Top 10 Home Workout Videos Reviewed

The talent behind the video pack is a practicing physical therapist named Dr. Monique St. Pierre. She is with the Inova Physical Therapy Group in Springfield, Virginia. Dr. Pierre has bona fide credentials, meaning you can trust her workouts to be safe and effective.

The DVD is centered around a 90-day program, which the copy calls a transformation. Toning and fat burning are the focus. The yoga, bodyweight, dumbbell, and core and other best workout DVDs in this 90-day program are designed to lead you to muscular overload, with recovery days built in so your system can heal and grow. We especially like the yoga, as it's a way to keep the mind/body connection active; yoga can be both reflective and a huge calorie burn in the right instructor's hands.

The set also comes with an eating guide, activity calendar, and an illustrated guide to the exercises.

The Circuit Burnout programs will challenge your metabolism. "Muscle confusion" is a big buzzword in the industry; the idea is that each workout targets enough different muscle groups that you don't quite get a chance to be comfortable or complacent. Dr. Pierre's videos will do this for you, and her manner is friendly enough that you will feel like you are working out with a friend. Like all good workout videos, too, this one features beginner modifications, done by a live trainer, so you can do those until you feel strong and confident enough to do the full exercises.

Intense, sure, and your recovery days may make you sore enough to question your sanity. But if you have ever watched Shaun T at work, you know how optimistic and upbeat he is while he makes you jump on a box or lift your legs until they somehow get heavier.

The foundation behind this and similar products is interval training. You may have heard about HIIT or Tabata workouts, where you perform at full intensity in short bursts. In between those limit-pushing sets, you rest briefly and catch your breath. The Insanity DVDs push the interval factor to the limit. They blend aerobic and anaerobic exercises to make you stronger while keeping your heart rate up for calorie burn.

There are 14 discs in this DVD set. It comes in an attractive folding display set, with pictures of Shaun T and his pumped-up six-pack for motivation. The revised edition gives you a full-color exercise book, progress charts, an eating plan, and smaller pamphlets for reference. It is a great value, around forty dollars for sixty days that can impact the rest of your life.

We aren't saying those are bad things, but every fitness buff is different. Videos of people leaping in the air drenched in sweat are not everyone's jam; as always, we provide versatile options to help you meet your training goals and improve overall wellness.

There are two volumes in this series, led by military trainer and tough but fair teacher Mark Lauren. Many of us don't realize how many military members rely on bodyweight or calisthenics to stay operationally ready. It's a simple way to target almost as many muscle groups at a time as you want. This DVD is even priced lower than some of the more well-known ones. Add in the fact that you do not need any equipment, and this program has the potential to be your new best friend for a long time.

After all, there are plenty of ways to step up the intensity of pushups, crunches, sitting squats, and other moves, just by holding your body a different way, adding HIIT components, doing more reps, and other tricks that Mark Lauren will show you.

Other benefits of regular bodyweight training include injury prevention, and the ability to focus better and go to work each day without getting overly tired. This set includes 3 discs with nine workouts each, all lasting between 15 and 20 minutes. You can grow with these best workout videos for men by graduating to the beefier second volume, or use this whole DVD as a foundation for cross-hatching your own routines as you get stronger and more confident.

Our review is for a single DVD, with two chapters of a half-hour each. The classes are led by Beto Perez, the man who invented Zumba and grew it into the huge institution that it now is.

Though it's complex, Zumba's foundation is in four rhythms that get repeated and added to according to the instructor and the student's experience. Perez takes you through a basics session first, as a trainer at a gym would during the first meeting. You have the advantage of playing the half-hour class, or parts of it, multiple times until you have the hang of it. Then you can use your new skills to conquer the actual class.

There aren't any 90-day core blasters, superhot nutrition plans, or access to social media forums here. That's not really what this DVD is about, though. It is about an hour long and includes just the foundational session followed by a thirty-minute class. If you want something simple that will teach you a new skill, we can recommend purchasing this DVD and then adding more Zumba to your collection over time.

For around eighty dollars, you get:

• 21 full-length classes, none longer than 30 minutes
• The ability to do one class per day, with a focus on mastering the fundamentals of yoga
• An eating plan, retreat calendar, quick start/beginner video, and pose tracker

The goal of the entire set is to mimic an in-person yoga retreat that could cost hundreds of dollars or more, with personal attention from experienced yoga practitioners. If you are new to yoga, this straightforward program will give you the tools to establish a lifelong practice. The benefits of regular yoga include increased strength, flexibility, fewer issues with the back or joints, and, for many yoginis and yogis, a sense of connectedness and groundedness. It's not a bad deal for an 80 dollar DVD when you consider the cost of private or group yoga lessons. And you can do this DVD every day if you wish, repeating it when you need a centering refresher course.

