DVD Review: Denise Austin’s Burn Fat Fast.

There’s no denying that Denise Austin is a modern day fitness icon. She has been around doing her thing with enthusiasm – and looking good while doing it – for 25 years. Mrs. Austin has sold over 20 million exercise videos and DVDs and is the host of two Lifetime Network fitness shows that she claims are the nation’s most popular TV shows in the health and fitness category.

However, Mrs. Austin’s accomplishments and popularity do not mean that her latest exercise DVD is worth recommending.

I say this not as just an exercise junkie, but as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer (through the National Strength and Conditioning Association), a USA Weightlifting Certified Coach, the Head Strength Coach of a high school and a professional strength and conditioning coach who has conducted more than 20,000 personal training sessions during the past sixteen-plus years.

The DVD Burn Fat Fast - which is advertised on the case as “Cardio, Dance and Sculpt” - “promises” via a sub heading on the case that this DVD will give you “flat abs, tight buns and lean legs in minutes.”

This is a bad start, as anyone who has been in the fitness biz for 25 years should know that changing a body “in minutes” is not possible. By the way, any time that you see the term “in minutes” attached to some kind of fitness or appearance altering exercise program you should stay away.

The marketing of fitness has resulted in the idea that you can change yourself in a quick and easy manner, when the reality is that this is not so. This "marketer's approach" may be good for business, but it is not the way things work.

Mrs. Austin deserves credit for being enthusiastic and positive in her approach – and her fans will surely buy this DVD - but there are a lot better ways for people to spend their exercise time and money.

Basically, Burn Fat Fast is nothing more than a recording of what you could find in almost any aerobics class that has been conducted almost anywhere during the last 25 years. There is nothing new here – from the aerobics class choreography to the “mat work” exercises - and almost every aerobic class-based misconception about exercise is on display during this 52-minute “program.”

Hook: Denise Austin is a fitness phenomenon and she is going to give us some new twist on an aerobic class-style workout.

Gimmick: No new gimmick. However, the same old gimmick that aerobic classes can sculpt, tone and strengthen blah, blah, blah, is played to death.

Article Author: Sal Marinello

Sal Marinello is a National Strength and Conditioning Association Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and Certified Personal Trainer, a U.S.A. Weightlifting Certified Coach, a full-time, private Professional Strength and Conditioning …

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