Tracy Anderson like results from any other program or instructor?

[Julia]

My neighbor recently lost a TON of weight and bulk, very quickly, we got to chatting and she told me she stopped working out at the gym and started walking and doing essentrics only. She looks fantastic, its almost like her skeletal structure shrunk. She looked strong, thickish middle and muscular before, now shes petite and slender, danceresque, surprisingly pretty and with a tiny waist. The transformation is amazing, shes like a real life TA before and after..lol!

[cowfishpro]

Julia, I love hearing about those kind of stories. I'm so happy for your friend. Thanks for sharing. It's wonderful when we each find what works for us, and that we can also enjoy.

ETA: Out of curiosity, did she change her eating at all?

[Julia]

Cowfishpro, you know we really didn't discuss diet, but the next time I see her I'll ask make sure to ask .

[SuzieC]

I also had great results from TA, which I didn't get with other rotations such as JNL or Jillian - and I'm curious if there are similar results from other programs too. Which makes me wonder - why is TA so effective?

I also toy with alternating TA with Ballet Beautiful, but I don't know if replacing it completely would give me the same results. Keep in mind though, I still have some weight to lose, so cardio is very important to me.

So, what is is about TA that makes is so effective for BOTH weight loss and toning (I also think TA is accessible to both beginners and advanced, both levels of exercisers on this forum have posted great results from it. For example, I'm sure you can get fantastic results from Tonique, but you really have to be advanced to do it on any level. With TA, you can modify the cardio by step touching until you work up to it, etc).

Here are some possibilities of why TA is so effective:

- you're pretty much working out 6 hours a week, that's a lot
- you're doing 30 min of steady state cardio every time you work out
- you're working every body part every time you work out, ie. there is no upper body day, lower body day, abs day etc - you do all in that 30 min of MS

Does any other system incorporate those elements? I have been trying to find another one (so that I can alternate TA with it, and prevent TA dread), but I haven't found one.

[PhyllisG]

I started round 2 of 21 Day Fix and I am adding on a Ballet Beautiful segment at the end of each workout. Today was Total Body Cardio from 21 and Outer Thigh from Ballet Beautiful. I am hoping to get this up during round 2 of 21 day. TA is on the sidelines for now.

[SuzieC]

Originally Posted by PhyllisG

I started round 2 of 21 Day Fix and I am adding on a Ballet Beautiful segment at the end of each workout. Today was Total Body Cardio from 21 and Outer Thigh from Ballet Beautiful.

That sounds like a great combination!

Originally Posted by PhyllisG

TA is on the sidelines for now.

Kidding! I don't know why, but since I got consistent with TA, I feel like I'm cheating on her whenever I do something else. Haha. When I started 21 day fix, I thought I would do that exclusively, but I felt so guilty and doubled up my workouts to do at least a half hour of TA. It was too much for me though - I nearly burnt out.

[txfitmom]

I just started up a rotation of TA's Abcentric again and have been adding in Hamelin's free workouts on youtube. I am really liking this combination.

One of the things that I think makes TA's workouts different is that a lot of the moves you are doing are on all fours which activates the core more. She also does a lot of reps at a fairly steady pace which I feel works the muscles differently. Rather than just doing a squat or lunge and working the entire hamstring or quad, you are working your muscles in different angles and hitting more precise spots that maybe have never been worked well by other traditional exercises.

I think the Art Method and a few others will produce similar results to TA because of the floor work on all fours, unique angles of working the muscles, etc. So, TA is not the only option if you want to get that slim look.

I also feel that most pilates and barre workouts do work the muscles in a similar fashion with all that pulsing and more precise movements. That being said, most don't have a lot of work on all fours like TA, so ideally a combination of TA or Art Method or your favorite all four floor work and pilates/barre would probably give the best results.

[fuzzie]

Originally Posted by Julia

My neighbor recently lost a TON of weight and bulk, very quickly, we got to chatting and she told me she stopped working out at the gym and started walking and doing essentrics only. She looks fantastic, its almost like her skeletal structure shrunk. She looked strong, thickish middle and muscular before, now shes petite and slender, danceresque, surprisingly pretty and with a tiny waist. The transformation is amazing, shes like a real life TA before and after..lol!

LOL at "surprisingly pretty" You know, I think this is a good example of how the progression in our training methods might affect the results we get - i.e., how someone with a good muscle mass developed from traditional weight training might get different results from a program like TA or Essentrics than someone with no such baseline.

Originally Posted by SuzieC

Here are some possibilities of why TA is so effective:

- you're pretty much working out 6 hours a week, that's a lot
- you're doing 30 min of steady state cardio every time you work out
- you're working every body part every time you work out, ie. there is no upper body day, lower body day, abs day etc - you do all in that 30 min of MS

That is probably true if you are after weightloss. When I used TA I was not looking to lose weight and I only did her MS work so I got "toning" results by actually working out less that I used to. I attribute these results to her floor work, as you are basically in plank/all fours variations (so the whole body is working) for about 20 minutes a day, 6 days a week. Many years ago I had done a rotation using Mat, Post Preg and her cardio workouts and had not achieved anything close to the results I got with Continuity - to me the difference is the plank-based work.

[cowfishpro]

One of the things that I think makes TA's workouts different is that a lot of the moves you are doing are on all fours which activates the core more. She also does a lot of reps at a fairly steady pace which I feel works the muscles differently. Rather than just doing a squat or lunge and working the entire hamstring or quad, you are working your muscles in different angles and hitting more precise spots that maybe have never been worked well by other traditional exercises.

Interesting ideas.That makes sense to me as I think about how many of the moves, including floor work are similar in Ballet Beautiful and Tracy Anderson. I'm not familiar with Art Method, so I can't speak to that.

Suzie, when I do TA, I don't do 6 hours of workouts of her per week, and definitely very little of her cardio. I find for me, the intense MS work, especially if it makes me sweat, is what is magic for me.

Great thoughts ladies. I'm really enjoying reading them.

[cowfishpro]

We were cross posting Fuzzie, and I see that we've come to similar conclusions.