Ok – I admit it. I watch Oprah.
I’m an ex-football player, until recently drove a big pick-up truck, I like B level martial arts flicks and yes, I occasionally watch Oprah.
I didn’t really set out to, but my girlfriend records it and one thing led to another and yadda yadda yadda, I’m now watching it from time to time on my own.
And for the most part, I like it.
There I said it. It’s out there and there’s no taking it back.
However, I have to say, there was one show awhile back where I just about threw the remote through the tv.
The entire hour was about Gwyneth Paltrow and her personal battle with weight, postnatal depression and getting healthy again.
Ok – sounds good. Here’s a high profile person who obviously has access to the best of everything, she’s with the daytime Queen of Living Your Best Life, so this should be good, right?
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Ok – before I launch into the tirade, here’s my caveat. I’m all for people losing weight, being more active and generally getting healthy. After all, that’s what I do for people day in and day out. If you are that person that thinks parking further away from the food fair allows you an extra plate, well you’re mistaken, but at least you are doing something and trying to make changes. With a population as overweight as it is, usually doing something is better than nothing. (But seriously, you have to be REALLY overweight before walking all the way across the WalMart parking lot will help).
But back to the point at hand. Keep in mind that I’m totally indifferent to Gwyneth Paltrow – she neither annoys me nor excites me, much to the chagrin of my brother-in-law who says she’s top 5 material. I just don’t get it but hey, it’s his misguided choice.
A little perspective…Gwyneth Paltrow is 5’9” and has always been thin. Ladies, don’t shoot the messenger, I just report the stuff.
After her second pregnancy, she couldn’t lose the weight as easily this time around. Quoting from her Oprah interview, “I could not get off these 20 extra pounds,” she says. “I don’t know if something changed. I don’t know if it was being older and being in my 30s instead of my 20s. … I [was] 34 when I had him, and I just couldn’t get it off. It was kind of demoralizing.”
So Gwyneth made an almost-smart choice. She enlisted the help of a ‘professional’ (and I could not be using the term more loosely) to aid in her achieving the fat loss.
Enter Tracy Anderson. Celebrity trainer and the future demise of health and fitness.
Tracy is a 5’0” former dancer that has developed a ‘system’ of training that ranges from zero resistance (waving your arms back and forth), to pulling thin stretchy bands, to dancey aerobics, and lifting little pink dumbbells because according to her, “no woman should lift more than 3 lbs.”
Now hopefully most of you reading this just realized that she lost all credibility by saying that. For those of you that don’t get it, here’s why…
Common sense.
Common sense should be the basis of all training programs. At Peak Fitness Management, we train people for the sport of life, which means that whatever your physical training program is, it should not only be sculpting the body you want but it should be preparing your body for the demands of daily life.
Got a kid to pick up? Is your kid more than 3 lbs? Then you should be training so that when you do that, you don’t hurt your shoulder, neck, back etc.
How about groceries? A briefcase? Hell, I have jackets that weigh more than that.
You know what lifting 3 lbs is good for? It makes you good AT LIFTING 3 LBS!
In the workout video where it shows the two of them going through the routine, Gwyneth actually comments on her son being 30 lbs and how she carries him all day.
Knock, knock
Who’s there?
It’s Common Sense.
Sorry, we’re not in right now, please come back later.
Look, even if you think you don’t have a super active life and you are more of a 9 to 5’er, you don’t play sports etc, you need to have a body that supports all those little things that come up that you don’t think about. And if you are active, for the love of god, make sure you are preparing yourself for the demands of whatever activity you intend to do.
But what else is wrong with this program?
They exercise in a heated room. Ok for some, bad for others.
They train 6 days a week, two hours a day.
So what’s wrong with this picture? In 12 hours of training per week, Gwyneth has sculpted an ok body. In fact, for someone that is tall and naturally thin, I’m going to go ahead and give her the label of mediocre. Again, keep in mind that she is naturally thin…If she had always struggled with real weight issues and lost 50 lbs to look the way she does now, I’d be championing her efforts.
But I’m not.
