dvds by Madonna's trainer? - 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community

teawithsunshine · 02-09-2009, 12:53 AM

Hi--

There's a new article on the NYT about Madonna's personal trainer opening a studio with client Gweneth Paltrow in NYC. ("Building on the Abs of Madonna and Gwyneth" by ROBIN POGREBIN.)

I've gone to her site and amazon.com ... she's had three dvds out (post pregnancy, dance, and mat floor work).

There's very little information about her mat floor dvd on amazon and I'd really be curious about trying a dvd by Madonna's trainer that includes weights.

Anyone try her dvds?

~ tea

nelie · 02-09-2009, 08:56 AM

I haven't tried any of the DVDs but I did see a youtube video of her with Gwyneth paltrow and that was enough to make me say that she isn't a very good trainer. She focuses on cardio rather than building muscle and doesn't believe women should lift anything over 3 lbs.

Madonna has an awesome body but she does intense yoga with major body weight movements. I'd attribute her body to yoga more than the personal trainer.

teawithsunshine · 02-11-2009, 04:17 AM

Nellie--

Do you mean Madonna does yoga with weights? (
Madonna has an awesome body but she does intense yoga with major body weight movements.)

There are dvds on that ??

~ tea

joyra · 02-11-2009, 04:35 AM

I read an article that she does a modified version of Pilates. I guess it works, kind of... her intention is to move each muscle in like, hundreds of directions rather than in just one direction repetitively. She does a lot of dance cardio and then the Pilates-like conditioning.

I am weary of her, however. Apparently she was so hellbent on fame and success that she has screwed people all over the country, she closed two of her studios in Indiana and Los Angeles, didn't refund any money that patrons paid and also left her investors high & dry... when Madonna came calling, she pretty much disappeared to England to live with her.

I'm sure her videos are as good as anyone else's if you do them regularly, I just have some apprehensions about supporting someone with such shady business practices.

FB · 02-11-2009, 09:33 AM

Tea, Nelie means that Madonna uses her own body weight as weights for yoga.

Besides the woman (Anderson) being a wackjob ethically and having very strange ideas about women and weights, I've heard the DVD's are about impossible to follow along; bad instructions.

nelie · 02-11-2009, 09:55 AM

Tea - Basically what FB said. She may be Madonna's personal trainer but beyond the personal training exercises, Madonna spends hours doing intense yoga that uses her own body weight. eg, poses that include holding her body on just her hands for multiple minutes, like this:

It is advanced yoga and takes a while to get to that point.

HotforTeacher80 · 02-27-2009, 01:14 PM

I bought the dance DVD from Tracey Anderson on Amazon.ca and I have to say I was not impressed. I am fairly coordinated, I do zumba and turbo jam on a regular basis but these were really hard to follow in my opinion. It was also expensive to get in Canada and ended up costing close to 60.00 for one video. Hope this helps.

Tanya

morninggloria · 07-14-2009, 11:10 AM

I'm surprised not too many people liked the dvds. I agree, not really a big fan of Tracey (especially whenever she equates "teeny, tiny" with fit. give me a break ) but I really like her method. Gwyneth Paltrow included a routine for free on one of her GOOP newsletters. There is one for a dance routine and another where she's doing leg lifts (the leg lift one is aweeesome!) . You can find them at Goop.com under "Do". They also had some kind of deal on Tracey's website where you could purchase more webisodes (for a pretty decent price) and part or all of the proceeds would go to one of Madonna's charities. I really liked them and I found them challenging but I had no problem keeping up. I do have a dance background, so maybe that helped? I think the mat though would work for anyone. I'm not a fan of dvds, but when I am visiting someone and don't have access to a gym the iPod webisodes are perfect.

morninggloria · 07-14-2009, 11:28 AM

Sorry I keep editing but I keep forgetting things. The videos are at tracy anderson connect (I can't post links yet) but it doesn't seem that proceeds go to Raising Malawai anymore.

Tomato · 07-14-2009, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HotforTeacher80

I bought the dance DVD from Tracey Anderson on Amazon.ca and I have to say I was not impressed. I am fairly coordinated, I do zumba and turbo jam on a regular basis but these were really hard to follow in my opinion. It was also expensive to get in Canada and ended up costing close to 60.00 for one video. Hope this helps.

