MTV Fitness

MTV Fitness Four Pack (Pilates Mix/Pilates/Yoga/Power Yoga)

Includes MTV Pilates Mix, MTV Pilates, MTV Yoga, MTV Power Yoga

MTV Fitness - Pilates Mix

MIX IT UP! Work your arms abs and legs or your legs arms and abs; it's up to you. Pilates guru Kristin McGee is back again in two new customizable half-hour workouts.WORK IT OUT! Roll out the mat and get ready to work it.With DJ Danny Sullivan laying down the beats and an exciting mix of features your Pilates routine will never be the same - unless you want it to be.System Requirements: Running Time 70 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HEALTH/FITNESS Rating: G UPC: 097368874442 Manufacturer No: 887444

MTV Pilates

MTV Pilates packs a lot into 39 minutes, featuring four youthful, fit exercisers in a pretty setting of flowers and Arizona mountains. Although the DVD promotes itself as presenting beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels simultaneously, this workout would be challenging and perhaps frustrating for a true beginner. The exercisers supposedly demonstrate the various levels, but in truth, there isn't much (if any) difference between one level and another most of the time, and sometimes you can't see what the beginning-level person is doing. Instructor Kristin McGee--impressively strong and flexible--explains the moves and how to do them, without much technique talk. The steady beat of the synthesizer music doesn't seem to fit, but at least it's very soft, and you can deselect it through the audio setup. --Joan Price

MTV Yoga

Host Lori Trespicio is from The Real World. Instructor Kristin McGee is also referred to as "choreographer." The setting is a New York hotspot, and a cool DJ supplies the music. These are not promising signs if you're seriously into yoga, but MTV Yoga is surprisingly good. Advertised as a "faster-paced, upbeat" alternative to standard yoga workouts, the practice is actually quite traditional, based on the "vinyasa" (i.e., flowing series of poses) style. Beginning with several sun salutations, which are among the most vigorous sets of poses in yoga, it includes a variety of standing positions, lunges, twists, backbends, and so on. McGee knows her stuff, especially when it comes to breath instruction, the focus of any good practice; she also breaks down several of the more difficult asanas following the main 40-minute practice. The only real flaw is that not nearly enough time is allotted for warmup, but experienced yogis could do far worse than MTV Yoga. --Sam Graham

MTV Power Yoga

MTV and yoga? The two concepts don't go together as naturally as, say, Siegfried and Roy. Still, this 40-minute program (plus a brief Pilates-based routine for the abs) has more to offer than the chance to gaze at buff young bodies in leotards. Instructor Kristin McGee (who also appears on MTV Yoga, the channel's 2002 yoga program) continually emphasizes the crucial element of the breath, and the routine includes sun salutations, backbends, balances, twists, and other aspects of a well-rounded practice. But not enough time is allotted for warm-up, and the pace is very brisk; any practice that uses the downward dog pose primarily for resting is not for the faint of heart. That's fine for the short-attention-span generation spawned by MTV, but not great when it comes to a discipline that cultivates endurance, will, patience, and introspection by way of the depth and deliberateness of the movements. It's yoga all right, but this is definitely not recommended for the inexperienced. --Sam Graham

MTV POWER YOGA works for everyone --whether green newcomer or seasoned fitness pro. Incorporating beginner-to-advanced versions in one routine, the workout is all-inclusive. Shot outdoors at the beautiful Point Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort in Phoenix, Arizona, the serene surroundings perfectly complement the great routine. Kristin takes the class and viewers through a fast-paced workout, beginning with breathing instructions and stretches. It builds briskly and skillfully into more strenuous positions, working each individual section of the body, subtly enhancing flexibility and strength.

MTV Uncensored - Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue 2001

The 2001 edition of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit video was produced to be shown on MTV, but except for brief appearances by an MTV staff person, who provides narration, the format is entirely familiar. Beautiful women travel to exotic locations, eccentric and demanding photographers take a gazillion photographs of them, and the editors of the magazine engage in a painstaking process to figure out which photos measure up to the standards of the fabled swimsuit issue. This edition of the annual video contains a brief look back at the magazine's tradition of showcasing swimsuit models as well as a segment showing some problems faced in past years (such as a capsizing boat that scuttled a photographer and thousands of dollars worth of equipment). But for the most part the camera lingers over the bodies of more than a dozen models, including Josie Maran, Heidi Klum, Daniela Pestova, Michelle Behennah, and Molly Sims. Clad in the tiniest and tightest swimsuits imaginable, the women are seen posing--and occasionally talking about how much work posing is--in locations ranging from Las Vegas to Malaysia to Greece to Tunisia. The video is, as one might expect, very professionally produced, and while it contains no real surprises, it's a suitable tribute to the annual magazine issue that has become an American institution. --Robert J. McNamara

MTV's Behind WWF Tough Enough

If the complete seven-hour boxed set of the MTV/WWF reality-TV show Tough Enough isn't enough to satisfy your thirst, this "behind the scenes" program provides an additional 50 minutes of cut footage, plus contestant profiles and submission tapes. If you're looking for juicy interactions or more with WWF superstars, however, you won't find it here: This mostly works as a Cliff's Notes recap of the show, with added profanity tossed in. For example, the clips of Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, Mick Foley, and others are the same as you see on the TV show. There are several amusing additions, however. The embarrassing qualifying videos, sent in by rejects with character names like "the Custodian," "Vampyre," and "Ice," are so ridiculously passionate and over-the-top that they almost make Behind Tough Enough worth watching. Almost... --Dave McCoy

MTV Fitness 3pk (MTV Pilates/MTV Power Yoga/MTV Yoga)

MTV's Body Rock: Fashionably Fit Aerobics

The title (Body Rock) and video cover (showing Olympic high jumper Amy Acuff and promising "fashionably fit aerobics") are deceptive. First, this is a cardio kickboxing workout, and the leader is trainer Allan Aranzamendez, not Acuff (who is just one of the class participants, although she does talk from time to time). Aranzamendez preteaches the moves during the warm- up, giving us the basics of jabs and kicks, but no technique instructions or safety precautions. Then he leads a 20-minute cardio segment consisting of a complex routine, teaching it one piece at a time. Many of the moves keep the legs stationary, the upper body and torso moving.

Except for the beginning of the workout, Aranzamendez forgets to reverse the left-right cuing--he cues right when it's our left, and vice versa (the directions are correct for him and his participants, but not for us), which is distracting and makes the patterns harder to follow.

True to the format of an MTV video, the participants are youthful, very fit (showing off bare midriffs and chests to prove it), and good-looking. The video ends with a few minutes of summer makeup and fashion tips (including how to find a swimsuit that fits and flatters). --Joan Price

Behind WWF Tough Enough