The Charge

Three levels for a workout that fits you perfectly!

The Case

In concept, Pick Your Level: Fat to Firm Fast is a nifty idea for a workout video. Stott-certified Pilates instructor and fitness studio owner Michelle Dozois is essentially giving you three 45-minute workouts for the price of one. The workouts—one for beginners, another for intermediates, and a third for the more advanced—run concurrently. Three for the price of one? Sounds like an economical choice, particularly for newbies.

Dozois deserves credit for trying to offer one workout DVD that can benefit people of varying fitness levels, but the result is a program that is hard to follow. Dozois has her work cut out for her juggling instructions for all three levels while leading the intermediate group. She does it well. The problem is in how the program is edited. It constantly switches away from Dozois to her two assistants, who are on hand to demonstrate variations for the other difficulty levels. Sometimes, the screen splits into two or even three windows to show all three difficulty levels simultaneously. I spent the entire workout watching windows open, close and circle each other. Most of my concentration was focused on trying to follow my chosen track. That's a lot to ask of someone during a workout. It's confusing and frustrating, a bad combination for a workout DVD.

If you can keep it all straight, you'll get a fair workout, but this disc definitely falls on the lighter end in terms of intensity. Between the warmup and cooldown, the program moves through four circuit workouts that targets all major muscle groups and incorporates enough cardio to help you break a light sweat. You'll need light dumbbells for some segments.

Pick Your Level: Fat to Firm Fast is presented in full frame with Dolby stereo sound. No extras.

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