Keeping fit in your 50s is a 3-set DVD fitness package for women in their 50’s and beyond.

These DVD’s are categorized by type of fitness training: Aerobics, Strength, and Flexibility. There doesn’t seem to be any order in which you should watch these; they left it up to the viewer. I watched the Flexibility DVD first. Each DVD has a Bonus Feature section that includes tips that are very helpful. Some of the tips are from the two instructors. I use the term instructors loosely because one of the instructors is the model, Cindy Joseph who began her modeling career at age 49 and she follows the lead of the other instructor, Robyn Stuhr. Robyn is the administrative director of the Women’s Sports Medicine Center at New York’s Hospital for Special Surgery and is a certified exercise physiologist with 20 years of experience in sports medicine.

There are two other women involved in this venture. One is a physician and the other a registered nurse. The physician, Lisa Callahan, is the author of The Fitness Factor. The nurse is Lillie Shockney, author of Breast Cancer Survivors’ Club and is herself a breast cancer survivor.

All the tips and comments from these four women are invaluable. Each DVD has a Biography section in the Bonus Feature section where you can get more in-depth information on the background of these four women.

Some of the tips covered by several of these women apply to beginners. So, if you’re a beginning exerciser over 50, you can use this DVD set.

One tip in particular, also covered by several of the women, covers injuries. The physician, Lisa, goes over the RICE principle. R = rest, I = ice, C = compression, and E = elevation. Any of you who have had a sports injury have probably been told by your doctor about this principle. It’s very effective. In fact, Lisa spells it out (no pun intended) very well and talks about what happens if you don’t follow the RICE method. I should be doing it myself right now as a matter of fact. Some of these tips are backed up with printed information or actual video exercises performed by the two instructors.

I also liked what Robyn said about taking your time in bolstering your routine. Her rule of thumb is to increase your time or distance by 10% each week. “That way, she says, “you won’t get into trouble with an injury. I’m no stranger to the health club scenario but this is the first time I’ve ever heard of this rule. It’s a good one to keep in mind for beginners and more experienced exercise enthusiasts too.

There is also a Glossary in each DVD. When you click on it, you get the definition of the term or phrase. For example, “Multi-joint movements: Exercises that require the action of multiple joints. For example, a squat or a lunge.”

If you belong to a health club and have done the aerobics classes and the strength exercises, etc., you will find all of those exercises covered in these DVDs. There was only one exercise that I wasn’t familiar with and it was for the shoulders and upper back. You raise your arms as if you were in a bank being held up. Then you try to press your shoulder blades together. This felt so great that I am going to incorporate it into my regular routine.

There were some advanced exercises for women who are already familiar with working out. Robyn and Cindy were huffing and puffing so even though I was not following along, I would say that you could definitely get your heart rate up following their lead. (There is also a section that explains how to figure your Target Heart Rate.)

One of the nice things about having this DVD set on hand is that if for some reason you’re stuck at home (say your car is being repaired) and can’t get to the health club, you can play it and still get in your exercise. It’s also good for someone who is new at exercising and doesn’t have the confidence to attend classes at a health club. It can give you an idea of what type of exercises to expect and when you get some experience under your belt, you can join a class and hit the ground running so to speak.

As with most exercise recordings there is background music. It’s typically lame and this recording was no exception. On occasion it was annoying, but for the most part it didn’t interfere too much with the verbal instructions.

These DVDs covered a lot of ground and it was done fairly well as far as information was concerned. However, there were a few unprofessional things that I noticed.

Just Because I’m Over 50 Doesn’t Mean I’m Blind
There were several scenes in the program where you could see one of the cameras in the shot. I guess they figured that since their audience was mostly over 50 that we wouldn’t catch it. They were wrong.

There was one rather long scene where the two instructors were out of sync pretty much the entire scene. While one was on her left foot, the other was on her right foot. There were other flubs like that. One of the problems was that the two instructors weren’t well matched as far as speed goes. Robyn, was a known sports figure in her 20’s and 30’s. She had energy enough for two. Cindy, on the other hand, even though she does skydiving and snowboarding strikes me as more of a flower child – somebody who would be into Yoga. In fact, they cover an Introductory Yoga workout a little bit but stated that neither of them was an expert in the field. They did the same for Pilates. In those two Introductory scenes, there is no audio so I guess they were trying to cover themselves in that they aren’t certified in these areas.

Getting back to the flubs, in one scene, they joked about how Cindy finally “got” it. The cameramen were kind to Cindy and they cut away quickly when she flubbed. However, she really did an excellent job overall for someone who is not really an instructor. Robyn also made a flub by not following the same order of previous exercises so in that instance she threw Cindy off and that wasn’t Cindy’s fault.

I watched these DVDs in the following order: Flexibility (they were laughing and putting their arms around each other), Strength (they were still laughing and hugging), but in the Aerobics DVD, I really got the feeling that Robyn was fed up with Cindy. Especially when Cindy said something about nearly falling down when she leaves the house after doing her exercises without cooling down first. At the end of that DVD they weren’t laughing or hugging anymore. It looked pretty awkward. Cindy obviously broke a cardinal rule by saying something negative in this workout.

You would think that in a product aimed at people over 50 that the main person involved (Robyn) would have a little more patience with someone who was over 50 (Cindy)! If you were doing the exercises along with them (I only did a few), you might not even notice this. But since I knew I was going to be writing a review about it, I mostly just sat, watched and listened and so I picked up on these things. Robyn cracked the whip and Cindy did her best. It was kind of sad actually and I felt sorry for Cindy.

All in all though, I would highly recommend this DVD set. The total time for the three DVDs is 220 minutes.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older