All in favor of looking like Gwyneth Paltrow in a mini skirt say ‘Aye’! Over the last three years, the leggy starlet has graced the red carpet in a plethora of high-hemmed frocks and many of us know why. The Oscar winning Paltrow owes her praised stems to none other than Ms. Tracey Anderson – former dancer turned fitness guru to the stars. But how can a mere mortal achieve similar results without their own dance studio and personal instructor? Why with Anderson’s latest regime, The Method, of course.
Learning that Anderson shared her techniques with the world via home video I decided to give it a try. After all, Gwyn’s gams put even the ‘we wear short shorts’ gals to shame. First up was the one-hour Mat regime involving many toning exercises. You simply require a chair and use it to perform several Pliés in an array of stances. Ok, not too bad. Then, arm movements that have you flipping and flapping back and forth with so many repetitions that I surely hovered off the floor for a nanosecond. Finishing with a few stretches, I felt fresh and lean and oh so ballerina-like. I was ready for the cardio portion and started the dance video.
Ok ladies, this is not for the easily distracted. You have to watch Anderson perform the routine and then mimic her steps to the best of your ability, all the while you’re told to perform the moves as if you were Madonna herself.
The difficulty occurs if you haven’t much space (my condo was not exactly conducive to the steps) so most likely you will have difficulty performing the moves. There are a number of routines. You receive the walk through, where Anderson recites the moves as she performs them. Following the instruction, she then dances you through the routines like a pro as you try to keep up – “step, step, hop hop, turn twice, 2 jumping jacks, skip, hop and again from the right.” I turned it off after the first routine. I simply could not keep up and was worried I’d break a lamp or stub my toe on the couch.
I do recommend the toning video, however. If you happen to have a larger area to perform the workouts then by all means include Anderson’s dance to your regime. Yet, in truth, it is not made for the city-living gal. In other words, unless I move into a penthouse or find a dance hall dedicated to The Method, my Gwyn gams are still a few hops, steps and sachets away.
Check out a piece of her video.
