I think they’ll put more workouts on the website when the new book comes out (: They aren’t doing a lot of press for it, which is unfortunate.. I have it on pre-order since June and I found out about it because I was looking for her PDS DVDs so I think when the release date comes closer they will do something to promote it and webepisodes will come with it

Hey everyone - I did a lot of dancing yesterday from her old dance aerobics dvd.  This leaves me looking for recommendations for great shoes and a fantastic, high performing sports bra!  I was reading back on page 20 here about the Bloch Boost dancing sneakers.  Those look good, especially since regular sneakers drag on the carpet, making the steps and turns more difficult.  Also, I’ve been reading about the Moving Comfort Fiona bra.  Usually I just layer two regular sports bras, but I’m kind of sick of that and it seems to constrict my breathing a bit. 

Any thoughts or recommendations?  Thanks!

whoa girls.. i found something fun.. there is a guy who “they” are calling the male tracy anderson. he has FREE webisodes each about 20 minutes long. his workout looks pretty good.  heres the link.  im gonna try them tonight.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xe849h_hamelin-dabell-method-workout1_lifestyle

torontomom:
new fitness guy — Hamelin D’abell — great workout!!  It gets my stamp of approval.  Very efficient.  He was in the Super Callanetics video when he was much younger, so he has a good fitness background for non-bulking exercise.  If he ever comes out w/ dvds, I’ll be first to buy them.

You said webisodes, plural — all I find is workout1.  Can you help me out here?  I’m not finding anything else, maybe a link?

Good luck w/ your trip to Cuba, my dad loved it back in the day, hope you have a great time!

torontomom:
Hammelin D’Abell has aleady removed his video of the workout1 from Daily Motion, so I will hop over to Facebook and see what I can see.  Love his material already.  Thanks!

Anyone else but me starting to notice how bulky other women might be?  l live is a strong running community and now that I have been doing TA for a while I can really tell a difference between my lines the lines of women who are clearly running miles and miles everyday and the ones who are lifting heavy weight.

I cannot beleive the difference in my body. This stuff is incredible!

torontomom and newbeginner - thanks for the encouraging comments about your results!  Some days it gets so frustrating that I can’t fast forward to the body I want, am too achy to do more right then, etc.  I do feel firmer, and have new lines of definition but want to lose some fat!!  But in the meantime, my husband walked by when I was doing standing abs and seemed to like the workout : ) .  Also, I got an email this morning that my copy of Tracy’s book has shipped!

I’d still love to hear recommendations for good shoes and sports bras for dance cardio.  Let me know if you have anything that’s working well.  Thanks!

KhoTran33- Where did you hear that Hammelin was in Super Callanetics?  He doesn’t look old enough to have been in that.  That’s awesome if it’s true as that is an awesome workout! 

torontomom- that’s it!  It is the most insane little workout!  Don’t let the looks of it deceive you, it’s soooo hard!  I did it Monday and could barely walk after.  My legs, hips, and butt are still sore today. I highly recommend buying it!

It’s total cheese but it’s so good!  Let me know how you like it!

Madonna_ann (and anyone else) did you get the book yet?  I got mine day before yesterday and plan on starting my 30 days on my birthday later this month (my boyfriend’s coming up to take me out the Saturday before then, and I know I won’t be adhearing to the plan, and I want to do it for real with no breaks so I have to wait ’til the 27th).  But I so want to start now!! 
Am almost too motivated.  I just wanted to hear what other people think of it…normally I spend hours reading reviews on amazon, but there aren’t many on there yet and 2 of them annoyed me.  Besides, I trust my fellow TA fans on here more than I do random people who appear to think that fresh vegetables are exotic ingredients.

slowdownbaby–
Me too!  I so want to do my own review of how it works rather than complain about how it’s too hard.  I mean, some of those people clearly just read the book and decided it was too difficult instead of trying it.  And I’m not sure why anyone’s surprised that a 30-day intensive program might be hard.  It’s not the rest of your life!  That said, I’m with you.  And since I don’t have tons of weight to lose (I actually don’t really need to lose weight, just get rid of bulk.  The vain person in me would enjoy a few fewer pounds) I think 4-6 work outs is just about right.  We’ll see.  Definately read the whole thing through first.  My only complaint so far is that I wish there were a shopping list.  I mean, there’s the meal plan and then after that there are the recipes in a different order, so there’s a lot of flipping–I plan on trying to get my mind off of how much I want to start now by going through and making shopping lists myself and typing up the meal plan for each day, so I can stick it on my fridge and not feel like I’m walking around with the book in my hand for 30 days in a row.
Wow.  That sentence did not need to be so long.  Sorry about that!

