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Review: Tracy Anderson's 30-Day Method
Posted on Sep 24th 2010 11:00AM by Kristen SeymourFiled Under: Fitness
Tracy Anderson is well-known in the fitness world for her coveted celebrity client list and bold claims. Besides working with Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Courteney Cox and Shakira, Anderson has studios on both coasts and a slew of DVDs for at-home clients. And now, Anderson has a new book with accompanying DVD: "Tracy Anderson's 30-Day Method: the Weight-Loss Kick-Start That Makes Perfection Possible."
The Tracy Anderson Method has earned quite the following because of its aim to not just tone bodies but also make them smaller, more like a dancer's body. Anderson has spent the last decade researching how to activate the accessory muscles, so rather than strengthening and adding bulk to major muscle groups, you're developing "the smaller muscles around the bigger ones, contracting and pulling them in without creating the trauma that causes them to build bulk, so you tighten in instead of building out," according to the book.
The book describes in detail the three aspects of the 30-Day Method. First, you have Muscle Design Work, which is comprised of three 10-day sequences to keep your muscles guessing. The number of reps you do depends on your level of fitness, but eventually you'll work up to 60 reps for each exercise. Muscle Design Work is explained (with pictures) in the book and is shown on the DVD (but you're not led through the workout -- she just shows each exercise on one side for a moment to give you the idea).
Then you have the Cardio Complement, which utilizes a range of motions and keeps you constantly moving. The Cardio Complement consists of two 10-minute dances on the DVD. Beginners can start by just step-touching for 10 minutes at a time, but you can move up to the complete moves, jumping included, for up to 60 minutes. A plan for working up to this is detailed in the book.
The final element in the 30-Day Method is the meal plan. Anderson provides a daily meal plan for 25 days, including recipes for everything on the menu. Meals such as roasted eggplant lasagna and sweet potato silver dollar pancakes mingle with choco blueberry pudding and ratatouille with escarole salad. The final five days are left for a Performance Cleanse, designed to give you the best results possible, according to Anderson. For the cleanse, you eat sweet and savory purees, soups, and puddings. Again, all recipes are included in the book.
Level of Difficulty
Workout: Variable -- there's little you wouldn't be able to do with modifications as a beginner, but by upping the reps and time, it becomes more advanced. Diet plan: Advanced -- this requires a real commitment but will fill you with tasty and truly nutritious foods.
Post-Workout Soreness
Mild, but I didn't do it every day for 30 days.
Who's It For?
Those looking for a "teeny tiny dancer body."
Likes
The book is more than just a how-to manual and provides more than just workouts and meal plans. It really explains not only why Anderson created her method but also goes into how the workout targets the accessory muscles and why doing so gets results. Between the book's descriptions of the workouts and the visuals provided on the DVD, it's not hard to do the moves properly. And as far as the meal plans go, everything is detailed for you, recipes included. She even offers a vegetarian meal plan option.
Anderson really did a great job of incorporating information from her past to make herself a bit more accessible. She's not just a hotshot celebrity trainer -- she's a former dancer whose weight seriously affected her dreams. It's no wonder she was motivated to find answers and share what she learned with other women looking to slim down.
Dislikes and Concerns
While I understand that this is designed to be a hardcore 30-day program to dramatically change your body, it's not a program I would be able to do because Anderson demands that you do only her workouts and no others in order to get results. If your only purpose in exercising is to burn calories and shape your body, that's great. However, I enjoy running and swimming and playing volleyball -- giving all of that up for a month would be absolutely painful.
My other concern is the meal plan. You're certainly keeping your calorie consumption quite low, but I don't think it's unhealthy. I'm more concerned about some of the ingredients -- there were things even I haven't heard of, and I do a lot of shopping in local health food stores. I don't doubt that they're available, but I worry that someone new to healthy eating and fitness might take one look at the ingredient list and be too intimidated to continue.
The last issue I have is with the dance portion of the DVD. I expected something amazing, considering Anderson's dance background, but not only does the dancing seem totally unstructured, it actually cuts from Anderson doing one move to something totally different with no cueing -- there's no possible way to keep up with that, which made me feel highly uncoordinated. (And I'm not.)
Bottom Line
There's no doubt in my mind that if you commit to this 30-day program and stick with it, you'll see a huge change in your body. But commit is the operative word. You'll be committing 60 to 90 minutes a day to the workout, and you'll need to plan your meals to ensure you don't slip up on the meal plan. I'd love to hear from a regular person (i.e., not a celebrity who can schedule their work around workouts and have a chef prepare meals) who's completed this entire program to find out what they thought.
