Pick an Excuse: The 8 Most Common Excuses for not doing the Tracy Anderson Method

This is a post that I have been thinking about for a while now. As you know I am a big fan of the results you can achieve with the help of Tracy Anderson’s work, and it’s the reason I am doing her Metamorphosis Omnicentric program. But the comments you can find on Amazon, were the real reason I wanted to document my journey for you. 

When I started out with Tracy Anderson two years ago, I was worried that I had bought yet another fad. Now, after two years of personal experience, reading those comments that made me so unsure back then, now make me feel angry.  I don’t want to defend any deficiencies or mistakes, but I want to oppose some of the “expert” comments you can find out there. I don’t accept half-truths, or even blatant lies from people who are either uninformed, or following their own agenda.

I really don’t want to sound mean or sarcastic, but I really hate it when we are fed lies about something. 

You can think about TA what you want, but this thought should be based on truth and experience, not crap.

 In order to give you a different perspective on some of the most common excuses and truths, here are my thoughts on the subject:

Excuse 1#: The choreography is too hard; don’t even try!

This is the most frequent complaint that I have come across on Amazon and it is often given by alleged master-class dancers, with at least 50 years of experience (sorry for the sarcasm).

Please don’t let this half-hearted complaint discourage you. 

Yes, it could be that you find the dances tricky at first, and you might need some time to get into the choreography. So what? Just be patient with yourself and learn as you go. I did nothing else. There is no expectation that you need to know all the dances by heart after your first day.  

Don’t let any self-proclaimed dancing experts, who couldn’t figure out the choreography of the first dance in two weeks, be the judges of your capability! 

If you give yourself some time, you’ll soon be flying through the routines.

Personal Experience: 

It took me about two weeks to learn all 8 dances on one cardio DVD, so that I could really start performing them. I just enjoyed learning them and dancing, no matter how bad it might’ve looked at first. 

In order to learn the choreography, I started looking at the combination breakdown of the first dance once and then started the actual routine. I just hopped through the room trying to follow her steps and free-styled whenever I couldn’t follow. The next day I did the same thing with the second dance and added the first dance from the day before. This way I learnt the new choreographies, while constantly repeating the others and slowly increasing time and effort needed to do the workout.

Excuse/Truth 2#: The DVD’s are badly made and the instructions are confusing and frustrating

“The standing abs is hard to follow. She just moves and expects you to do the same without telling you what she is doing.”

“This DVD is one long DVD that has No OPTIONS. If you have to stop for any such reason, you can’t get Back to where you were by Fast forwarding. When You Push Fast Forward it goes back to menu!”

This is an issue that I have noticed myself starting out with the DVDs. Tracy doesn’t give many instructions on her DVD’s, and getting started can be a little harder than with other workouts. Many women who said that they had experience with instructions on DVDs, expressed that Tracy gave bad and unprofessional instructions. 

Since I don’t have that sort of knowledge, I can only speak for myself. I can understand why some women might have a problem with the way she breaks down her dances, or how she just moves through the workout without saying a word.

Personal Experience: 

I know that this might bother some people, but I didn’t really care. I learnt the dances by watching her, and the same goes for the workout. After you’ve done the exercises for a few days, you’ll know the routines by heart anyway. This is where I was very happy that she didn’t talk all the time. You are supposed to do her workouts six times a week for at least 30 days, and I was already annoyed enough by what she said after a week.

It is true that she does not give instructions like on other DVDs, but: Is that really the reason you cannot benefit from her otherwise good materials?

Excuse/Truth 3#: There are mistakes on her DVDs

On the dance cardio of the triple DVD-set, there are obvious mistakes in the third and fourth dance routine. Tracy leaves out some steps, or continues with a different part of the dance. Although unusual for a professional workout DVD, these mistakes are not as profound as others would let you think. Yes they are annoying because you paid money for something that you expected to be finished and flawless, but they are not so bad that you couldn’t profit from the product.

Personal Experience: 

At first the mistakes were confusing and I thought I had missed something. But, the better I got with the dances, the less I cared, and the less it bothered me. I would either copy her mistake to be able to synchronize with her moves, or I would just continue with the correct routine on my own. At some point I looked forward to the mistakes, because they told me how much longer I still had to dance J

There are definitely some flaws on her DVDs, where as a paying customer you would wish that she took more care before publicizing her workouts. Yet, even though they might be a little annoying at first, the flaws have nothing to do with the effect of her workouts. 

Basically, you have three choices:

1.         You can refrain from buying the DVD because it’s not perfect
2.         You can buy the DVD and use the flaws as an excuse to not do the workout
3.  3.   You can just ignore the flaws since they don’t impact anything and just benefit from her work

Option three has worked perfectly well for me so far J

The DVDs aren’t perfect, but the content is good. Even if the only thing you take away from her is the desire to look and feel like a real woman, I’m already happy.

Excuse 4#: She is constantly checking herself out

"I did not like the style of the video in that Tracy Anderson was more concerned about how cute she was instead of making an effort to put together a professional video"

Really? Is this what is keeping you from taking care of your body?

I can totally understand that we identify with different instructors and workout styles, but I love how so many complain about how she looks at herself. She actually mentions this in her book. 

While doing a class-session, one of the women just walks out. After Tracy asks for the reason, one of the women explains that this other women just didn’t want to do this workout with an instructor who was constantly checking herself out. Tracy responds that she looks at herself so closely, in order execute her movements perfectly. She wants to do the movements as accurate and focused as possible, which means she is constantly checking her posture and the details of her exercise.