I’m not an actual vegetarian, but am moving that way, so I think I’ll be pretty much following that plan, but swapping out some of the tofu-heavy meals with the fish suggestions she makes.  I mean, no offense to anyone, but I know in my heart that I will not be cooking lamb.  I’ve eaten before (I am a hypocrite) but I know that if I brought it home and put it on my counter I’d be thinking, “oooh, the little lambikin!”  So no.  That’s the other reason I’m putting together each day’s meal plan on its own page–so I’ll remember what I want to swap.

Torontomom–to me, YES, the work dvd is worth it.  BUT-I’d advise you not to just go off what I say, because I know from reading your posts that you’re in a much different place than I am, in terms of TA-ing.  What I mean is, I just have the mat video, and nothing else.  I’ve promised myself I won’t buy any of her other ones until I really commit over time to just the mat.  I keep getting on and off the wagon, so I’ve never bought the PD series or the PP, even though I really want the PP (the PD ones don’t sound all that awesome).  On top of that, I’ve never bought the cardio dvds because I’m a big sissy, and every time I read about them I get afraid that I won’t be able to do them and am going to mess up my knees (I don’t have knee problems–knock wood–but I have an irrational fear that I will need knee surgery).  So I’ve confined myself when I do cardio–which is a little short of never–to either bouncing on my rebounder or dancing around to music.  My only computer is this one at work, so I’ve never seen/done any webisodes (they’re blocked and anyway, I couldn’t watch them at home).  So.  I have wanted to really get going with TA, but I understand the idea that you need to mix up work outs, and I love TA and don’t want to do a whole lot of someone else’s work out.  Anyway, so I love the dvd, because for less than buying 3 of her dvds, I get 3 new TA work outs (not all that hard but on a par with her mat), enough so that in the future, if I do what I’m wanting to, I can do the mat, and then alternate 10 days of one of the 3 on this new dvd.  I guess I think of it as new webisodes for me.  Isn’t it funny how magical you think something is that you can’t have?  That’s me–I sit around thinking, if only I had webisodes I wouldn’t have bulged out of my old jeans last week! 
The other great thing for me is we get the 2 10 minute cardio routines.  I know they’re a lot shorter than her full cardio dvds, but long ago I decided unseen that they weren’t for me.  Besides the worth of just my being able to do them as they are, I now know sort of what she means by dance cardio and know that I haven’t been doing it when I’ve been dancing around my apartment.  So that helps me too, because even without her other dvds now I can amp it up and dance on my own in a way that’s more what she’s thinking of.  I mean, no wonder I wasn’t losing weight despite doind “all that cardio”.  I know now that what I was doing was dancing like I would dance for real in public.  Now I see that it needs to involve actual jumping (though less than I feared) and constant movement as opposed to my casual grooving.
That’s why I think that you should check in with someone more on your level–I know you can do a lot more than me so the reasons I think the dvd is worth it are probably the same reasons you wouldn’t…
About that cardio, though.  I also like that she’s set it up so that you immediately follow along–no hard choreography stuff, because she doesn’t want you to spend a bunch of time stopping and starting to learn combos.  So it’s more of a suggestion that she does–she just does basic moves and so you get up and dance along.  There’s no talking, so you all of a sudden will see that she’s doing something else, and you can just move right into that.  I really  like that aspect, and think it will keep it from boring me–also knowing that I can sub in some different moves or the moves in another order, now that I know I can’t pat myself on the back for my low-key glorified sweatin’ to the oldies (during which I wouldn’t sweat). 
There is no background or anything and it’s in black and white (all of which is fine) but it’s almost like she’s an animated character dancing in a void.  And it was cracking me up, because sometimes it goes split screen so you get a close up of, say, her feet on one half and then full body on the other half.  Especially at those times (but really for the whole thing) I kept thinking it reminded me for those reasons of a C + C Music Factory video from the early ’90s.  So I was laughing and occasionally hollering out “everybody dance now!”  I swear, I half expected block letters saying “FREEDOM” to scroll across the screen randomly, or handsome, cut men in bike shorts to pop up and hold a bicycle wheel over their heads or something.
So, it was a fun, exhausting work out for me, but it made me feel old (whatever happened to C + C music factory?  Or music videos, anyway?)

Just like mimsy said, I think the dvds are worth it! Especially if you only do her workout and want diversity!

Toronotomom–

I can totally see that.  I tend to fool myself into thinking I’m working a lot harder than I am, so even these 2 cardios on the book dvd opened my eyes.  You know how people over-estimate how many calories they burn and under-estimate how many they eat?  That is sooo me.  Seeing her really do the dance made me much more accountable to the cardio (since that’s the part I really need yet really hate, that’s major).  I am still bouncing onto my rebounder occasionally (to care for my phantom knee problems), but I have noticed I am sweating a lot lot more!  Yea!
Right now I’m just focusing on doing the muscle and cardio work and being aware of what I’m eating, but then like I say I’m going to try some of the menu stuff.  I don’t have a scale, but am taking measurements and mentally remembering how a certain pair of jeans feel, so that will help me report back results.

mimsy:
Even though your post was long, it was so honest, I could really relate to it.  thank you so much for sharing.  That’s the great thing about this board, we help each other.

