Skinny Bitch Workouts

The brand that is Skinny Bitch is back—with a workout. Or rather, workouts. One of our savvy readers hipped us to the fact that they were available, so we’re doing our civic duty and checking them out for you. After reviewing Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin’s Skinny Bitch in the Kitch, I was a little nervous for a workout with the same attitude the gals brought to the book. Luckily, I think they’re a little less bitchy in the DVDs than they are on paper. They definitely curse and have attitude, though, which may be a turnoff for some. I’m also not really sure how the term “Skinny Bitch” equals someone who “eats well, exercises and loves herself” but I think it’s (mostly) to grab your attention. People out there range from adoring the Skinny Bitches to abhorring them, but no matter your take, here’s the FBG skinny on their workouts.

Skinny Bitch Fitness: Body
Skinny Bitch Body includes four 15-minute segments working a different body part. Each workout includes a short warm-up, and a few stretches follow after the “meat” of the workout. Meat of the workout! They’re vegan. I’m so ironic.

Abs
The ab segment involves standing ab moves followed by floorwork. Standing ab work never makes me feel like I’m killing my abs, but the girls start you off with standing step touches and twists to warm up, followed by oblique crunches and active triangle pose moves, along with lunges with knee ups thatare actually great for balance. The floor work was a little more challenging, with crunches for the upper and lower abs, some oblique work, and planks.

Legs
This workout consisted of a series of leg moves from the floor, which got my hips burning. Lying on your back, you then do a series of leg exercises with your legs to the ceiling to hit your inner thighs. My favorite quote of the leg series was when Rory was in pain: “Misery on a stick; hell on ice.”

Arms
The arms series wasn’t anything to write home about butwould be great for a beginner trying to build up strength and endurance in her arms. The segment consists of punches, speed-bag moves and throwing elbows, and eventually my shoulders did feel a bit warm. It did drive me a little crazy when new moves were going on and the cameras were zoomed in so you couldn’t see what was going on, making the DVD hard to follow at times. Oh, and did Rory just call me a fatty?

Butt
The butt segment had the requisite squats, and squats jumping in and out during which my pug decided to go psycho-style on my feet. There were also some box-step type moves and a Brazilian martial arts segment that was a little tough to follow. One-legged deadlifts, lunges and long silences capped off the butt workout.

Meditation
I don’t meditate, so it was kind of cool to have five minutes of silence to just be. The “Bonus Meditation” was quite hilarious, though. They spend the five minutes fighting the giggles and doing anything but meditating.

The Short and Skinny on Boot Camp
The second Skinny Bitch DVD I tried was the Boot Camp. It was definitely the easiest 50 minutes of “boot camp” I’ve ever done. Some light weight work was interspersed with mild cardio, such as punches, jumping jacks and shuffle drills. Squats and lunges were included, but I barely broke a mild, mild sweat during this workout. Also included on the DVD were five 5-minute workouts, which I managed to do in addition to the boot camp portion. One of my favorite moments on the DVD was when Rory asks Kim a question and there is such a long pause that it’s blatantly clear that Kim is reading off a cue card.

In both DVDs, the Skinny Bitches were a little overdramatic (“I’m in hell”), and the cuing was hit or miss—at times fine, and at times terrible. The girls can be crass and eye-roll inducing, but at other times they appear to be two friends being silly and cheering each other on (more of that, please). Also, they do show modifications, which are always helpful for beginners. Just as I ignored many of their comments in the book, you must be willing to do the same when doing the DVD workouts or they may drive you batty.

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

Fit Bottom line: If you’re already a Skinny Bitch fan and are a beginner or like milder workouts, this may be the DVD for you. —Erin

Check out the Skinny Bitches on Amazon: Skinny Bitch: Body and Skinny Bitch: Boot Camp.