Exercise Video Review

Introduction to Exercise Videos

The number of reviews we found for exercise videos impressed us, but the quality is often lacking. Publications such as Shape, Health and Prevention magazines sometimes recommend new videos and DVDs, but it's hard to tell the extent to which these videos were actually tried out by reviewers. About.com Guide to Exercise Paige Waehner also recommends exercise and yoga videos, but with just brief descriptions, it's hard to know how well these products were evaluated. Fitness magazine has the most recent roundup of titles, and it's clear that each DVD was tested by at least one editor. One nice addition to this article is short clips from each video. For user reviews, we found the best comments at Collage Video. This site also lets you preview each DVD before you buy. Collage Video also rates videos on a sliding scale for level of difficulty and notes whether you need any special extra equipment to use the DVD. We checked to see if Consumer Reports has reviewed videos, and although editors report on treadmills and other exercise equipment, we found nothing on videos.

New exercise DVDs and videos are being released every week. This volume and diversity can leave consumers overwhelmed and confused. One retailer/reviewer, Collage Video, reports that its staff members viewed thousands of exercise videos, and actually worked out to each of them before settling on the 741 titles sold in their online store.

Exercise physiologists and trainers know much more about workout effectiveness and safety today than they did when the fitness video craze kicked off in the '80s, and experts now stress the importance of updating your vintage video collection. Older tapes that should be shelved include those in which the instructor gives no alignment guidance, offers no easier alternatives for tough moves, repeats the same exercises over and over, or presents spine-stressing or knee-straining moves.

In our research, we found that reviewers respect and recommend videos and DVDs that are part of a library by respected publishers and fitness gurus. Billy Blanks made a splash over a decade ago with the first of his Tae Bo videos. Blanks has now gone on to produce a range of products building on his initial success, and reviewers often recommend his DVDs and videos. The same goes for several Kathy Smith and Denise Austin videos, and the DVDs in the well-respected Crunch and The Firm series.