Part of that reason is because she also spent a good deal of her Oprah interview talking about how the demands of her career limit her time with the kids so she’s choosing smaller roles.
“While shooting a film in New York City, Gwyneth says she came home every night thinking about what she’d missed. “I left the house while my kids were asleep, and I came home and my kids were asleep,” she says. “I walked into their room, and I just cried. I mean, it was pathetic. I was like, ‘What am I doing? I missed the whole day. I don’t know what they said today. I don’t know what they ate. I don’t know where they went.’ I just felt terrible.”
(Oprah.com)
Gwyneth, if you are listening, “YOU SPEND 12 HOURS PER WEEK IN A GYM AND PRODUCED AN AVERAGE BODY. TRAIN PROPERLY FOR HALF THE TIME AND SPEND MORE TIME WITH YOUR KIDS”.
Trust me. Your butt will be fine. You’ll keep your depression at bay and you’ll have another 6 hours to spend with your kids.
And this is one of the MANY lessons to takeaway from this latest episode of When Good People Do Dumb Fitness.
Ninety percent of the people I have trained over the years have a life filled with competing priorities: work, spouses, kids, social obligations, squeezing some time in for themselves, etc. Not once have I ever told a client they need to work out for 12 hours per week.
It’s not realistic. You won’t maintain it and it’s probably going to overtrain you before you know it.
Keep your workouts brief and intense. Get in, get it done, get out. You don’t live in the gym, you go to the gym to help prepare your body to live the life you want.
But truly, the biggest thing that irks me about this is that people are going to see fit celebs (Anderson now trains Madonna) and they will think ‘if it works for them…’
But what women (and men) need to remember is that they can’t follow Hollywood diets and workouts. It’s like the 16 year old boy who buys Muscle and Fiction hoping to look like the guy on the cover.
Aside from the celeb’s exercise and lack of eating, they have doctors who will prescribe them pills to make them thinner, can check into hospitals to be fed by a tube, have daily massage, botox, plastic surgery, personal assistants, personal chefs, and the best dressers on the planet.
And when that doesn’t work, they have the best airbrushers on the planet too.
A good friend told me once, believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see. I would say if that person is from Hollywood, maybe 10% of what you see is more accurate.
So congratulations to Tracy Anderson. For bringing back all of the myths about women’s fitness, you are the first entry in my KYA (kick your ass) list.
And Gwyneth, I’m putting you on notice.
Next week I’m going to bring you a bit of science as to why this program is a waste of time and a whole ‘nother heaping of common sense fitness.
JUST WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE THE EATING PROGRAM THAT GOES ALONG WITH THIS. YOU WON’T BELIEVE IT!
Yours in health,
Cord
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Thank you for posting this response to the gwneth/tracy thing. As a mom of twins who is forever trying to lose the weight. I have to admit I looked into Tracy. But I have to come back to reality. I DON’T HAVE 2 HOURS A DAY AND 6 DAYS A WEEK TO DEVOTE TO EXERCISE!!! I thank you again for ‘keeping it real’!
You are welcome, Katrina.
Thanks for taking the time to investigate real training programs before buying into mainstream media hype.
Best of luck with your health and fitness goals.
Cord
Hi Cord, I couldn’t agree more. I’m from Indianapolis and know Tracy Anderson and her “training methods”. I’m for positive body images and realistic versions of fitness. I have two award winning DVDs on the market right now. Would you be willing to post some information about them or review them? Please see my web-site http://www.gomomfitness.com for more information. I look forward to connecting soon.
Sincerely,
Patrea Aeschliman
Hi Cord,
I am totally with you regarding Tracy Anderson!
I was looking forward to your follow up blog about her bogus program of 1000 hip extensions while hanging from a ladder (which tenses your muscles in fear causing them not to bulk…no, I am not on meds…Tracy published this more than once) combined with an 800 calorie diet (eat all of the watermelon you can for breakfast but nothing else) and an hour of complicated dance cardio (that confuses the accessory muscles, of course…roll eyes).
Did I miss where you wrote more about the goddess of fitness nonsense?
