DVD #8 - Elle MacPherson's The Body

lovefilm seem to be intent on sending me all the old bestsellers first.

Elle's workout is largely considered to be one of the highest grossing fitness videos of all time, and one of the triggers to kickstarting the whole 'fitness vid' industry.

And, quite frankly, you can see why. Who wouldn't want a body like 'The Body'? She stands there, all ten feet of her, with her lovely bronzed skin and beautifully arranged hair, and try as you might, you can't help but hate her a little bit for having 'good genes' as she calls it. I'm not normally a hatefilled person, but the minute she says 'I'll never have a body like my Personal Trainer, and she'll never have one like mine, even if we try as hard as possible' makes you want to give up hope and head to the nearest chippy.

So anyway, Elle splits the workout into three aerobic sections, punctuated by two toning and conditioning sections. It gets harder and harder, BELIEVE ME. The aerobics was fairly ok going, left you a bit breathless, but mixed with the toning section I felt everything. The other half reckoned (from his cosy spot on the sofa) that 'it doesn't look too hard'. And yeah, he's right. Elle makes it look easy. The cow.

By the time we got to the abs section at the end (why do they put abs at the end? Why? It hurts so bad!), I could barely lift my arms over my head. It's now two days later, and I still can't lift my arms over my head, But I can feel the result. My arms feel a lot more toned, probably due to the use of weights that Elle suggests you use during the workout.

She also suggests using a chair or bench but our dining chairs are too high for this workout, and they are normal size, so I reckon that you can do without for some excercises, and use the edge of your sofa for others.

There are no extras with the DVD due to the age of it, although there is a great outtake at the end when Elle and her trainer Karen Voight (who leads the whole thing) get soaked during their cool down excercise.

Made me feel better about the fact that I'll never look like Elle MacPherson. Now, back to the biscuits.

Score: 3.5. If you can deal with the pain for the first couple of weeks, you could get pretty toned. Lost a point due to the cardio being a bit weak, and because Elle occasionally comes out with a comment that makes you want to push through your telly.