I’m currently in an exercising up-swing and feeling pretty good about it. I don’t exactly like working out but I don’t dislike it enough to quit doing it entirely, so I’m feeling Healthy and Strong and Inspired To Eat Better and all that other stuff healthy living experts are always shouting about. I’ve been going to Stroller Strides and not looking for excuses to slack off anytime there is any running involved (“Do you need a snack honey? Or a drink? Or potty? Do you want to go to the potty again? Oh no, you dropped your toy, let me take 5 minutes picking it up!”) but there are a lot of classes we can’t make it to because of nap times/gymnastics/distance. So to meet my 5-days a week exercise goals I’ve been doing a DVD at home.

Image from Amazon

I got this when I attended a class from Bob Harper himself (NAME DROP) at BlogHer last year in San Diego, but I didn’t try it until a couple months ago. I took yoga as an elective in college (one of the perks of a degree in underwater basket-weaving) and for a few months before my wedding but haven’t done much since. The prenatal yoga DVD I half-heartedly rolled my eyes through a few times was mostly hippy-dippy connect to the sooooul insiiiiide you stuff and barely counted as being AWAKE, let alone working out. But I like yoga and I like Bob so I thought I’d give it a shot.

And it’s good! It’s not easy, deep breathing yoga but it’s not impossible either. I’m still doing some of the easier modifications and there is NO WAY I’m ever going to be able to do some of the stretchy stuff because I am just not that flexible but I’ve been doing it regularly and I’m getting better. There is no jumping around, which is a big plus for me because I always feel foolish jumping around in my living room (Oddly, I don’t feel foolish trying to wrap myself up in a pretzel, even though I am sure I look ridiculous). Bob is very encouraging and I have no desire to mute him – unlike some OTHER popular Biggest Loser trainers on their DVDs. And although I immediately resented the girls in the video for being impossibly thin and good-looking, it’s nice that they struggle through some of the poses. I’ve decided not to hate them.

I would say if you’ve never done yoga, this isn’t a good place to start. There isn’t much explanation of the postures and correct forms and it would be easy to spend half the video twisted around trying to watch the screen. Personally, I spend a lot of time twisting around to watch the count-down clock in the corner. The cover says there are “2 sweat-making workouts!” but really there is one hour-long yoga routine and one 15 minute ab-work routine. There’s about 40 minutes of hard stuff, 5 minutes of abs and 15 minutes of stretching in the 60-minute workout, so in my head I’m counting towards the 45 minute mark as soon as it starts. But I am Making An Effort and Being Healthy and blah blah blah so this is a nice-but-challenging at-home option.

(Not-a-disclosure-disclosure: I got the DVD for free at BlogHer as a reward for getting up at 6:30 am for a yoga class but no one asked me/told me/encouraged me/paid me to review it in any way – unless you count getting to meet Bob in person which wasn’t exactly a hardship.)