I am a female training and sports nutritionist myself and am more than offended by Ms. Anderson and her blind followers.
Hope I just missed your scientific commentary. Please point me in the right direction….
Deb
I have Tracy’s mat DVD and really like it, it is very effective. If you tried it you would know why she recommends 3 pound or less *with her exercise*, it is because of the technique that is used, those dumbbells soon feel like 40 pounds. It is not simple curls. The unweighted arm movements are so tough I still cannot complete the whole sequence!
Hi Deb,
Thanks for your comment and checking out the blog. And thanks for being a fan of REAL health and fitness info.
Round 2 is coming up. You didn’t miss anything.
Cord
Hey Matgirl,
Thanks for your response and for being the first person to post a comment in defense of Tracy Anderson. I like that you were able to make your point, which differs from mine, without an attack – which is so common with internet posting. Stick around for the next update as I hope you continue to educate yourself.
Cord
Obviously, different things will work for different people. What I think is unfair and misguided is that people can’t seem to separate this woman’s personal life from the services she offers to her clients. I have worked with Tracy on two separate occasions (for 6 months in 2006 and presently)–and BOTH times I have seen significant results, despite a massive evolution her method over the last few years. In 2006, I worked with her Hybrid Body Reformer machine, did NO cardio with her at all and did NOT follow her diets. And I still lost 29 inches overall in 6 months. It’s fun, it’s motivating, it’s tangible, it changes every 5-10 sessions depending on your program, it’s a nice environment to work out in (clean, bright, friendly, where a woman doesn’t have to feel uncomfortable). And I have been waiting with baited breath for the last 2 and half years for her to make it to NY. So naturally, I am excited to be back in training with her method again. And this time around I’ve lost 8.5 pounds and come down a dress size in a month–mind you after being in the WORST shape of my life.
Let me make a few things clear: she does NOT require you to work out 12 hours a week–I don’t–(in fact if you watch her cardio DVD she recommends FOUR times per week and routine is 45 MINS), she does NOT require you to starve yourself (the menus are OPTIONAL–and they are closer to 1500 calories per day than 1000), she does NOT require you to pay for a full year up front, she will NOT force you to do the same routines or eat the same menus as the person standing next to you because she WILL customize your workouts to be most suitable to you and the results you would like to achieve.
Say what you will about her allegedly messy personal life…I never had a single problem at the LA studio and I have no problems no. And regardless–it works. I have never been skinny, but I always been active (was a dancer for 14 years, played soccer, etc.) and have tried a ton of different things (up to and including boxing) and NOTHING has ever had the results that Tracy’s method does–especially on my super problem areas.
People are always entitled to their opinions, but like I said–don’t knock it until you try it…you might be very pleasantly surprised.
Thanks for your review of the Tracy Anderson Method, as an overweight young adult I get really excited about miracle cures for being fat and I almost bought the dvd but thought I would look for reviews first and yours was one of the first ones i found and I appreciate being brought back to reality.
I’m sure this has already been brought to your attention, but if not, check out this link”
http://www.videofitness.com/forum/showthread.php?t=131563
You should join in the discussion, if only to defend your integrity.
Aaron
I have been involved in many types of fitness for about 10 years. No matter what type of excercise (cardio & weights), no matter how consistant I was, I could never lose my love handles and carve a bit of mid section. Without doing the recommended cardio or changing my diet (I eat like a pig), in 1 month I lost 10 llbs and many inches using Tracy’s Mat dvd. The fact is, Tracy’s method works and it doesn’t take 12 hours a week, it is more like 4-6 hours, sometimes 3 hours. Perhaps Tracy’s method is for those of us who conventional types of fitness has not worked for. Anyway, I highly recommend it, I have several friends who cannot believe their results from using the dvd for only a few weeks. Best of luck to all!
Being a fitness expert I would say this as polite as I can, …. I think you should do mroe research besides the small oprah clips and whats beign said on the internet.
If you have ever attended any tracy anderson workout in person you should know what im talking about, its just a different approach to fitness and her “method” seems to work on body particular body structures like mine, beacause for me… I have achieved the body I always wanted and I didnt followed any diet from her or over excersided with thousand of repetitions.
