Fit and Strong Pre and Post Natal Workout

Tracey Staehle
Year Released: 2010

Categories: Pregnancy/Postpartum


I've previewed this and have actually decided to return it because: (1) the sound is really, really low, (2) there's too much talking and not enough exercising, and (3) my DVD doesn't have the upper body section of the prenatal workout. If (3) were the only problem I'd look into getting a new copy. But reasons (1) and (2) make me really not interested in using this DVD, so it's going back.

Tracey is 37 weeks pregnant. Her 2 sisters act as trainers while Tracey does the exercises. Her sisters are Bobbi (personal trainer/fitness instructor and high school coach/teacher, mother of 4) and Melanie (certified nurse midwife and nurse practitioner, mother of 3). Bobbi does most of the instructing.

They talk and explain proper form and issues specific to exercising during pregnancy a lot, so there’s a lot of set-up time, demonstrations and talking between exercises. They give form explanations that seem targeted to someone who hasn’t exercised before (rather than someone who is used to Tracey’s typical intermediate/advanced workout and simply wants a pregnancy-specific DVD).

The volume is low, and Tracey and Melanie can be very difficult to hear. Bobbi does most of the talking, while Melanie doesn’t talk so much, but Tracey does instruct sometimes. (It looks like maybe only Bobbi is wearing a mic?).

Equipment: Light dumbbells, Band, Step bench, Stability ball

Chapters:
Intro, Question and Answers, Comfortable Clothing, Proper Alignment

Warm up (5 minutes) – Stretches, some static, some dynamic

Back, Chest, Shoulders (with some biceps/triceps, but focus is on larger muscle groups) – Theoretically 20 minutes, but this section is missing from my DVD

Upper Body Stretch (1 minute)

Legs (20 minutes total; first 10 min is standing) – Body weight squats, Lunges using a band, Lunges front/side/back without weights, Side step/abduction using band, Standing inner thigh lift/adduction using band

Legs on the Floor (10 min) – Lying on side: Outer thigh lift, small leg circles. All fours: Straight leg lift back, bent leg lift to side
This chapter also includes: Core (7 minutes) – Side-lying oblique crunches, Standard crunches on stability ball, Plank on knees with elbows or hands on stability ball, Side planks (on floor)

Post workout stretch (6 minutes)


The DVD also includes the: Post Natal Workout

I haven’t fully previewed this, but I'll provide a breakdown. Happily, Tracey has her own mic this time, so you can hear both Tracey and Bobbi. (Melanie still doesn’t seem to have a mic, but she also still doesn’t talk much... in fact, she looks kind of bored just sitting there for most of the exercises.)

Warm up (5 minutes)

4 15-20 minute circuits:

(1) Back, biceps, legs – uses body bar or light dumbbells – 14 minutes (split in 2 7-min segments, chaptered separately)

(2) Total body – light dumbbells or fitness ball – 20 minutes (split in 2 10-min segments, chaptered separately)

(3) Abs and Upper body – light dumbbells and stability ball (or bench) – 14 minutes (split in 2 7-min segments, chaptered separately)

(4) Shoulders, Glutes, Core – fitness ball or light dumbbells (but mostly on floor) – 14 minutes (split in 2 7-minute segments, chaptered separately)

Instructor Comments:
Tracey and her sisters seem like a nice group, and I really wanted to like this workout because I liked them! Unfortunately, it's just not well planned or well executed technically, in my opinion.

KathyW

08/05/2010