Customer Reviews

15-Minute Workouts for Dummies

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"Common don't quit!" ~Gay Gasper

Gay Gasper is an internationally known fitness presenter who loves exercise and has been teaching for over 19 years. She has appeared in 27 fitness workouts and has a high-energy style. Each movement has a purpose and she doesn't waste anytime between exercises. This is why I'm going to say this might be intermediate. If you have been exercising for a few months, and are familiar with the use of dumbbells then you might be ready for this workout.

Some favorite features:

15-minute Workouts for Abs, Arms, Buns and Thighs
The countdown clock - motivation to keep going to the last minute

Aerobic sections between the weight lifting - This makes the workout feel like an interval training style workout. If you do all the exercises one after the other.

Challenging modifications for advanced users - you can add weights at some point.
Icons - Jargon alert, Myth Buster, Tips, Beware and Remember Icon.

If you are looking for a nice challenge, you can do all the 15-minute workouts and make your way through all 26 toning and shaping exercises. If you want to take exercise breaks throughout the day or just want to spend 15 minutes each day - that is also an option.

The tips were interesting and Gay gives advice like using a sponge mop for balance.

The music is highly motivating, the set is uncluttered and Gay's personality and voice are pleasant and inspirational. She also uses humor throughout the exercises. Her professional attitude towards exercise makes you feel confident and you can really trust her advice.

What will you need?

A space large enough to do lunges
Two sets of weights.

You could use 3-5 lb weights or even start with smaller weights and in a few weeks you will notice you are ready to move onto heavier weights. 3lb weights sounded right to me, but they say you can use two eight-pound dumbbells. It is better to work slowly into using weights and see gradual results. I started with one-pound weights and in about 30 weeks I was up to using 3-5lb weights. I no longer believe that faster is better. If it takes you 30 weeks to get to a point where you are really proud of yourself and you are keeping with an exercise program, then that beats a quick fix any day.

15-Minute Workouts for Dummies might even become a staple in your exercise video collection. I loved it and will keep doing this workout because it is highly motivational and the exercises are very effective. You are increasing muscle that eventually helps you to burn more calories each day. If I am ever having trouble feeling motivated to exercise, I just put this video in the VCR and within minutes I'm in the mood to burn some calories.

~The Rebecca Review

P.S. You might also enjoy Basic Yoga for Dummies with Sara Ivanhoe. She is also an instructor in Candlelight Yoga which is one of my absolute favorite evening treats before bed. I feel soooo relaxed after Candlelight Yoga. It is also especially beautiful with all the candles.

This was recommended to me as a great workout for beginners, but I was totally lost in the first 60 seconds of the warmup! She keeps adding steps without a whole lot of explanation and making it look easy, which seems a bit baffling considering that she's talking to a bunch of people who think they are "dummies" at fitness!

The ab exercises were WAY too hard! I couldn't even make it halfway through that section. She does give "basic" modifications for some exercises, but even the basics were too hard for me.

To be fair, I think this program is probably pretty good--and I will keep working on it as I progress in my weight loss program--but if you are are a true sedentary beginner and looking for something to get you started, you might want to try something else first.

This is absolutely the best workout video I've ever owned. Broken into 15-minute chunks that fit the little cracks in my daily schedule, these workouts are fun and rewarding.

My favorite is the abs workout. I also own the Ab Workouts For Dummies video, and I figured this segment of the 15 minute tape would just duplicate the other video. I was thrilled to see that it was a new ab workout. Sure, every ab workout is going to have a few variations on crunches, there's no getting around that. But there were several new exercises included, and the presentation was completely different.

I've been recommending this video to just about everybody I know. If you want a great workout that's fun and fits your schedule, give this one a shot.

I am the queen of unused workout equipment and DVDs. I've spent hundreds, maybe thousands, of dollars on equipment that I used once or twice, if ever, however I really liked this DVD. I found it to be really easy to follow, but I felt the burn. The workouts were the perfect length for me. Just when I was thinking about giving up Gay Gasper would remind me that it's supposed to be hard and that's the only way to get a gorgeous, lean body. Frequent acknowledgement of what I was going through made me feel a lot better about it. After the first time I tried the thighs workout, my legs hurt for days, but I found a certain amount of satisfaction in my soreness. The next time I tried it it was already slighty easier, but Gay Gasper offers lots of suggestion on how to make the workouts more or less challenging. While my legs recovered I worked my arms, abs, etc. The exercises were really simple, basically just squats, lunges, crunches , curls and a few others, I probably could have figured it out w/o the DVD but I prefer having someone on the screen to follow. I know some people say the host, Gay Gasper, is annoyingly cheery, but I liked her. This would probably be too easy for someone already exercising, but if you're a workout "dummie" like me, this might be just the thing to get you started.

