Great workout DVD for older exerciser

When Dr. Tom Kleeman looked for an exercise video for himself, he was disappointed to find most are targeted at a younger audience craving six-pack abs.

That’s not what the orthopedic surgeon wanted. So he decided to create his own. With the help of his wife, Anne Talbot-Kleeman, a registered nurse and certified personal trainer, Kleeman created “MD Fitness: The Doctor’s Workout.”

It’s targeted at the over-40 crowd, people who want to retain muscle, strength and balance not because they are concerned with their looks, but so they can continue to lead active lives.

It’s a three-disc set; each disc has a 45-minute workout. You’ll need a mat and some small hand weights, but that’s it for equipment.

Each workout includes a variety of cardio, interval training, weights and balance (so important as we age) moves. Tom and Anne lead you through four different exercises and then repeat them before going to another set. There are five sequencs in each (as well as a warmup and cooldown), which makes it easy to stop and start the workouts when time is tight.

The first is a very basic one, great for anyone with limited mobility or someone who hasn’t worked out in a while (or, let’s face it, ever). The weights are small (one to three pounds) and the sequences simple and easy to follow.

The second and third discs increase the cardio and encourage participants to up the weight size they use (three to five pounds in level two; five to eight pounds in level three).

There are quite a few things I like about this set of DVDs. The explanations are very thorough; any newcomer could pick up this set and not feel overwhelmed. I like that in the first level moves are introduced then intensified in the subsequent discs. For instance, in the lunges. once they’ve reached level two they show how to lower the back knee and deepen the lunge to get more out of that move.

I love that they stress throughout that the reason we want to exercise and keep working out as we age is so we can continue to do everyday tasks. They will tell participants how different moves improve agility or balance.

And none of the routines are intricate. Classic exercise moves: pushups, planks. They do a number of exercises that combine stretching and strengthening, a two-for-one deal of sorts for those without a lot of time.

At one point Tom mentions how 80 percent of Americans have no exercise routine. If you fall in that category and/or are over 40, this is a wonderful place to start.

THE DETAILS:

MdFitness: The Doctor’s Workout

Time: 3 discs, each 45 minutes)

Price: $24.99)

Words to live up: “Remember, this is a building process.”

— Sue Ontiveros