There’s a reason why celebrity fitness DVDs sell so well; we all want to look like the skinny and gorgeous stars we see on TV. But how do you know if a celeb DVD is going to do anything for your wellbeing? To find out, Ryan Barnhart, MS, PES, a certified Performance Enhancement and Injury Prevention Specialist through the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), reviewed Addicted to Sweat (ATS), the new workout from Madonna and her trainer Nicole Winhoffer of Hard Candy Fitness, to see what wellness benefits might be in store. According to Barnhart, he learned four major lessons from the queen of pop:
1. Don’t judge a DVD by it’s title: Barnhart details, ‘Tearing open the packaging that the four-DVD set came in, the first thing I noticed were the titles of the individual DVDs. ATS’ subtitles are Get Wet; Slippery When Wet; Wet, Wet, Wild; and Dripping Wet…A little skeptical, I popped in Get Wet and got to work. I never thought that the Electric Slide could be so difficult or make me sweat this much unless I was at wedding reception. The first DVD introduces the ATS Dance system. You get a warm-up plus tutorials for each dance as well as a cool down. We did the Step Together, Cha Cha, the aforementioned Electric Slide, and another Bonus Performance.’
2. Bath towels can aid your workout: ‘The second DVD in the set, Slippery When Wet, introduces the towel workout to the ATS system,’ Barnhart recalls. ‘You basically use two bath towels to create resistance to your workout. As a guy who prides himself on resistance workouts, I was sceptical at first. How are bath towels going to provide me with a strong workout? About halfway through the workout I had a definitive answer. The moves are challenging, and it requires your muscular system to work differently than a normal weight-resistance workout. It’s definitely a great way to build upper body, lower body, and core strength without getting into weighted resistance. I can see how appealing this can be for the female demographic, and since I strongly recommend resistance training for females to change their body composition and boost their metabolism, this gets my seal of approval.’
3. Dancing sexy helps you feel sexy: The third DVD got Barnhart dancing in a way he never had before. ‘With moves like the Drop It Low, this dance-specific workout definitely puts some confidence for me the next time I’m hitting the club,’ he says. ‘In all seriousness, Wet, Wet, Wild was a pretty good core and cardiovascular workout. While not my first choice of a workout, I definitely can see why this DVD set is an effective workout that can be done in your living room. It also is a big confidence booster, not only working you in shape, but in the bedroom too!’
4. Grab a chair: Barnhart asserts, ‘The last DVD in the ATS set is Dripping Wet, and it is in my opinion both the most challenging and the most gentleman’s club-like Madonna video-esque workout. Incorporating the use of a folding chair, for me it was the hardest of the four workouts in the system. Another very intense core and muscular workout, it requires more balance and finesse than I care to admit that I lack. Regardless of my lack of sexy chair dancing skills, this workout was intense and definitely required the use of muscle groups I didn’t know could work that way!’
So would he recommend it? Barnhart comments, ‘Overall, I would say that the ATS system is a challenging, fun, and intense workout that can help you get in shape and build confidence in all facets of your everyday life.’