I have a love-hate relationship with exercise. Â I spent most of my childhood dancing (ballet, Bharathanatyam, jazz) and LOVED it. Â There’s something about nailing a sequence of intricate choreography, a rush you get from performing on stage that I haven’t been able to replicate in any other form of exercise. Â I’ve dabbled in other forms of working out: running occupied most of 2008, yoga was the preferred workout in 2009, and 2010 started off as the “There’s an app for that” year. Â I downloaded many of the Women’s Health iPhone apps and downloadable workouts, and while they definitely got me sweating and were somewhat effective, I was bored.
Then Gwyneth Paltrow sent her GOOP newsletter (yes, I read it and I’m not ashamed) on the Tracy Anderson Method and my attention was piqued.
The Tracy Anderson Method uses several muscle groups in a single exercise. Â Tracy says she aims to exhaust your main muscle groups and activate your accessory muscle groups, and she changes up the choreography and exercises often to avoid too much repetition, which she claims creates bulk.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXxXWmJMjuA&feature=player_embedded]
Bulk, bad. Â Gwyneth’s legs and abs, good. Â Alright Tracy, I’m listening.
I figured I’d give it a shot, and ordered her mat and cardio dance DVDs from Amazon and downloaded her webisodes to get me started.
They were worth it.
The dance cardio and treadmill workouts were challenging and a lot of fun. Â The mat DVD and webisodes kicked my ass (and legs, and arms, and abs) into gear. Â While I felt like an idiot at times doing the arms and standing abs, I could feel the moves working and igniting the little muscles that I didn’t know where there. Â While I’ve only done the treadmill workout in the privacy of my own home, I am now comfortable enough to sashay, “leap”, skip, and gallop on the treadmill at the hotel gyms I will be frequenting over the month of April. Â The DVDs and my yoga mat were the first things to get packed in my India-bound suitcase last week. Â And my beloved Hudson jeggings I don for international flights now require a belt to be worn with them, as my abs and bum have started to shrink and tighten.
Tracy, I’m a believer. Â And I’m ordering more of the DVDs and a set of ankle weights.
If you’re interested in the Tracy Anderson Method, check out some of the YouTube clips below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taCiMBFc0sc&feature=player_embedded#]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHfLEGiRlPU&feature=related]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1LVFFzi_f0&feature=related]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay2sD6ZWA0Y&feature=player_embedded]