The class calendar and pose tracker are on paper, for keeping close to your TV or perhaps hanging on a wall. The tracker includes full-color photos of models doing poses, letting you mark off each one as you complete it. It's a great tool that can function as a vision board to keep you motivated.

The rudimentary exercises in this easy to follow DVD are self-paced, meant not to fire up your metabolism but to help you make peace with an often overtaxed part of your body. We all carry a lot of tension in the hip flexor area. That is partly due to a sedentary lifestyle but also grows with age. No matter how young or old you are, though, Unlock Your Hip Flexors lets you build your range of motion.

The instructors on the DVD are Rick Kaselj and personal trainer Mike Westerdal. Kaselj has worked in injury prevention since 1994. He has been a kinesiologist, personal trainer, and exercise therapist. Kaselj invented his hip flexor program after seeing how established programs overlooked these vital muscles and shortchanged patients, clients, and athletes.

Kaselj has written at least six books that we could verify, many of them specialty cookbooks with a focus on recipes that will promote healing and wellness.

For this DVD, Kaselj takes you through 10 different exercises, each with clear explanations and demonstrations. The exercises help reach your psoas muscle, which is ground zero for tight or sore hip flexors. The DVD requires zero equipment besides your clothes and shoes; you can do many of these exercises barefoot, even. Although not meant to be strenuous, the DVD does include more advanced versions of each exercise when you are ready for more of a challenge.

PiYo, of course, is a portmanteau of the words Pilates and yoga. The two forms of exercise go hand in hand, due to a shared focus on flexibility, the practice of holding poses for a certain number of breaths, and a goal of overall strength and wellness. Though often aimed at women, both yoga and Pilates DVDs are suitable for people of all genders.

Chalene Johnson, the instructor throughout this 5 DVD set, is a celebrity motivational speaker, best-selling author, health and wellness coach and, of course, a top-notch fitness instructor. In this video, she takes you through several half-hour-long bodyweight exercises that include strength training as well as cardio intervals and the stretchy poses that are part of yoga. It is a quick and fun way to get more flexible while also building up your functional fitness levels.

The rest of the package includes an eating plan and a two-month wall calendar to track your progress through the program. This is an intense program that will leave you sweating and help you define your muscles while you burn off fat and get stronger each day. Individual classes include fundamentals, core, "sweat" or dynamic Pilates and yoga, and lower and upper body sessions.

This collection includes 2 DVDs with a total of 6 workouts. Customer reviewers praised how much fun they had. Instead of a rigid series of moves, the classes let you move at your own pace and interpret the dances, as long as you stick to the framework and practice the proper form taught in the first DVD. Burning calories and feeling good are the focus of this program.

Body Groove DVDs are also excellent for elderly exercisers, or anyone with joint pain. We found entire other DVDs just for seniors. With its focus on youth and perceived power, the fitness industry often leaves older people behind. It's refreshing to see a company that makes them a focus, as well as never holding up examples of idealized bodies as a standard we all have to meet.

As far as the actual classes, each one is about a half-hour long and is broken down into a warmup, dynamic moves, and a cooldown. It perfectly emulates what you get at a live fitness class. There are a total of nine instructor-led routines. Musical backup runs the spectrum from high energy pop to more chill sounds when you need less intensity. This DVD is something you could use to start your day or to unwind before bed.

The board itself is a thin, curved piece of plastic, similar in principle to an aerobic step. The curved center part sits on the floor, giving you resistance and a balance challenge as you engage your muscles and keep both feet planted on the board. The action is similar to surfing, and many FitBoard commercials take place on the beach.

This single workout introductory DVD takes you through a warm-up, followed by a session on the board. Further chapters get you targeting muscle groups with bodyweight, then let you transition back to the board. Finally, as any good teacher would do, you get a cool down to make sure your muscles don't give you tightness the next day.

Though it won't improve your bench press or squat, the Simply Fit Board and DVD will keep you moving and can bridge the gap between more strenuous workouts. The entire franchise is beneficial for kids, seniors, and those recovering from an injury.

While it's fun, as much fun as playing Dance Dance Revolution or a similar game with friends, the moves here are fairly advanced and you may struggle if you have not used some of the Zumba introductory DVDs. The country songs (all cover versions) are upbeat and catchy. The dances are appropriate for all age levels.

This particular DVD includes two thirty-minute group sessions. There is no instruction, according to reviewers; after a brief warm-up, the performers and instructors go right into dancing. Even if you can't master all the moves your first time, just trying to do so will get your heart rate up. The intensity is low enough that you will not get injured, either, no matter your current fitness level.

Although you don't get any direct instruction or a rudiments refresher, the instructors go through the same routine more than once per song. The first time, they will move slow enough for you to follow along. You can pause and rewind the DVD as needed, of course, if you start feeling left behind.