The ABC’s of Couple’s Fitness: Total Body Blast

After such success with The Biggest Loser workout, I roped my hubby into doing The ABC’s of Couple’s Fitness: Total Body Blast. I’m glad Bob Harper made him a workout DVD lover because this one didn’t exactly hit it out of the ballpark.

My first impression was that the makers of the video wanted to make porn but didn’t want the stigma associated with adult film. The settings were totally random: a grassy yard, a living room and a bed in a bedroom, complete with candles and mirrors. The moves were all done in 1-minute segments, jumping to a different couple and different set each time.

You use your partner for resistance for many of the moves during the 30-minute workout. Some moves are fine, like grapevines while facing each, high-fiving when you pass by each other. Other moves feel like “something between foreplay and a workout,” according to my picky partner, whom I thought was going to permanently damage his eyeballs because he was rolling them so much. Some moves allow you to “spot” your partner totally unnecessarily, encouraging friskiness to ensue.

One move can only be described as a “spooning squat.” Other moves are downright uncomfortable, like when you’re doing a push-up with your hands placed on your partner’s chest, or when you’re in a plank position while your partner is on his back holding your legs in the air by the ankles. You’re encouraged at one point to whisper sweet nothings in each other’s ears, but we were laughing way too hard to feel very romantic.

The video jumps so quickly from one move to the next that you don’t even have time to properly set up. I had to pause the DVD a million times to figure out what we were supposed to be doing next. And while some of the moves do give a good burn—like shoulder presses with your partner pushing down for resistance and some of the ab work—the workout was too lopsided. Because of height differences, I felt like the moves didn’t always workas intended. And because of strength differences, some moves were much harder for me and much too easy for him.

FBG Rating (Out of 5):
Instruction: ★
Long-Term Likeability: ★
Music: ★
Fun Factor: ★★
Meets Expectations: ★★
Overall: ★

The male perspective: “If I’m going to invest 30 minutes, I’d like to get a workout in or have sex. Not waste time not doing either.”

Fit Bottom line: While good for a laugh, there are more effective ways of getting the same body parts worked on your own. With too little time between moves and awkward positioning, it didn’t work for us.—Erin

Photo grabbed from http://www.photobucket.com.