Tracy’s New Book, 30-Day Bootcamp:
:Love, love, love this book and the demo dvd that comes with it.  The cardio is much more approachable and reasonable for real people, and after seeing the way she does the toning movements in the book, you can just work from the book and don’t really need the dvd except now and again for reference.  Turn on some nice music while you do the toning.

Menus and Meal Plan:
Totally bonkers and not very good nutrition, so don’t worry about tossing this part of the plan out the window.  Definitely not enough protein to keep my blood sugar stabilized.  I wouldn’t recommend this to anybody, it’s not balanced at all.  The fact that she had to hire a chef to figure all this out should tell you everything you need to know.  The food recommendations are definitely the voice of Gwyneth Paltrow and not originally part of the Tracy Anderson Method at all.

When Gwyneth first met up with Tracy in 2007, Tracy was sitting in Gwyneth’s kitchen snacking on cookies that she was dipping into a can of frosting, and Gwyneth was on the phone to Madonna who at the time was her BFF — saying, “What are we going to do with her?”  because of the way she was eating.  Tracy was so confident in her method, and her dance cardio to take off the weight and keep it off, she was blatant about eating whatever she wanted. 

I find it ironic that in the beginning of the book she complains about the starvation diets the professional dancers, who move 8 hrs a day for a living, were expected to subsist on for the slender look — and then a starvation diet is exactly what makes its appearance in her book as recommendations for everybody else.  Hey, that dance cardio is what is supposed to free all of us from that kind of concentration camp dieting.  What a hoot. 

Well, like I say, just do the exercise method and don’t worry about any diet suggestions.  Unfortunately people are always looking to authorities to tell them what to do instead of listening to their own bodies, and back in the day when Tracy had her gym in Fishers, Indiana, she was giving people a subsistence diet that happened to come with a piece of fitness equipment she ordered through the mail for experimentation.  She has zero education in nutrition. 

Do you want a diet you can live with, for weight loss, that won’t conflict with an insanely busy schedule, and was put together by a registered dietician?  THE WALL STREET DIET.  You can get it in either book form or as an audio book if you don’t have time to read, and you have to commute, so you can listen to it in the car.  But I would still recommend the book for reference, it helps to be able to look at something.  The dietician who created The Wall Street Diet works closely with Physique 57 as well as Equinox in NYC.

Hope all you ladies have a lovely day.

Just a quick note! I tried the most minimal workout from the book (the stretches, the first mat sequence, and the first cardio segment) yesterday.  For me, the “thought experiments” and notes on “flow” are worth the price of the book.  I don’t think that five minute “dynamic stretch” (if I can call it that) routine is anywhere else in TAM media.  I instantly felt different, and the impact was, I could do things that usually make me feel like an invalid (sitting for long periods, repetitive motion) easily all day.  When I got out of bed this morning, it wasn’t after first wondering, “How do I do this?” and I didn’t feel it in my spine and hips as was typical.  Honestly, I had been thinking it was my mattress, or I’m just getting arthritic.  Today I don’t so much feel sore as I feel the small muscles around my spinal column.  The only phrase I can use for this feeling is the one she uses all the time, “waking up.”   Yay!!!

playvideo:
Thanks so very much for your post.  I had strayed from TAM in many respects, substituting Callanetics/Lotte Berk, plus other stuff.  I did the first mini-workout from the book last night also, and it felt so good after a day of sitting. 

However, in order to not overwork anything, which I have to be careful about at my age, I am going to alternate TAM with more traditional strength training.  That should cover ALL the bases, because it will be getting the primary “horse muscles” as TA calls them, plus the accessory muscles.   I love the cardio segments on the disc that comes with the book.  However, I will be alternating even those with a walking program, because I am also trying to get some poundage off hubby, and we have to have something we can do together.  Today we are going for a walk in the park because the weather is really nice for that.

I think Ta makes a lot of sense with the explanations that she gives about her method, and I wonder if the book had come first, maybe she wouldn’t be getting so much criticism.  However, dancers don’t usually tend to express themselves too well verbally, and verbal is what TV sound bites and the media are all about these days.  I honestly think she would do herself a favor to shut up and job out the spin doctoring.  I know exactly what TA means when I’m in the middle of a movement and I remember something she said in the book, and it’s like “”oh, OK, I get it” but people who have never tried her method are in a different camp.

Mimsy, you give new meaning to the phrase “don’t beat yourself up so hard about it”!

