Fight Cellulite Fast!

THE WORKOUT: Prevention Fitness Systems Fight Cellulite Fast! $12.99 at Amazon

REVIEW BY: Sophia

WHO CAN DO THIS: You need no special skills for this one, but you do need time and a no-pain, no-gain attitude.

THE BREAKDOWN: Fight Cellulite Fast? A bit of a misnomer. Not the cellulite part, it may do that, but the “fast” part. This is one of the longer cardio workouts I’ve done in a while. After a year of yoga, walking and quick ‘n’ dancey cardio workouts, I’d forgotten how much work a full length workout can be.

Actually, I felt a little blindsided because nowhere on the DVD or packaging is revealed the actual length of this workout (the total DVD is 62 minutes). The cardio section is in intervals but not broken down into DVD chapters so you can’t pick your workout length. Once you start, it goes on and on and on—six intervals of cardio. You can then go on to a lower body segment involving many squats and lunges, and a cool-down. There’s also a demo of run-of-the-mill moves for arm jiggle and a discussion of cellulite.

Cardio steps are very basic and anyone-can, demonstrated for beginners to hardbodies, the latter entailing much jumping and requiring good balance. Each segment starts slowly and ends with a fast blasting minute or two of hard, fast jumping, kicking and flailing. You got your grapevines, you got your knee lifts, you got your jumping jacks. Very serviceable and unexciting.

Music is a slightly irritating beat in the background, loud enough to keep you in step but not enough to add any joy to the workout.

Chris Freytag, a contributing editor to Prevention Magazine, is a cheerful drill sergeant--inoffensive but cutting no slack.

THE SWEAT FACTOR: Oy, did I shvitz.

BUT IS IT FUN? Not to my taste—it’s very much an old school workout a la vintage Jane Fonda, without the crazy ‘80s outfits. At best, you can enjoy being assured of its effectiveness.

WHEN IT'S OVER: Oy, was I sore.

GEAR AND APPAREL: Good shoes, a mat, hand weights and enough room to be able to take four to eight steps in every direction.

FINAL WORD: I want to say I’ll do it again, because it would doubtless get me back into fighting trim after my long slacker streak. But it’s time consuming and not terribly fun, so no promises.