Mat Work for Beginners
Tracy will guide you through 3 complete total body workouts that will sculpt, tone and transform your body. With Tracy's focus on the smaller, accessory muscles, she will help you achieve a strong, lean body. Light hand and ankle weights are suggested, but not needed. The DVD includes 3 complete workouts that can be used individually or combined- it is up to you!
NOTE: This is NOT the same as her Method for Beginners, which has just 2 routines.
Instructor(s)
Release Year
2014
Video Comments with Ratings
I'm not a huge Tracy Anderson fan. However, I have Tracy's original Mat Workout, which I do like, especially the standing legs and arms work. I picked up this DVD at a used sale thinking that I might get more use out of the 3 separate routines. Also, this DVD is chaptered, unlike the original Mat Workout. Tracy is teaching alone in these routines in a large, dark gym - it's basically all gray/black, no windows. The tree routines are labelled Fat Burning Beginners, Chair Sequence, and Fat Burning Intermediate, each about 25 minutes long. Note that Tracy does not mirror cue for any of these routines.
WORKOUT 1
Tracy starts slowly here, spending more time explaining the moves. The routine starts with about 7 minutes of arms work, going slow to begin, then speeding it up. The mat workout consists of leg movements completed all on one side first, a brief stretch, and then on the other side. There are about 6 moves, each done for 20 reps (the last move is 30 reps). It sounds easy but it buuurrrns!
WORKOUT 2
This is the chair routine, and it may be my favorite - maybe just because I can hang onto the chair for dear life!!! Tracy again starts with arms moves, about 6 minutes total. She goes much faster here, assuming you know what she is doing without providing much cueing (it had certainly helped that I've done her workouts before!). About half of the arms work is unweighted, and then she uses 3 lb. weights for the second half. The remainder of the routine uses the chair for leg work. Again, Tracy does the moves all on one leg before switching. She starts to the side of the chair, does a very brief stretch, and does about 6 more moves, this time with several going to 30 reps. The chair moves here are somewhat similar to her original Mat Workout. Tracy ends with a super-brief (<2 mins) standing abs sequence.
WORKOUT 3
This routine is slightly longer, about 27 minutes. Other than Tracy offering a bit less instruction, I'm not sure what makes it "intermediate" - all 3 of this routines are killer! But Tracy does add more weights to both the arm and the leg work here. The arms work is longer, about 5 mins unweighted, 3 mins with weights. For the mat work, Tracy uses ankle weights (I did NOT). This time she starts with a kneeling lunge before moving into the more traditional leg moves. I would say that this routine has a slightly more emphasis on the glutes.
Frankly, I would NOT call this a beginner DVD! Tracy seems to think that "beginner" means that she counts out all the reps. Still, I'm glad to have this DVD - if I can make it through one of Tracy's workouts, I feel accomplished.