Sweatin' to the Oldies 2

I was excited to wake up and try something new today. My choices were The Biggest Loser The Workout and Richard Simmon's Sweatin' to the Oldies 2. I picked Sweatin' to the Oldies 2. The DVD jacket didn't really say too much about what to expect, but I've seen the commercials and everyone looked like they were having fun. The back of the DVD case did indicate that it was 85 minute long, which scared me, so before bed last night, I popped in the DVD just so I would know what to expect. It started off with an anti-piracy clip. After that, it went to the menu screen. It has the workout and then a couple of interviews. I selected the workout and that brought up another menu. You can play all 12 songs in a row, or you can select a specific song. I figured that each song would be a maximum of 3 minutes so I set me alarm a little earlier to make sure I had enough time for the workout.

I ended up waking up about 30 minutes before my alarm went off. I headed to the front room to putz around on Facebook before my workout. Once that was done, I got my water filled up and got the TV and DVD player going. While they were starting up, I set up my BodyMedia device so I just had to hit Start once the music came on. Richard Simmons comes on first to explain the workout. He said that there will be a 30 minute low impact aerobic workout including a warm up and a cool down. He also talked about some toning. Then he's sitting at a diner counter putzing around with some stuff. Finally, he gets people out onto the floor and they start working out.

The editing was not done well at all. The camera keeps scanning the room instead of focusing on Richard Simmons and what he's doing. He also didn't say what he would be doing next and it was mainly a lot of dancing type stuff which I'm just not good with picking up. I was so far behind everyone because I couldn't tell what I was supposed to be doing since he would change to a new step, but the video would only show people's feet. I got through three songs and was utterly frustrated the entire time. I checked out my BodyMedia app on my phone and noticed that in nearly 17 minutes, I only had 10 minutes of moderate activity. My muscles didn't feel like I was doing anything and I wasn't out of breath, so I just stopped.

Once I sat down to write this, I felt guilty for not having gone through the entire DVD, so I turned it back on to watch it while I continued to write. I hit fast forward and watched more of the same dancing around. Once you get to song 10, which is Respect, you start doing some strength training stuff. They hold soda bottles and do some arm work. The next song, which is Rescue Me, is all about the abs and the legs. You get down on the floor for crunches and leg lift type stuff. The final song is the cool down.

I liked that they had some big people in this DVD. I also liked that these people didn't have a perma-smile and actually looked like this was work for them. The music was good, and the sound was at a good volume.

I didn't like that there was no instruction about what to do next. Following him was nearly impossible for me. I also didn't like that the DVD case did not mention the need to have a chair handy for one of the songs, or did it mention having weights or a mat handy.

After the workout is done, the dancers each do a little solo and their name comes up. It also tells you how much weight they've lost. It doesn't say how long it took to lose that weight or what they did to lose it, but it was nice to see. Some of the weight loss amounts are pretty impressive.

I didn't include my BodyMedia screenshot for this since I didn't finish the routine.

While this workout was not for me, I would still encourage other people to try it. Anyone who can pick up choreography with little guidance would do well with this. I also think it's a good intro workout. The music is fun and he made me want to keep moving, but it was just too hard for me to keep up with the choreography so I gave up.