Yoga for Weight Loss for Beginners DVD Review

by Natalie Belford

Overall Rating:

Retail Price: $19.99

Beginning with an excellent introduction and a highly informative overview of yoga’s purpose, goals, and methods Maggie Rhoades (the instructor) takes the viewer on a challenging and highly instructive tour in the Yoga for Weight Loss for Beginners DVD.

She offers routines for beginners, demonstrating in a step-by-step manner many basic poses. She not only explains how to do each pose but she tells us the benefits of each.

This is a beautifully done video that has well described routines that are easy to follow. The photography is beautiful and the progression is great, with many routines. One is able to progress and add additional strength building routines.

This DVD has been in my library for a while now and I find different uses for it all the time. With the individual programs running from 15-60+ minutes, I can use the DVD for whatever my needs and time constraints are for that day.

I often find myself using the “weights and resistance” programs without the additional equipment just because I like the poses and time limits in that section.

I also really enjoy the flowing aspect of the video. So many of the yoga videos I’ve seen make you stop and start your workout…They show you one pose and then they stop to talk about it. I find this annoying because if you want a continuous practice, you have to fast forward through the explanations.

Maggie Rhoades incorporates the explanations into the poses, for example, while you’re holding downward facing dog for 5 full breaths, she talks about the benefits of the pose, moving more fully into the pose, etc.

Maggie provides good cueing and the longer routines provide a good workout that you feel. It is not a cardio or sweating type workout (though I do sweat a bit) but more of a focused flow on the muscles and the weights add some more toning.

The sun salutation pose... something you'll do in this workout

The routines on this DVD aren’t complicated. Very straight forward and well instructed. Sun Salutation takes you through using every muscle group, works strength, balance and flexibility. It’s an all-around great yoga practice.

Adding in the hand weights or the resistance band gives you more challenge for balance, stretches you just a bit further and adds more strength and toning benefits. Overall this is a solid yoga program to add any fitness routine.

All in all, this is a DVD to add in to your workout program even if you aren’t trying to lose weight. I really like Sun Salutations which is my favorite all around yoga practice. It gets every part of you body energized and uses all your muscles.

If you’re more of a workout person then a yoga person I think you’ll like it too – it is more focused on working out than meditation. The workouts with weights also add challenge.

My only criticism is that I find the title a little misleading; the workout may just be a bit too slow and the selected poses not difficult enough to burn enough calroeis to actually lose a good amount of weight. There also isn’t too much focus on the ’spiritual’ aspects of Yoga, the focus is on the moves itself and less of developing an atmosphere.

Final Verdict: A Good All-Rounded Yoga Workout

This is a wonderful DVD that offers a wide-range of workouts for both the beginner and more in shape person. There are traditional yoga poses done in very challenging ways and some more interesting things that spice up the workouts. Overall I find this a very rewarding DVD that has helped me shed a few pounds while leaving me very relaxed afterwards.

This DVD really is a bit advanced for a true beginner in yoga but I found that it is well worth the challenge of learing it at the pace they provide. It really is a wonderful DVD. I would recommend it to anyone even a beginner as long as they are willing to put in the work.

Click here to order ‘Yoga For Weight Loss for Beginners’ from Amazon.com