Sally Brown reveals why workout DVDs can beat personal training and hotel gyms.

Consistency is the key to getting fit – finding a routine you like and doing it regularly. But that’s easier said than done for the frequent traveller. Even if there is a hotel gym, left to our own devices, how many of us know how to work out effectively, especially on unfamiliar equipment? But there is another way – the workout DVD.

If the last one you looked at was that soft-focus Cindy Crawford video back in the 90s, you’re missing out. Thanks to the recession, the home exercise sector is thriving. Sales of fitness DVDs grew by 46 per cent between 2007 and 2008 alone, and there’s been an explosion in the choice of products available. With the right DVD, you get an experience that’s not unlike working out with a personal trainer.

Top fitness instructor Matt Roberts, who recently designed a series of workout DVDs for guests of 45 Park Lane in London, says: “If you’re travelling with hand luggage only, you don’t need to pack exercise kit – you can even do most exercises without trainers if it’s low impact.” All you need is a laptop to play the DVD on and you can exercise when it suits you.

What’s more, it’s a myth that you need equipment or lots of space to do an effective workout, Roberts says. “Using your own bodyweight as resistance, so-called ‘natural training’ is one of this year’s biggest trends in fitness and works well on DVD.” Express fitness – working harder for shorter periods – is another big trend, and many DVDs now have ten-, 15- or 20-minute options to fit even the most time-pressed schedule.

The quality of DVDs varies enormously, so choose carefully. Although the bulk of releases are still geared towards women, that’s gradually changing. Here’s our low-down on the latest options, and the best choices for frequent travellers of all fitness levels.

THE 60-second promise

Short, intense exercise sessions are better at burning fat and getting you fit than long, steady ones, according to a spate of recent studies. The theory is that High Intensity Interval Training, as it’s known, wakes up the “fast-twitch” muscle fibres, which use far more oxygen and burn more fat, than the “slow-twitch” fibres we use during everyday life or more moderate exercise. Personal trainers Simone Dailey and Carl Prince pair 45 seconds of high-intensity work, such as squat jumps, with 15-second active recoveries, like jumping jacks. Choose from four ten-minute workouts – Total Body Fat Blaster, Upper Body, Lower Body, and Total Core (abs).

  • Hotel-room friendly? Yes – you won’t need much space, and there are low-impact options throughout.
  • Equipment needed None – you use your bodyweight for resistance.
  • Irritation/boredom factor Low. This is a straightforward DVD by experienced trainers without a celebrity in sight.
  • Time Under 20 minutes – ten minutes for the workout, and three minutes each for the warm-up and cool-down. Extend the time by combining ten-minute sections, or trying the one-minute “Beat the Trainer”challenges.
  • Diet plan included? No, although there’s an interview with Dailey and Prince about healthy eating in the “Extras”section.
  • Best for Fans of old-school circuit training – there are no complicated moves to master. Good for both beginners and intermediates – no co-ordination required, plenty of clear instruction and a choice of difficulty levels.

David Haye’s Box And Tone

The former WBA heavyweight champion hasn’t hired a trainer to front his first fitness DVD – he takes you through the moves himself. Wisely, he steers clear of anything fancy, and sticks to classic training moves that are easily demonstrated. There’s a choice of four workouts: Shadow Boxing, Circuit Training, Conditioning, and Abs and Core. You can use the “create a workout” feature to run them in your chosen combination – saves skipping back to the main menu in-between sections.

  • Hotel-room friendly? Yes – the workouts are based on compact, low-impact moves that you could do without trainers.
  • Equipment needed None (although a pair of boxing gloves might help you feel the part).
  • Irritation/boredom factor There’s no denying that these workouts are repetitive, which could get boring.
  • Time The workouts range from 16 to 22 minutes, but you’re urged not to skip the warm-up (11 minutes) or cool-down (15 minutes).
  • Diet plan included? No.
  • Best for Beginners at both exercise and boxing, or those who want to minimise knee or ankle impact. Intermediates may feel unchallenged, though the circuit training is pretty tough.

The Seven-day Gareth Thomas Fitness Plan

Former Welsh rugby captain Gareth Thomas joins in a group workout led by aerobics instructor Nikki O’Connell. There’s one workout for each day of the week, including Body Conditioning, Bootcamp, Legs and Bum, Upper Body Blast, and Interval Training. Bizarrely, it’s partly shot in what looks like a dungeon, and partly on a beach in Malibu. Reality TV stars Kirk Norcross and Nicola McLean make a fairly superfluous appearance in the Upper Body Blast section, and Mickey Rourke wanders on set at one point wearing a woolly hat. There’s an interview with Rourke and Thomas in the “Extras” section.

  • Hotel-room friendly? Yes, as most movement is on the spot or side-to-side.
  • Equipment needed A pair of dumbbells (or two bottles of mineral water).
  • Irritation/boredom factor O’Connell gives clear instructions and Thomas is an affable sidekick. There’s enough variety to stave off boredom.
  • Time The daily workouts last ten to 15 minutes, plus there’s a separate six-minute warm-up and two-minute cool-down.
  • Diet plan included? No.
  • Best for Those who do studio classes – they’ll feel at home with this DVD. It’s also an efficient, safe way for beginners to get into regular exercise.

