VF Hall of Shame: Vote here!

[patchworkpenguin]

After reading blurbs of this thread to my husband he wanted me to add ABC's of Couples Fitness. I rented this one from Netflix in the hopes of getting him involved in exercise. We stuck it in the machine, started watching, and I sat there with a horrified look on my face laughing nervously. He wanted to invite his friends over and watch it over a few beers. He doesn't even drink beer! He called it faux-porn! The workout itself may be of merit but the music, setting, {a bedroom}, and the expressions. Ugh. I kept hoping it would get better. It didn't. This COULD have been a soooo much better, but its impossible to take seriously.

[laurajhawk]

I got "Better Sex through Yoga" from my public library awhile back. It wasn't great yoga, and it didn't seem like anything that would improve your sex life, but it *did* have the production values of a bad porn video.

[patchworkpenguin]

Laurajhawk- Is it me or did we kill this thread?

[antbuko]

You haven't killed the thread, Penguin. I think a lot of people have posted their Hall of Shame favorites already. I haven't come across a real stinker in awhile.

[dmhammy]

I have a couple stinkers to report.

I bought a dvd of ebay called hot yoga:Sizzling basics for men & women. I was teaching a yoga class at the junior high at the time and thought I'd use it. I was introducing the kids to different styles of yoga.

Well, it was not what I thought it was. Its 3 men in nuttin but thongs on a blanket outside, side by side. I think it was made to appeal to gay men. I only watched about 3 minutes of it before I turned it off. Glad I previewed it before bringing it to class. Needlesstosay we didn't do that style of yoga (whatever style that would be).

Another stinker is Aerochi. Its tai chi meets modern dance or something like that. Its a lady in the middle and a bunch of others doing the moves around her. They come in real close to her; it was like a tae chi/modern dance orgy lol. To me it was just plain weird.

These 2 dvd's made me an advid review reader.

Dawn

[Peachy720]

There's two that kill me:

1. The Goddess Workout by Dolphina (Bellydancing): The camera is stuck on her chest up for more than half of the video, so I had no idea how I was supposed to be moving my hips and legs. Also, NO sweat factor, whatsoever.

2. Kick Butt, on the 10 best workouts. This is the one workout I've tried on it. I'm finally getting endurance and enthusiastic about working out. Trying to conquer my fear of kickboxing (Memories of trying the original Tae-Bo and literally crying when Billy would shout "double time" and being on the floor for a half-hour afterwards. So I tried this one. You could never hear "the instructor." There was no way to tell what was coming next. Oh well, at least Kristoff is hot. [edit: I will try Tae-Fit though, eventually, I've heard good things of that one]

[laurajhawk]

Originally Posted by dmhammy

Well, it was not what I thought it was. Its 3 men in nuttin but thongs on a blanket outside, side by side.

Every time I search on "yoga" at DeepDiscountDVD.com, I'm inundated with "Hot Nude Yoga". Gay Hot Nude Yoga, New Improved Hot Nude Yoga, Hotter Hot Nude Yoga. For all I know these could be great yoga programs (ok, but I assume they're not! ), but it's really embarrassing when I'm sneaking in a little video shopping at work and these things pop up on my screen!

[Conni]

I also liked David Gray, and I did his workouts alot in the eighties.
I also liked the Jane Fonda Pregnancy Workout. I did that alot when I was expecting, and the breathing exercises really helped me.

Now, the Aerobicise workouts on Showtime were porn!

[KarenJo]

And I have AeroChi and still do it occasionally. I file it with my NIA-type cardio as it's in that general style. She's a bit too artsy cool but I've seen worse and the workout itself and the production are good.

I think it's just hard for people to separate out their personal feelings from the quality of the video itself when they have a really strong reaction to it.

Karen N did put together a compilation tape of many of these for some VF get-togethers back in the day. That was pre-DVD. The Sports Illustrated workouts were not on it because people were actually using them at the time. Zack Lee, Greer, the 20 Minute ladies, Maria in her heels, and Zsa Zsa were.

This was also back when Collage boasted they carried something like 258 exercise videos and didn't have clips on-line, but could at least be counted on not to carry the worst of the bad 90s stuff. The biggest thing I get from this list is a sense of how far the industry has come from the era in which people paid as much for a Firm VHS as for the TV they played it on because the alternatives were so few and so often truely horrid.

[horsemom2]

I have the Aerochis and also have always liked them.

Maybe if the TAs had never been seen before and were shown at a VF gathering now,
most would have the same negative reaction to them.


Barb S
whose workout treasures are often other people's trash
and vica versa