This video contains two (approximately) 20-minute workouts, both roughly based on Pilates with the second set also including some Yoga moves.

The first workout is very much for beginners, focusing on ab work with low-level roll-ups, a modified hundred, modified teasers, and a lot of warm-up and warm-down stretching. While I now find this workout a bit tedious, it provided exactly the right amount of motivation and early stage muscle conditioning to keep me practising until I was ready to move up to the next, more dificult, 20-minute workout.

After a month of the first workout, I felt ready to beginthe more challenging workout- and what a difference! Gone was the slow and smiling Denise I had come to depend on, gone was my smug belief that Pilates were childishly simple- gone, even, were Denises' first workout companions. Doubtless they fled before this new, boot-camp-instructor Denise.

After viewing the advanced workout once or twice to get the feel for it, the workout proved much more challenging, and, to me, infinitely more fun. Instructions here are minimal, transitions (in particular the sun salute) are very fast, and Denise's trademark brightness is subdued, but still there.

The beauty of this video is that it is perfect for those just starting out, or just returning to excercise after a hiatus. The first workout is not at all difficult, but does begin to excercise the muscle groups that are relied on in the second workout. The second workout, particularly when done in conjunction with the first, gives one a much more defined sense of accomplishment, though at no time do you get the feeling you simply cannot finish.

The only problem I have had is with a strange transition made during one part of the second workout. Denise goes from an extended plank position, straight into leg pull down, straight into a T-position on each side, straight into a leg pull. My wrists absoloutely KILL on these! You might be able to slap together a little remedy for this by saving the T-stands for the end of the workout and inserting crisscrosses, single straight leg stretches, or hip circles.

Overall, this video is very effective for motivating even seasoned athletes to take a 20-minute break EVERY DAY to work out by relying on an interesting workout (the second one) and an easily attainable fitness goal.

Instructor Comments:
Denise is once again your ever-cheerful personal Cheerleader, which is perfect if that's the sort of motivation you need. The set and music leave a little to be desired (I would have preferred an entirely outdoor setting, instead of the very brief Nevada desert shots included in the second workout), but for inspiration for a beginner or intermediate student, this is a wonderful choice, and Denise is, of course, highly motivating. Besides, anyone who can look that great after 42 years and two kids (she says she worked out on the mornings of both deliveries!) must be doing something right.

W. Neil