, is relatively easy to do once you get the hang of what she is doing). Tracy describes the workout as "strategic muscle exhaustion" in which she is working to tire the larger muscles first in order to get at the smaller muscles. The music is great, mostly female vocal, flowing very well with the vibe of the workout. Although the workout is not chaptered (a clear oversight on the part of the producers!), there are definite divisions, so I have reviewed it by section below.

WARM-UP (5.5 minutes)
For this section, Tracy combines flowing movements with some yoga-like stretches. She begins with plies, moving into forward bends and then stretches including triangle, pyramid pose, and lunge. There's also a dancey feel with moves like hip sways/hip pops as well as full body side stretches and reaches. As noted above, you'll definitely need to be watching the TV since Tracy does NOT cue all of the moves.

STANDING LEGS (17 minutes)
For this segment, Tracy uses a chair for balance. The moves are performed at a steady, even pace, not frenetic like in some other barre-type videos. The exercises in the first series include the following: knee to shoulder, attitude lift to the side, attitude lift to the rear, knee forward and straight back, and straight leg pulse up; everything is then repeated on the second side. For the second series, Tracy starts with a leg lift to the side (point up/flex down) and then moves into attitude rotations, knee lifts side, and leg pushes rear; this series is also repeated on the second side. Tracy concludes the standing legs with some brief plies/hip stretches. One thing I noticed about this section: my standing leg became fatigued MUCH more quickly than my working leg! Unfortunately, even after performing this workout multiple times, I continue to have this issue--it makes me wonder how effective these moves are for me.

STANDING ABS (3 minutes)
This dancey segment consists of rib isolation-type movements. Although Tracy offers almost no cuing here, she does seem to be following a pattern (e.g., single-single-double, forward and back, diagonal) that I think I will be able to pick up with a little practice. She also performs some circles, moves her legs from together to wide-legged, and ends with some hip sways. Overall, it's a chance to let loose for just a few minutes and have some fun dancing to good music!

STANDING ARMS (unweighted, 8 minutes)
For this section, Tracy is holding her arms at shoulder height and performing a variety of rotational arm moves that flow from the shoulders. These exercises are similar to what can be found in Classical Stretch (see Classical Stretch Arms & Abs/Legs & Butt and Essentrics Workout: Arms, Abs & Waist Toner/Legs, Butt & Thigh Thinner), and they are GREAT for shaping your arms/shoulders, improving your posture, and working out any pains or kinks in the upper body. Sometimes Tracy cues the upcoming move, offering tips such as "imagine you are hitting someone off to the side," but other times, you just have to follow along.

STANDING ARMS (weighted, 8 minutes)
Tracy recommends not using weights heavier that 3 lbs. for this section; for my first time using the workout, I went with 2 lbs., and that worked well; since then, I have varied between 2# and 3# depending on my level of fatigue. Here the moves are different than in the previous segment, with many variations on presses, both overhead and to the sides. There are also some unique exercises, such as a lift from the waist to the armpits and a bowling-type move.

LEGWORK ON MAT (6.5 minutes)
Tracy starts this segment in a side-lying position for a knee-to-shoulder move. She then raises up to more of a seated pretzel-like position for knee forward and back, rear leg lifts, and leg scissors, and finally, she turns even further towards the floor (arms in push-up position) for single leg extensions. Lying face down, Tracy performs double bent leg lifts (frogs) to transition before repeating the entire floorwork series on the second side. I especially liked that this segment targeted the glutes so well WITHOUT including any all-fours work, which I hate.

FLOOR ABS (5.5 minutes)
This was my least-favorite section, mainly because of the position which Tracy uses. She sets up for crunches lying flat on the back with the legs wide, and from here, she performs a variety of small crunches up (e.g., crunch with leg lift, crunch with arm overhead, crunch with one foot crossed, etc.). It was the straight leg position that I did not like, as it made my back feel too arched (I suppose I can modify with bent knees). For the final move, Tracy places her hands under her glutes for double straight leg raises. I have been modifying this section by keeping my legs slightly bent.

COOL-DOWN (4 minutes)
The cool-down was similar to the warm-up, containing many of the same stretches. Tracy does add in a few more rotational movements as well as more work for the abs here. The entire time for this workout is approximately 57.5 minutes.

Overall, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this workout! I really loved the legs work (both standing and floor) and the arms work, and I found the brief standing abs section to be kind of fun. The only segment that I really did not like was the floor abs. The day after doing the Mat Workout for the first time, I felt a pleasant amount of soreness in my upper and inner thighs, an area that generally NEVER feels sore on me.

I am certainly not a total proponent of Tracy's "Method"--i.e., I don't agree that women should NEVER work out with more than 3 lbs. (although I do think that using light weights SOMETIMES makes sense, as with this workout), and I would not use Tracy's DVDs as my ONLY form of exercise, as I enjoy other things (yoga, Pilates, even heavier weights!) too much to give up.

I got this DVD back in January, and I held off on submitting my review to VF for awhile, as I wanted to see if I might get any kinds of results with it. For awhile, I did the workout as often as 2x/week, adding in additional segments on other days. Unfortunately, I didn't see the fantastic results that others seem to get with TA, and in fact I even gained a bit of weight during this time (this also may have been medication-related). More recently, I started doing Callanetics Evolution, and I seem to be noticing results more quickly from this DVD instead.

I still think that the Mat Workout is a fun routine, and I will still add it to my rotation at times--especially the arms work, which I think can help my arms get into better shape for summer. In the end, this is a fun, different workout that I would definitely recommend.

Instructor Comments:
Other than her lack of cuing, I had no problems with Tracy. I've heard her described as being almost unpleasant, but at least during this workout, she smiles and is encouraging, saying things like "good" and "you can do it!" And for some reason, even her lack of cuing isn't so bad, perhaps because she is mostly using 8-counts.

Beth C (aka toaster)

03/12/2013