270.00 for groceries for week 1 of the 30 day method… Yikes

That’s good advice. I definitely can’t sustain that cost for 30 days. I did notice that some of the meals you can make up and freeze the left overs. Like the lunch meal on day 1 I got 4 portions out of at 8oz. I also bought as much as I could at the farmers market because the produce always lasts so much longer. I will have to make a few adjustments next week though and repeat things as you say because the cost is just a bit too steep for my small budget.

welcome sarita!

my only tip is to jump around until you get one of the moves down - then jump around until you get 2 moves - then try for 3 - and so on.. this takes a long time but if you think about it your still getting a cardio workout with the jumping and eventually you will be dancing.  if it looks anything like my dancing it will be horrifying, but you will be dancing - and dancing makes the fat go away!!

good luck!

Another TA Alternative Music Discovery. . .
The constant boom, boom, boom of the mechanical beat for the dance cardio sequences from the dvd that comes with her book really got on my last nerve, so I started experimenting.  Whaddya know — old-style disco does just fine.  For Cardio Sequence #1 I used YMCA and In The Navy, both by The Village People. 

You may also remember several months back, I discovered that for Dance Cardio 2008 her pace matched a cd of Charleston music I had. 

So there you have it.  Just proves one can still dance to the beat of a different drummer.

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!  Tracy has sent an email for a post-Thanksgiving Day workout! 

playvideo:
It’s so wonderful to hear about your results with the stretching.  A lot of people think stretching can’t possibly do any good, and it’s always a revelation as to what it does do!

Newbeginner2010:
I loved the book and the little dvd that came with it.  IMO it was helpful to have pictures and written descriptions to look at in addn to the dvd.  Loved the short, basic cardio on the dvd, too.

Your back:  Excessive crunches can injure and inflame the discs of the spine.  You need to do less reps, and balance crunching/piking with an equal amount of work to strengthen the back muscles, but don’t do anything at all until you recover.  For the back, do Locust from yoga, and what they call Supermans where you are either on your stomach or tabletop position, and lift R arm and L leg, then reverse.  You hold the lift as long as you can each time.

Don’t do anything more until your back is recovered, you might have to see a chiropractor to get thoroughly checked out.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to everyone!!!

Happy New Year Play-

I do think there is something to taking care of our spine. I did a pilates Video for 3 days instead of going to the chiro ( couldnt get in ) and now everything seems back to normal. I will buy the book. I think honestly I was doing the PP and the dance cardio and didnt stick with it long enough and stopped and started running and I think it was the lack of core work that caused issues in my back. That and even my own Dr was like can you please not run ? Now I do the Dance cardio on carpet so its not nearly as high impact as running…and I cant spin on carpet so I am not doing it “full” on. My plan for now is swimming and walking, and pilates…for a month then seeing if I can add back the TA…lessson learned you should not stop.

ON that issue I carry my weight in my tummy….I know you are supposed to switch up every 10 days…but do you all think if I kept at the PP it would be okay?

playvideo:
Thanks so much for your post!  I think you honestly telling about your experience with TA’s stretch series and how it made you feel, is a much more powerful endorsement of her method than anything somebody says about how it makes them look, or losing an inch here and there.  Really, we all have to live in our skins, and ultimately, how you feel will always be more important than how you look to somebody else.

I started Tracy Anderson Method 2 weeks ago and I’m loving it! but I have some questions.. I have the Mat dvd and the dance cardio. is it okay if i only use those two dvds? i have seen her say things like you shouldnt do the same workout over and over cause it creates bulk.. so is it ok that i only do those two? and which one should i do first? the cardio then do mat (i do them both almost every day) so which one should i start with? i also do the cardio barefoot because i do the dvds on a carpet and i cant spin or dance well with sneakers, is that ok? i have so many questions and there isnt enough info on her website.. help! please!

Hi jessicat:
I recommend you just get the regular Dance Cardio and learn the routines one by one.  In fact, if you can get somebody to rip it for you on your computer, you can put in chaptering.  In this day and age it’s nuts for somebody to charge $30 for an unchaptered dvd.   The beginner dance cardio is not too hot, and 3 of the 4 routines aren’t even by Tracy, they’re by people that teach for her.  You can’t do the routines all the way through, each one is its own little chapter.  so, the workout is not that great because of stopping and starting. 

The Dance Cardio II is chaptered, but the choreography is harder (supposedly) than in the first dance cardio.

Hope this helps!

Has anyone tried or heard anything about these Metamorphysis dvds?  I must admit I broke down and bought a set, because I just got engaged and really want to look fantastic next year!!

Hi! I have a question. I had a baby 3 months ago. I have 10 pounds of baby weight to lose, and I want to lose 10 more on top of that. I run and do a lot of mat work (like barre method etc.) but I am new to TAM. What workout should I do? Metamorphosis, Post-baby, or 30 day?

Also, has anyone ever done the workout plan but not the food plan? If so did the method still work or is the food component really important?

Thanks for the advice!