Davina McCall - The Power Of 3 (DVD 2004)

This is an excellent work out which will leave you feeling like you've been run over by a bus the first couple of times but after that - WOW - you feel energised and refreshed, not to mention virtuous!

It consists of a warm up, with the usual stretches. A lower body workout which was obviously made up by Satan himself - if the squats don't kill you the lunges certainly will (only kidding, it is challenging but you soon get used to it). The upper body workout is excellent. You need a couple of weights and a chair to do tricep bends with. Again, its not easy - but its not supposed to be! Then you do an ab workout followed by a lovely cool down (my fave bit!)

Davina is actually quite good in it. Shes not overbearing, she lets the instructors get on with their job without any interfering. The instructors (Jackie and Mark) are very encouraging - one of them always does the 'easier' version for you to follow if you feel you need to catch your breath. They explain each move well and do 3 sets of everything so even if you do get a bit lost theres plenty of time to catch up. Its not one of those dancey numbers where you need a living room the size of a barnyard to do the complicated moves in. There are no complicated moves in this DVD - which is good news if you've got 2 left feet like me.

They do minute intervals of 'Fat Burning' throughout the DVD - 'only a minute' I hear you say? Just a tiny minute of fat burning? Well, yes, it is only 60 second bursts but OH MY GAWD, its 60 seconds of torture (well, ok - maybe a slight exageration!). Theres about four x one minute fat burning intervals in each section. They are tiring but really important if you want to lose fat as well as tone up. You DO get used to them - some I can do no problem, others I can only do half of - just go at your own pace and you'll be fine.

Overall this is one of the best exercise DVDs I have ever bought. I actually ENJOY doing it - which if you knew me would shock you to the core. I'm not a fitness freak - I prefer to sit on my arris eating chocolate, but due to that particular bad habit exercise is something I have had to take up whether I like it or not and this DVD just makes it a more enjoyable experience.