Tanya

Ouch!!!

Tomato · 07-14-2009, 11:50 AM

Nelie,
You better repost that pic in our Resistance Training thread and we can Lydia with it. I wonder if she can do it? She was into all kinds of impossible yoga poses.

:-)

bargirl · 07-20-2009, 10:12 PM

I ordered the mat workout this past week, and it should be here tomorrow. I'm excited about trying it, and I actually think her method is sound.

Deana · 07-26-2009, 06:09 PM

I have owned TA's Mat Workout since March-ish of this year. I did the DVD faithfull three times a week for about a month.

Pro's: I love the music in the workout, I never get tired of it. It's so soothing to me. I actually did get stronger through using the workout, however, it is certainly NOT a cardio workout. Even though the DVD is an hour long, my heart wasn't racing or anything of that nature. Although some people were peeved with her lack of instruction, I found it to be very refreshing. When you have to do a DVD numerous times, you get sick and tired of hearing the same lame jokes, lame commentary, lame motivational comments over and over and over and over, so it was a relief to me. Plus I found that she actually had a specific count to pretty much all of her moves, and once I understood it, I didn't need her commentary.

Cons: The moves can be repetitious after awhile. You LITERALLY do hundreds of reps on your legs/arms/abs. If you enjoy more of direction from an instructor, you will hate this video. TA makes this goofy face like she is thinking really hard or trying to be sexy, not sure which one but it's weird.

My Verdict: I started using this video 35 pounds ago and although I felt stronger, I just had too much fat to lose for it to make a difference. I think if you are already slim or within 10-15 pounds of your ideal weight, it's a good add-on to your workout, but if you have alot of weight to lose, to me it was just WAY too long (i.e. 60 minutes) for not alot of benefit. And although she says some stupid things (i.e. women should not lift more than 3 pounds), her "method" is not really new. It's based loosely on barre/ballet type workouts, which uses primarily your body weight. Once I get closer to my goal weight I will pick this back up, but right now I need to use that time on cardio and real strength training (i.e. way more than 3 pounds)

Note: I don't feel like proof reading today so sorry for any typos/grammatical errors in advance :-)

fittermom123 · 07-18-2010, 02:00 PM

Hi there,

I have just procured 2 of her DVDs (Mat Workout and Series 1 of her new series). I have a lot of weight to lose, and I have to say that I have lost a lot of the functional flexibility I used to have in working out. I feel that both of these workouts are VERY beneficial in waking up those muscles that used to be active all the time but have fallen by the wayside as my larger weight-bearing muscles have gotten really bulky to support my very large frame these past 10 years.

I'm doing the Chalene Extreme series (very heavy weights) in combination with walking and Tracy Anderson to get a well-rounded fitness program. As for all of the comments about her thinking that women shouldn't raise more than 3lbs in each hand... well, she does really fast repetitions, which means that she has to use very small weights - this is her method. Chalene is always commenting that she uses big weights because she is moving so slowly. I'm not sure that there is a really as a big a division in thinking on this - it really comes down to what works for each of us, yes? And I have to say that I'm really enjoying these workouts as an addition to my other fitness activities.

Best,

Belease · 07-19-2010, 12:23 PM

I tried the dance one, but to be honest I couldn't get on with it, and I never really felt like I was doing exercise that had been logically constructed... I'm not saying she doesn't know what she's talking about, but from the one DVD I tried, I didn't get the impression that she did... I can do the same amount of exercise in half the time with another DVD, like Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred. I know Jillian knows what she's talking about, and it's efficient and quick. Tracey just seemed to be running around the screen like a dreamy toddler playing by themselves... I'm sure she gets results, but I don't have the patience or time to learn a dance routine to get fit when there are other, better methods out there.

And I heard that she doesn't train Madonna anymore...

By the way, when it comes to trainers who have worked with celebs, I don't see how relevant they are to my everyday needs for fitness. I don't need to work out to do action movies or look good on the red carpet, I can't eat weird diets and exercise for multiple hours in a day. Trainers who work with regular people probably have a better idea about what works for the average person, in my opinion! I have to face it - I'll never look like Gywnnie anyway, and I wouldn't want to look like Madonna as it is!