IF you can watch any of her Dvds also, you will see that its like any othe workout, just adding different moves and twists, most if them , ballet and pilates inspired (since tracy used to be a dancer ).
Im not saying this is the best choice for anyone, but for me it seems to have somehow carved by problem areas like any other workouts I have ever done.
I feel strong, lean and I dont use 3lbs….thats just too little.
Great post! Just wanted to let you know you have a new subscriber- me!
Very valuable health information, great blog post. Thanks.
omg. finally. a realistic, common sensical outlook on the whole ‘celebrity fitness thing’. thanks for your ‘rant’ Cord, you hit the nail on the head. if only more people would see the light and start training their bodies for everyday life. how many of us really need to train like athletes? how about for riding a bike with our kids, hiking on the weekends, lifting things out of the back of our trucks, blah, blah… i know i used to be one of those gym dwellers.
lets stop looking for miracles and take responsibility for our own health and fitness and really enjoy living!
YAY!!!
I’m afraid that I have to agree with “Don’t Knock It Till You Try It”. I have been doing the TA mat and cardio DVDs on and off for about six weeks now. I hate to report to those that don’t want to hear this: it works. In fact, it works when only doing it 3 or 4 times a week for 60 minutes – pretty average for any fitness program. I have not modified my diet.
I spent a successful decade in the fitness industry as a community leader, I have done fitness television, I have done fitness videos and pretty much every workout that you can imagine since 1982. Now in my 40s and a successful business person, I still do marathons and the occasional triathlon to mix things up. Until the recent broohaha over the Tracey Anderson method, I had left dance aerobics well behind me in the 80′s.
One of the things that you learn when you are thrust into the role of a leader, particularly when it happens quickly and it is endorsed by powerful people is that “the public” ascribes all kinds of wisdom to you. Tracey Anderson has developed and branded a business concept for working out that works pretty well. When I see Tracey Anderson pressed into giving advice on diet or lifestyle, all I see is someone that isn’t working with a well qualified publicist or brand manager that can keep Tracey on message and help her understand when it is better to say nothing than offer “helpful” advice which she is not qualified to provide.
What Tracey Anderson hasn’t learned yet in these, no doubt, heady times that tend to accompany success is that extending your personal brand into an area that you are unqualified in (diet, nutrition, exercise science) leads to being challenged on terms that you are not qualified to defend. This may end up being a very tough lesson for Ms. Anderson but I hope that it doesn’t kill the franchise, because I sure like the workouts.
I have a body type that loves muscle and benefits greatly from Tracey’s low weight, high rep method – no, not 80 to 100 reps, 25 reps maximum on the workout DVD. My body bulks just by looking at a 10 pound dumbell. I also enjoy dance and so the DVD offers a joyful way to workout that isn’t boring and allows me to mix up the choreography as I grow more confident with it. It’s not for everyone. Nothing is.
I’ve been doing Tracy’s arm workouts for a few months (Yes lifting only 3lbs) and I’ve seen major results. My arms are more tone then ever before and I’ve been going to the gym for years. My sister lost 30lbs after having my niece from Tracy’s DVD workouts. I met Tracy recently and yes I do agree that not everyone has 2 hours a day to dedicate to working out but then again do you really want to look like Madonna? Have you seen her lately? Tracy is not offering a miracle cure, she’s giving you a workout that actually tones and pulls your muscles together. My body has changed because of her workouts and I’m not on her crazy 800 calorie a day diet or exercising 2 hours a day…..these are celebrities and being slim is a part of their job!
Tracy Anderson’s Method is genius. I have tried her workouts (unlike many of the haters here who posted their nasty comments and obviously have nothing better to do than sit on their fat lazy asses and bash someone and use any excuse not to exercise).
After doing Anderson’s workouts and seeing the amazing results,
i have no desire or intention of doing any other workouts. I RECOMMEND TRACY ANDERSON TO EVERYONE. AMAZING RESULTS.
