Fitness level: all levels, early post-partum
Setting: Studio
Breakdown: 3-minute segment floor exercise segment for the very first days post-partum; 5-minute standing warm-up; 10 minute segment for abs; 10 minutes for buns; 10 minutes for legs
Music: cheesy "exercise" style--it's so bad I have no words with which to classify it! Focus on the excellent instruction instead and you'll be just fine :)
Production: good
Safety: A+++ meets ACOG guidelines

I bought this tape before my daughter was born, after reading in Shape Pregnancy that it had a segment you could do right away even after a cesearean delivery. That was what I was facing, so into my shopping cart it went along with the diapers and baby lotion. How glad I am that I bought it. Next pregnancy I'm going to buy Madeleine's pregancy workout to rotate with Kathy Smith's. This lady, like Kathy, not only pays attention to safety, but she calls in the experts to help her make it safe. Bonnie Rote, RN was the medical collaborator on both BOS Pregnancy and B & A Post-Pregancy.

I did the three-minute segment at the beginning when I was a week post-partum, then added the five-minute warm-up two days later. At two weeks I added the abs. The rest, as they say, is history.

What I loved about this workout was that each toning segment has its own little warm-up and cool-down, so I could break it up and work out whenever I had 10 minutes of time. When I was breastfeeding, especially in the first three months, that was often all I had time and energy for. (New moms in the group can probably relate to this--right?) Besides, I have this thing about floor exercise. I'd rather eat nails. Doing it in 10 minute increments--and with Madeleine and her crew suffering along with me--made it much more bearable. This tape was all I did for about 6 months post-partum before easing back into aerobics.

Madeleine is an excellent instructor--she cues well, provides just the right amount of encouragement, and best of all, is friendly without getting on your last nerve. Somebody get this woman in front of a camera again!
I, too, recommend this as a great present for a new mom or mom-to-be. Put it in a pretty basket with some bubble bath and a gift certificate for free baby-sitting, and you'll be a shoo-in for Friend of the Year. . .

Grade: A+ and ten points extra credit

Instructor Comments:

Madeleine has choreographed several of Kathy Smith's videos, including Fat-Burning Workout and Weight Loss Workout. The only videos I've seen where she's the "star" are Buns of Steel Pregnancy, Buns and Abs of Steel Post-Pregnancy, and an old video called California Calorie Burner, or something like that. She looks like a California girl--blonde, perky-looking, friendly in a girl-next-door sort of way. Her on-camera style is lower-key than Kathy's, but with the same trustworthy, thorough instruction Kathy's so famous for. I'd like to see her produce more workouts of her own.

Melissa Cooper