Personal Experience: 

I remember that I though she always looked very serious, until I started one of her other DVDs. In the cardio with her other master-trainers, she is all smiles and motivation, while in the workout she is just being normal. I personally don’t like the grinning, hyper-motivated instructors; they just get on my nerves after awhile. 

For me Tracy just looks like I do while working out. Normal. (Although she looks slightly more concentrated) In the cardio part of the metamorphosis program, Tracy looks very sweet, genuine and is smiling in a pleasant way. 

In the workout, however, she just gets down to work. No need to grin all the time.

If you don’t like her personality and think you can’t overcome your aversion towards her in order to benefit from her products, then it’s totally fine to look for someone else. 

But please don’t discourage other women who could really enjoy her work, just because you don’t like the way she looks.

Excuse 5#: I don’t have enough space

As with every cardio or aerobics routine, the more space you have to throw yourself about, the better! The cardio section is particularly important for the TA workouts, as it makes up an entire half of your workout. But even for TA, it isn’t necessary to have a huge amount of space.

 I do the routine without any major problems in a space of approx. 4.5m². Before I moved into the apartment I am currently living in, I did the cardio in a space of approx. 3m². If you don’t have a huge amount of space, it just means you can’t be as elaborate in your movements as when you have more space. 

I think most of us have at least enough space to do the cardio on a smaller scale and more controlled, otherwise a dance cardio DVD, or elaborate aerobics routine, wasn't the wisest purchase.

Personal Experience:

 Although I sometimes wish that I had more space, I can do the cardio perfectly fine in the space I have. Instead of moving through the room like Tracy does, I just stay on the spot and try to put as much power into my movements as possible.

Excuse 6#: I’m an emancipated woman, who is she to tell me I shouldn’t use more than 3 pound weights?

If you look at the core principles of the TA method, you will understand why she advises no more than 3 pound weights. Her program is built to create a feminine body, without excess bulk. 

In the first workout week of metamorphosis, she actually explains why she doesn’t want you to use more than 3 pound weights: If you use more than 3 pound weights, your muscles will bulk. This means higher maintenance of your muscles when you are older. If you have bulky muscles and stop working out at the same level, your skin will start sagging. Fair enough. I thought that was a pretty reasonable explanation. 

Don’t forget that she is selling you her product: A body like hers. 

In order to achieve this body, don’t use heavier weights. If you don’t want her arms, but a more masculine definition, then just take heavier weights. In order to see the results that she has planned with her workouts, keep to what she is saying. If you want to do your own thing, just ignore what you don’t need.

Do what feels right for you and see her instructions as a guideline to the body you want.

Excuse 7#: Her music is awful

“ […] Same with her music choice. I particularly love her music choice in most songs (especially warm up dance 5 and 6) but can understand why others wouldn’t. For those of you don’t get too frustrated just learn her dances and then put your own music on a stereo recorder, turn it loud, and dance the routines to the music that inspires you!”

I am sorry that I don’t know who this is from originally, but I think she said all that needs to be said regarding this subject.

Excuse 8#: Tracy’s workout makes you look like a 2x4

“WARNING! The T Anderson method is bogus. She builds up the waist to make big hips look narrow and the waist to hip ratio is then gone. She decreases the size of the legs and makes the glutes vanish until her clients look square coming and going.”

I don’t remember the name of this person, but I remember it was a guy who had never done the workout, nor accurate research. 

As I have said above, Tracy is selling you her body vision as a designer. Her workout and diet reduce body fat and pull the larger muscle groups together, so that the result will be an “ideal” body. If you have large hips, they will not look narrower, nor will the hip to shoulder ratio change. Female curves consist of fat, if you lose fat, your curves will get smaller.

If you do the program with a healthy attitude and loving eye towards your body, you will know when to stop and be content with your results.

Personal Experience: 

I have never had a problem with the workout results; I just felt more exercised and toned. I have an hourglass figure, and that didn’t even change after I did TA for two months. I think there is no need to worry about a result that requires more dedication and commitment than most of us are willing to give. 

The person I quoted above mentioned Gwenyth Paltrow as an example for a ruined body. Have a look at her on Google and decide for yourself.

This is it for my first compilation of excuses you can chose from if you are looking for a reason not to do the TAM. J

Of course you are free to do whatever exercise you want, but remember to be critical of all the expert comments you will find on the internet. Don’t accept everything for face value, and just take what you need in order to be successful. While reading the comments on Amazon, I tried to consider every complaint and compliment and tried to present it to you with my honest opinion.

Tracy’s program is not a quick fix and your results are directly tied to the amount of effort you invest. You can’t have cheat days every day, exercise only two or three days a week for less than half an hour and expect massive results. You need to make your own choices and adapt the workouts to your needs, but still be honest and critical towards yourself. It is good to be forgiving, but don’t be too easy on yourself either. The TAM is just an additional possibility to get to the body you want. It’s one of many great workouts out there, but you need to give them a chance and do the work.

I don’t know why people write what they write, some are honest, frustrated, jealous, just mean, etc. I don’t know. But this is the reason why I am testing the Method. I want to be an honest source of information, so that you can add my experiences and reports to your own research and complete your opinion.  

The workout has never been the reason for my exercise failures, my excuses have. 

 Thoughts?

Love, 

Shauna