In my all-out effort to improve my fitness and lose weight I bought all of Davina's workout DVDs about 2 months ago now and having worked my way through all of them a number of times I decided it was time for a new challenge. After reading lots of customer reviews, it seemed that Charlie Brooks' Before and After DVD came highly recommended and at £6.48 from amazon seemed well worth a try.
I'm sure we all know Charlie Brooks as super bitch Janine Butcher from Eastenders. Not someone ever known for a super skinny figure, after having a baby she found it difficult to shift the excess weight. For this DVD, she's teamed up with Personal Trainer Dee Thresher (who also helped Eastender's Sonia to shed a remarkable amount of weight) to put together a workout routine which claims to help you shed a stone every 6 weeks. The photo's of Charlie before and after on the front cover are very inspirational - the after shot looks great! Ok, she has very bad posture in the first photo and it's not a flattering angle, but in both she looks like a normal person rather than a model which makes it feel really attainable to the average slightly overweight person.
The workout takes place in a warehouse type building filled with all things hot pink and girly, and is split into 5 ten minute sections - warm up, disco,
combat, high intensity, and a pilates cool down. The warm up is nice and gets the body working but I find that too little time is spent on the stretches to really feel that you are getting the benefit. The warm up and the disco sections are quite similar and use some of the same moves, which first time round take a little bit of time to pick up as it's quite step driven. Both these sections are pretty easy going and very low impact. I enjoy the combat section, which has lots of punching and kicking, although in terms of cardio it's still on the gentle side and doesn't push you anywhere near as much as the routines Davina has you doing. The high-intensity is the part of the DVD that really gets the whole body working, with lots of squatting and jumping. I really enjoy this one - it's not too stretching but leaves you nicely out of breath but this is really the only part of the DVD that I find really gets the heart rate up to the point where you really feel tired. I love the pilates cool down - there is a bit of stretching first (again, I don't feel the stretches are really held long enough) and then some floor work to work the core and my God you can really feel this on your tummy muscles.
You do need a fair amount of space to do this workout, as there is lots of stepping forward and back, and I wouldn't recommend it for people living in a flat (the Sumo jumping move would no doubt see you neighbours complaining!) However, there is no extra equipment needed, no weights, no resistance bands, etc.
Also included on the DVD is a diet section which is utterly pointless - just a list of various meals that you can mix and match, no talking or advice from Charlie or Dee, and if anyone can be bothered to sit and copy out recipes from their tv screen you clearly have more patience than me!
I'm a bit mixed about how much I actually enjoy this DVD. It's a nice workout and great for beginners who are out of shape, but I'm sceptical that Charlie really managed to shed a stone every six weeks using this routine alone as it just doesn't push you that hard if you have a basic level of fitness - lots of the moves are just done too quickly to really feel the benefit (I really think quick squats just aren't that effective as you can't get as low) As Charlie says, it's all about how much effort you put into the routine, but even putting in all the effort I can and throwing myself around the room, I still don't really feel that it really pushes me. I like to use it on days when I feel a little bit lazy but on a normal day I would choose any of Davina's over this as I find them far more challenging and feel much more worked out after those. Don't get me wrong, I work up a sweat doing this, but I don't feel exhausted after it, which is what I'm after. I would certainly recommend doing the whole DVD in one go as most of the sections just wouldn't have a big calorie burn.
My main problem with this DVD is Dee Thresher, who is upbeat to the point of being very irritating (even Charlie looks as if she finds her quite annoying). The whole focus is on perky Dee with Charlie barely uttering a word, aside from compulsory responses to Dee's irritating questions (e.g. Dee: "Really works the thighs, doesn't it Charlie? Doesn't it Charlie?" Charlie: "Yes, I can really feel it") She also whizzes through the moves very quickly, which is fine once you know the routine but the difficulty in picking up the steps is made doubly hard by the 'arty' camera work used - as they step forward towards the camera, the camera zooms up, meaning that you can't see what their feet are doing. This happens at numerous points in both the warm up and the disco section and for the first time through is really irritating. Also irritating is some of her counting in the floor work - when you are doing press ups it's very hard to know the speed at which you are doing them and she doesn't count along as most other trainers do.
The music is also disappointing with nothing really standing out. I love a bit of pop when working out, but the music here isn't even the dance you get with Davina - the combat section seems to literally just be a military drum track played over and over! I like to stick on a nice bit of Girls Aloud in the background instead!
In summary, a nice, fun workout, great for beginners, but not really challenging enough for anyone already used to home workouts.
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Very well written. I enjoyed the read much more than I ever would the workout LOL 8^)
Ruby.xo 06.08.2009 13:11
I'm sure we had to do this in P.E in school not long ago! I actually really enjoy fitness DVDs, definitely prefer them to running round the pitch 10 times every lesson! xxxx
surveysista1988 06.08.2009 10:50
I have quite a low fitness, but am slim, and found this DVD to be too easy. I get a tad breathless running up the stairs, and thios hardly touched me.
Too pink for me as well. Hurts the eyes. The one with the black lady from Holby City was good. Kate Lawler's cardio combat DVD was very energetic if you liked the punching and kicking part.
One of the most acclaimed celebrity fitness DVDs of recent times,Charlie Brooks Before And ... more
After Workoutfinds fitness trainer Dee Thresher putting the former soap star through her paces with a series of five ten minute workouts.Brooks herself claims to...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
One of the most acclaimed celebrity fitness DVDs of recent times,Charlie Brooks Before And ... more
After Workoutfinds fitness trainer Dee Thresher putting the former soap star through her paces with a series of five ten minute workouts.Brooks herself claims to...
Postage & Packaging: free Super Saver Delivery Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Wow! Janine from Eastenders never looked this good BEFORE!But actress Charlie Brooks is ... more
thrilled with how she looks AFTER this workout...I've never been what you'd call skinny, but after I had my gorgeous baby, I put on OVER TWO STONE in EXTRA weight a...
![Charlie Brooks - Before And After Workout [DVD] [2005]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78486328.jpg "Charlie Brooks - Before And After Workout [DVD] [2005]")
Jul 27th, 2009
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