One of the reasons I have stuck with running is because it is easy. Left, right, left, right, don’t throw up, left, right, eventually stop. I can do that. But our stupid school schedule is making it really hard to go out and run more than once or twice a week. Sometimes, to fill in, I make a stab at a “beginner” or “easy” or “drooling moron” workout video, but I always end up like Liz Lemon in the Cardio Hip Hop Groove class:
And yes, this is humiliating and discouraging even if you’re alone in your living room.
Well, I just found a half-hour workout that even I can do: Marching Cardio Workout with Jenny Ford. You can stream it for free with Amazon Prime, or you can watch it on YouTube.
The moves themselves are not complicated (step-tap, grapevine*, and box step is about as challenging as it gets), and the instructor gives you plenty of practice and directions. She often gives you an alternate move if the one you’re doing is too hard; and you’re always marching in between, so if you get confused, you can just fall back on marching.
She does not appear to be made of hot dog-colored silicone, she isn’t wearing tons of makeup, and for some reason, she is standing in the middle of a scrubby field in Illinois. (She has a whole series of marching videos, on Prime and on YouTube, not all set in Illinois, but this is the one I found first. I like the part where the utility repair truck tools by and takes its time parking.)
Best of all, she seems to sincerely understand that you are fat and old and are trying– well, maybe not your best, but you’re here, aren’t you? She isn’t constantly shrieking, “Ooh, feel that awesome burn, six, seven, eight! Your buns just love it, woooo!” Instead, she says things like, “You doing okay? Okay, now remember the kick thing? Get ready, because we’re going to do that again, but not for too long.”
The music is just typical workout nonsense, but it’s easy to ignore. You don’t need tons of space to do the routine, or any equipment at all. There is a bubble in the corner that counts down what percentage of the workout you have left.
Now I just need to figure out my little toddler-on-rollerskates-pushing-the-ottoman-into-my-achilles-tendon problem,** and I’ll emerge lithe and athletic, if not hot dog-colored, on the other side of winter.
*which I know how to do because we called it “the hora” and danced it while playing “Hava Nagila” when I was little.
**Besides letting her pour corn flakes into a giant box and do her own marching workout. This was okay, if noisy, until the kitten got involved.
I used Leslie Sansone’s walking DVDs when I was on a weight loss program. They were awesome, and I felt like such a champ when I worked my way up to the 3 mile workout! She is very, very perky, and the people working out with her are also perky, but I was able to forgive them for that.
I mean, who hasn’t had a near perfect, corn flake and utility truck-based solution to working out/toddler wrangling foiled by the addition of a kitten?
Wait…your toddler can use roller skates?! Talented little girl.
Thanks for pointing this out. We live in an area with no safe places to walk or run without driving somewhere, and I’m going to need a workout to help me get baby fat off in a month or two.
This is great! I’ve been playing Celtic or folk music and dancing for 20 – 30 minutes (which someone told me was as good as running). All my moves are made up, using a lot of stepping, hopping and arm waving. I bet if I do Ms. Ford’s moves with my music cranked up, it will be more bearable and effective.