I was a bit hesitant to call this a “review” because I have not in fact tried the entire 30-Day Method (link to Amazon here). But I really want to talk about this book because I’ve been anticipating it for a few weeks now — and I’m a huge fan of her DVDs.

I’ve tried her Dance Cardio Workout and her Post-Pregnancy Workout and have been enjoying them very much. Her unique selling point is that her workouts focus on the accessory muscles that pull the muscles in, rather than bulk the primary muscles.

As mentioned, although she says that you should workout six days a week to reap the benefits of her method, I think I’ve seen small improvements by alternating between both DVDs twice to thrice a week, plus running on other days. After five weeks of this routine, I lost 1 kg, or 2 pounds, and the waistline of my “slimmer” jeans/pants feel okay again. I don’t really focus much on weight loss and am more concerned about losing the inches around my waist, arms, and thighs.

Her latest book clears up any speculation of how her method works and one of the things that surprised me was that she doesn’t encourage other types of cardio like running or spinning because the repetitive nature of working the major muscle groups actually make you look bigger, rather than smaller, in the long run. I took that with a pinch of salt as I’ve seen very slim long distance runners…

What I love about this book is that it comes with a DVD which has two 20-minute cardio sequences (less complicated than her Dance Cardio Workout) and demos of all the mat work exercises described in her book (there are photos that accompany the descriptions, too). For USD14.49, you get a lot of stuff.

Not only do you have the DVD, there is a nutritional plan and recipes all mapped out in detail, plus separate sections for those on a vegetarian diet that was a winning point with me.

However, the nutritional part of the book has been the most heavily criticized as being too skimp on calories. She actually encourages you to eat more if the portions are too small for you, so to me, there is some flexibility.

Some of the recipes look intriguing (veggie burgers made out of garbanzo beans, egg-white omelettes, and ratatouille, to name a few) but others like her choco blueberry pudding look dubious (made of semi-sweet chocolate chips, blueberries and unsweetened cocoa powder). Overall, the recipes look quick and simple to me, but others have complained that making food three times a day is too much for them. I think it would be too much for someone who is used to buying their food all the time, but since I work from home, I’m used to whipping stuff up in less than 10 minutes flat.

The one thing that stood out to me from beginning to end was that Tracy Anderson insists that you follow her method to the letter (“my way or the highway” she says) where the workout and diet become an automated process that should work its magic. I’m very wary of “gurus” who purport that their way is the only way, but I still really love her DVDs — they are chic, feminine, and fun — and becoming lean by working the accessory muscles makes sense to me.

Her 30-Day Method is divided into three 10-day cycles where there is a different set of mat work exercises for each cycle. This is perfect for me because I crave variety but there is a deeper reason behind this concept — new moves keep challenging different accessory muscles so your body would have to keep working at the same level of intensity ongoing. I’ve already done two sessions based on her first 10-day-cycle and the workout was HARD but I felt awesome afterwards.

Would I try out her 30-Day Method? I will definitely try parts of it but I’m not sure if I could keep up the full 30-Day program. I’m too much of a foodie and free spirit to stick to anything 110%. But my wedding in Sept next year is definitely a motivation to be more strict with an exercise regime to fit into a beautiful dress!

Lastly, would I recommend this book? Yes, but do read it with an open mind and the companion DVD alone is worth it.

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