Matt Roberts the Month Crunch

Roberts is arguably the UK’s most high-profile trainer, with David and Samantha Cameron heading up his client list. This four-week strength and toning programme is a tie-in with Roberts’ new range of home exercise kit from Argos, which includes Resistance Cuffs (ankle weights attached with bungee cord) for £20 and a Step Bench (£100). There are six workouts on the DVD – two Full Body Workouts, Abs Workout,  Hips and Thighs, Arm Workout and Mobility Routine. The emphasis is on strength and tone – you’ll need to add in some running or cycling to get some cardio.

  • Hotel-room friendly? Not unless you’ve got a set of weights in your luggage. But you could play the DVD on your laptop in the hotel gym.
  • Equipment needed All the workouts use equipment – you could do the exercises without them but you won’t get the same results.
  • Irritation/boredom factor No frills or gimmicks, just good, clear instructions from a trainer who really knows his stuff.
  • Time 20 minutes per workout.
  • Diet plan included? No.
  • Best for Working out at home rather than when travelling. Invest in the basic equipment and you’ll have a compact home gym for less than the price of a year’s membership to one.

15-Minute Fast Fitness: Fat Burning

You can get fit and toned in just a few minutes a day, a few times a week, claim former athletes, Gladiators and experienced personal trainers Jenny Pacey and Wayne Gordon. The secret is targeting several muscle groups at once – so push-ups on this DVD include leg lifts, and squats are done with a jump.

There are three workouts to choose from: Sofa Circuit – an ingenious use of furniture, interspersed with cardio intervals such as jumping jacks; Bodyweight Blast – a challenging interval session that pairs 40 seconds of effort with 20 seconds of recovery, times 15; and Buddy-Up – strength and toning exercises designed to be done with a partner.

  • Hotel-room friendly? Yes, as long as you have a sturdy armchair and a little room to manoeuvre.
  • Equipment needed Just a chair or sofa (and a willing partner if you want to try workout three).
  • Irritation/boredom factor By keeping it simple and avoiding banter, Pacey and Gordon have created a calm, almost soothing vibe to this DVD that won’t grate when you’re jetlagged. They come across as genuine people who actually care about getting you fit.
  • Time The workouts take 15 minutes but when you add on the warm-up and cool-down, it’s more like 30 minutes.
  • Diet plan included? No.
  • Best for Regular exercisers looking for new ideas and a fast, efficient way to work out.

Insanity

Insanity has cult status in the US and a growing following here. It’s a 60-day programme of ten workout DVDs that you do in a prescribed order, six days a week. Why it’s described as “one step from impossible” becomes clear from the first warm-up. It’s an interval-based programme – think explosive suicide jumps, switch kicks, high knees and push-ups, all at super-fast pace. What makes it so challenging is that the “hard” bit of the interval lasts for three minutes, not the usual 60 seconds, followed by a mere 15-second recovery. It’s not cheap but compared with personal training, it’s a snip, and gets similar results. You start and finish with a fitness test to mark your progress and there’s no doubt you’ll get lean and toned – if you can hack it.

  • Hotel-room friendly? Yes, but perhaps not for the people in the room below.
  • Equipment needed Trainers, and a towel for mopping up sweat.
  • Irritation/boredom factor This DVD gets top marks for creating a truly motivating vibe. Unlike most presenters, Shaun T does the workout while he instructs, so he sweats and get out of breath. He leads a basketball court full of six-packed hipsters, and they go red in the face and get out of breath too.
  • Time From 40 minutes (Cardio Power and Resistance) to 86 minutes (Max Interval Circuit and Fit Test), which includes possibly the world’s most challenging warm-up, and a good cool-down.
  • Diet plan included? Yes. Comes with 70-page Elite Nutrition booklet, a workout calendar and access to an online forum.
  • Best for Intermediate and advanced exercisers. If you’re prone to injuries, particularly knee problems, it’s probably not for you.

Case study

Always up for a challenge, I committed to Insanity’s two-month regime and am proud to say I didn’t miss a day, which was an achievement in itself, writes Jenny Southan. I was averagely fit when I started (you can see my fit test stats below) and the first couple of times I tried it, I couldn’t even complete the workout. After the first day, my whole body was in so much pain that I was worried I’d injure myself if I carried on, but I asked for advice from a personal trainer who told me to push on through, and by the end of the week the pain had subsided.

By the start of the second week I could complete the workouts but it continued to be incredibly gruelling and a serious test of mental willpower – there were times when I came close to being sick and passing out, and in the first week of the second month (when workouts are 50 to 86 minutes with much longer and more intense circuits but the same 30-second breaks between), I was almost in tears.

Although destroyed by the end of a workout and dripping in sweat, it was amazing how quickly I felt the benefits – I felt energised, clear-headed and ebullient, and actually started enjoying the workouts once I began mastering the exercises and stretches. Shaun T is a powerhouse of a man and a great instructor – he gives clear instructions and plenty of motivational talk to keep you going.

I gave everything I had to the workouts but fell down when it came to my diet – the Insanity meal plan explains how to control your calorie intake and food types to get maximum effect but I couldn’t quite manage this (my job and social life mean I eat out a lot). In fact, the first month I put on three pounds, but I was told this was normal as you are building muscle, which is denser and heavier than fat. In the second month I lost this weight, along with another four pounds. I was a lot more toned, and my stamina and strength shot up.

If you are going to try Insanity and want the six-pack it promises, you need to be very disciplined about what you eat. This means reading nutrition information on packaging, weighing food and giving up alcohol – you may also want to take protein supplements. It’s pure masochistic hell but you will be amazed at what your body and mind can achieve.