Which pint-sized and perky morning talk show host is a fan of Anderson's? Check out how Kelly Ripa incorporates the Tracy Anderson Method into her workouts.
The Tracy Anderson Method has earned quite the following because of its aim to not just tone bodies but also make them smaller, more like a dancer's body. Anderson has spent the last decade researching how to activate the accessory muscles, so rather than strengthening and adding bulk to major muscle groups, you're developing "the smaller muscles around the bigger ones, contracting and pulling them in without creating the trauma that causes them to build bulk, so you tighten in instead of building out," according to the book.
The book describes in detail the three aspects of the 30-Day Method. First, you have Muscle Design Work, which is comprised of three 10-day sequences to keep your muscles guessing. The number of reps you do depends on your level of fitness, but eventually you'll work up to 60 reps for each exercise. Muscle Design Work is explained (with pictures) in the book and is shown on the DVD (but you're not led through the workout -- she just shows each exercise on one side for a moment to give you the idea).
Then you have the Cardio Complement, which utilizes a range of motions and keeps you constantly moving. The Cardio Complement consists of two 10-minute dances on the DVD. Beginners can start by just step-touching for 10 minutes at a time, but you can move up to the complete moves, jumping included, for up to 60 minutes. A plan for working up to this is detailed in the book.
The final element in the 30-Day Method is the meal plan. Anderson provides a daily meal plan for 25 days, including recipes for everything on the menu. Meals such as roasted eggplant lasagna and sweet potato silver dollar pancakes mingle with choco blueberry pudding and ratatouille with escarole salad. The final five days are left for a Performance Cleanse, designed to give you the best results possible, according to Anderson. For the cleanse, you eat sweet and savory purees, soups, and puddings. Again, all recipes are included in the book.
Level of Difficulty
Workout: Variable -- there's little you wouldn't be able to do with modifications as a beginner, but by upping the reps and time, it becomes more advanced. Diet plan: Advanced -- this requires a real commitment but will fill you with tasty and truly nutritious foods.
Post-Workout Soreness
Mild, but I didn't do it every day for 30 days.
Who's It For?
Those looking for a "teeny tiny dancer body."
Likes
The book is more than just a how-to manual and provides more than just workouts and meal plans. It really explains not only why Anderson created her method but also goes into how the workout targets the accessory muscles and why doing so gets results. Between the book's descriptions of the workouts and the visuals provided on the DVD, it's not hard to do the moves properly. And as far as the meal plans go, everything is detailed for you, recipes included. She even offers a vegetarian meal plan option.
Anderson really did a great job of incorporating information from her past to make herself a bit more accessible. She's not just a hotshot celebrity trainer -- she's a former dancer whose weight seriously affected her dreams. It's no wonder she was motivated to find answers and share what she learned with other women looking to slim down.
Dislikes and Concerns
While I understand that this is designed to be a hardcore 30-day program to dramatically change your body, it's not a program I would be able to do because Anderson demands that you do only her workouts and no others in order to get results. If your only purpose in exercising is to burn calories and shape your body, that's great. However, I enjoy running and swimming and playing volleyball -- giving all of that up for a month would be absolutely painful.
My other concern is the meal plan. You're certainly keeping your calorie consumption quite low, but I don't think it's unhealthy. I'm more concerned about some of the ingredients -- there were things even I haven't heard of, and I do a lot of shopping in local health food stores. I don't doubt that they're available, but I worry that someone new to healthy eating and fitness might take one look at the ingredient list and be too intimidated to continue.
The last issue I have is with the dance portion of the DVD. I expected something amazing, considering Anderson's dance background, but not only does the dancing seem totally unstructured, it actually cuts from Anderson doing one move to something totally different with no cueing -- there's no possible way to keep up with that, which made me feel highly uncoordinated. (And I'm not.)
Bottom Line
There's no doubt in my mind that if you commit to this 30-day program and stick with it, you'll see a huge change in your body. But commit is the operative word. You'll be committing 60 to 90 minutes a day to the workout, and you'll need to plan your meals to ensure you don't slip up on the meal plan. I'd love to hear from a regular person (i.e., not a celebrity who can schedule their work around workouts and have a chef prepare meals) who's completed this entire program to find out what they thought.
Which pint-sized and perky morning talk show host is a fan of Anderson's? Check out how Kelly Ripa incorporates the Tracy Anderson Method into her workouts.