Hey man- great info you shot out there. That is the most rediculous training program I have ever seen. I have been training for a decade and the most important aspect of transforming your body is fuel and rest! How can you gain muscle tone and strength when you are constantly breaking it down? Great points man!
Cord,
Several folks have commented on the seeming-effectiveness of this program. In fact, that is nothing to be marveled at – Tracy is using some peculiarities of human exercise physiology to shrewd (if ultimately, useless) effect.
If you read stuff from Bompa, Zatsiorsky and other E. European and FSU authors who are experts on strength training and general exercise physiology you’ll realize that untrained individuals can make quick metabolic and strength gains from working with as little as 20% of the weight they can handle for one rep (i.e. the one rep max). This is as a result of the General Adaptation Syndrome that is the fundamental basis of all physical training. This period of relatively rapid gains can last for 1-2 months before a plateau forms, after which further gains cannot be made without modifying the program.
Another fact that Tracey exploits (by intent or acciident) is that long sets of her exercises promote “athletic” hypertrophy – which is a temporary enlargement of muscle tissue arising from increased blood flow and other effects. Again, in untrained individuals, these effects can last up to 12-24 hours. Given a workout frequency of 6 workouts/week – well, that’s probably convinced a number that they are “toning” something since the athletic hypertrophy is not fully lost before the next workout.
Of course, after a month or so of her foolishness, all progress stops and any gains are quickly lost upon ceasing the regimen. Not a lot of folks (thankfully) will follow her diet advice – and this gives her a convenient, if wholly inaccurrate, excuse for why further gains are not made.
Either Tracey (or somebody who advises her) must be cognizant of these facts and is exploiting these effects of exercise physiology to exploit the week-bodied and weak-minded.
Well said. To an extent, one could say it’s smoke and mirrors…with a heavy emphasis on good marketing.
It seems that the majority of those that post in favour of this type of program are not fitness pro’s, and somewhere along the lines they saw some change in physique which therefore translates to success in their minds. Anyone that has been inactive for a certain length of time will undoubtedly see great INITIAL progress just by simply MOVING THEIR BODY 6 days per week but sustainable results are hard to come by.
Further, it’s just my opinion that all training programs should have enough functional component to add quality to daily life activities AND change physiques. Lift 3 lbs all you want, but the next time you heave your luggage around at the airport and pull something in your back, you can thank your training program for not putting you in the position to excel in daily life activities.
It’s just ironic that you have a large majority of fitness professionals, with nothing directly to gain or lose by providing their feedback about this program, all seem to provide appropriate evidence to the contrary. Yet the general public will always be drawn to the celebrity appeal, quick fix, ‘yes, you’ll get bulky if you lift more than 3 lbs’.
But that’s a mindset of the general population that started years ago and it’s an uphill battle to change it.
Thank for your comments.
Cord,
You are hilarious! I love how you write. I can appreciate the points you were making about tracy anderson’s video. I will admit that it freaked me out when she said to never use anything over 3 pounds, I have so many workouts that say the opposite, that your hormones and other variables would not allow that unless you really worked to bulk. I will admit, that I love her mat video. I just feel like I have done a full workout, and I like that. But I really DON’T have time to do it 6 times a week, as well as her dance cardio just as many times per week to get the best results! That is sort of crazy. It is like you said, 12 hours per week of working out is not necessary and there are other priorities in life. So I guess I am disappointed because I do like the workout – but let me tell you, you have to count reps, because obviously she can’t – there are several sections where she does twice as many on one side as the other!
So I believe I will save this workout, because I enjoy doing it, which is important, but just alternate it with other activities throughout the week. There is a lot of bad press about her, and she may deserve it, but I do like the mat video.
Thanks for a great article, you are clearly knowledgable about health and fitness and your humor is fabulous!
Cheers,
Sarah
Hi Sarah,
Thanks for your response and reading the blog.
If you feel that you get great value out of the mat dvd then that is excellent. I would never say that certain training programs have zero value, you just need to know what is the best and most practical part to use for your own program.
Just be sure to train with some intensity and lift more than 3 lbs in your other workouts!
And be sure to check out Part 2 as well!
Thanks,
Cord