Dummies. The series is supposed to be for people who have no experience and want to be brought up to speed. Well, unless your an athlete and a dancer, forget about being able to follow along with these. I bought a TamiLee Title, and it is just awesome, but I am sending this back. The exercises are done at an incredible break-neck speed, and the camera angles vary constantly so it's impossible to see what she is doing. The video IS entertaining I admit, it's funny to watch someone working out so fast, but for someone who wants a serious beginners workout video, go get a TamiLee video. Because of the speed of the presenter, she has placed speed over accuracy. I just stood there ready to throw something at the TV. If you're a regular Gym bunny and are used to the super-fast dance style moves, you'll love it. If your a newbie who wants something to get them motivated, this is not for you.

I have *no* coordination, and no time to commit to some of the more intense workouts. It's not in the budget to go to the gym, and with a toddler, a workout is the LAST thing I want to do when I have downtime. All that being said - I love this workout! I can start the tape and feel a sense of accomplishment when I get to the end of one of the workouts - and if everyone in the house is being cooperative, I'll sneak another 15 minute workout, then another after dinner. I like that the first one is very intense (my legs wobbled for a couple of days after the thigh workout) and I break a sweat. The "arms" workout can even be done while seated, and is more of a mild workout when I don't have time to clean up or have to go out and have already showered!
It's a great time saver, and I feel like if nothing else, I'm burning off one (small) bag of chips in just a few minutes!

Just getting started this is the 1st video I have tried. Since the word "dummy" is in the title I figured even I could manage.

However, after using the video 4 times a week for 2 weeks I still cannot keep up with the warm up. And I repeatedly have thought the warm up routine is well beyond any beginning dummy. So, I modify and once she tosses in more steps than I can manage I just do the first couple she teaches repeatedly until she is done with the warm up.

The work out portions are much easier to follow and I like the 15 minute time frame-- that is indeed my favorite part. I just remind myself that even I can make it for 15 minutes...

So, good time frame, impossible non-dummy warm ups with easy to follow work out portions...

I bought another DVD with a 30-minute workout on it, but I could never manage to break the inertia long enough to actually do the routine. I hadn't been exercising for quite some time. 25 years ago, I did dancergenics; 18 years ago, I worked out at a gym. Since then? Eh. Some walking, maybe. So, to get started, 15-minute workouts were just what I needed. I could manage to make myself do a mere 15-minute routine. The exercises are just challenging enough without being impossible or injury-inducing. Before long, I found to my amazement that 15 minutes wasn't enough -- I actually wanted to do more. Imagine! And after only two weeks of doing two routines (30 minutes a day), family & friends started commenting on the difference in the way I looked. True, it can take some time to be able to follow her warm-up routines, but if you could do it all right away, it would be time to move on to a more advanced DVD. This is a great, all-body set of workouts; I'm so glad I found it!

I enjoy this DVD and I think its great for beginners. The exercises are very easy to follow and not too hard to do. Gay speaks clearly and explains the moves well. I also enjoy the extra tips, and it shows you ways to make the moves more basic or more advanced. You get a good workout but do not feel overly tired. This is also a great DVD for you if you're looking to do strength training and become more toned.

The only thing I dislike about the DVD is that the warm-up routines are hard to follow. Gay does them very quickly and doesnt really show you how to do them. But after you watch them a few times you catch on.

I love this video so much! I've had it for over 2 years and I still do it! Normally I will do a workout video twice and then never look at it again. I love the instructor - she is upbeat and fun without being fake. You can tell she's having fun. She is very experienced so you really can trust what she's saying, and she gives very helpful tips on technique so you know if you're doing it right or not. I'm surprised at the other reviews because I found her warmups to be very well-explained and simple to follow. I like that she moves fast because it keeps me pumped. The music is fun and upbeat, and the workouts go by so fast and you really feel the burn afterwards! I have gotten a lot of satisfaction out of this video, as well as her "Fat Burning Workouts for Dummies" video, which I recently bought. She is the first instructor on tape that I really like. Plus, it shows how to adjust the intensity level to whatever works for you. I started with 2 and 3 pound weights, and now i'm using 5 pound weights for all the arms exercises. I look forward to my time with these workouts, and they're so short that i can do two right before i go to work each morning. Definitely a great pick in my opinion!!!