The "Pilates method" of exercises focuses on strengthening the core abdominal and back muscles, resulting in better posture, greater flexibility, and a general improved sense of well-being. MTV Pilates, led by instructor Kristin McGee, offers a straightforward and useful workout following the Pilates method.

The 39-minute program has five parts: a warm-up, an abdominal series, a leg series, a back series, and a cool-down. I found the exercises to be easy to understand, as McGee does a nice job of explaining the positions and demonstrating them, and pleasantly challenging to perform. The program moves along at a reasonably fast pace, but it's not rushed; each of the exercises is performed for several repetitions before moving on to the next one.

Accompanying McGee are three other participants, who are intended to demonstrate the beginner, intermediate, and advanced options for some of the exercises (McGee herself performs the advanced moves as well). It's a good idea in theory, but less useful in practice, because the camera doesn't show enough of the other participants to get much of a sense of how they're doing things differently. Fortunately, McGee's explanations on how to make a given move easier are clear enough even without seeing it. The camera work in general is not ideal; while it does a good job of focusing on McGee and showing what she's doing, we often get odd angles and tilting of the camera... not exactly what I'm looking for in an exercise program where I want to see exactly how the instructor's body is posed!

All in all, MTV Pilates is a good choice for viewers who are interested in a regular at-home Pilates workout. The exercises are effective (I certainly felt my "core abdominals" working!) and nicely varied. The one thing I'd recommend is doing a bit of stretching and loosening up beforehand, which will make it easier to do the moves correctly. The repeat viewing value of the program is quite high, as there are three options for the audio track: the default instructor plus music, instructor only, and music only. The music is quite innocuous and never gets in the way of McGee's instructions, so the instructor-only track probably won't get much use, but once you understand the moves well, the music-only track will be a good choice.

The DVD

Video

MTV Pilates is presented in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio, and looks quite nice. The image is clean and attractive, if not extremely sharp, and colors look very good. Skin tones are natural, and bright colors are clean and vibrant.

Audio

The Dolby 2.0 soundtrack is also very good, with instructor McGee's voice always clear and easy to understand. The music in the background is understated and never gets in the way. Overall it's a clean-sounding track. Viewers also have the option of soundtracks with just the instructor, and just the music.

Extras

One excellent special feature is a section of "position breakdowns." For eight of the more difficult moves used in MTV Pilates, we get a text description of the exercise and an explanation of what the benefits are of that exercise, as well as a video clip of McGee explaining and demonstrating the move in more detail than she provides in the main workout. This is really a very well-thought-out feature that will allow new viewers to feel confident about doing the moves correctly. A "play all" feature runs all eight of the video clips together, for a total of about five minutes of footage.

We also get a short text biography of McGee, and a preview of MTV Yoga.

Final thoughts

If you're interested in doing Pilates workouts at home, then MTV Pilates is an excellent choice. Kristin McGee offers a clearly explained, well-thought-out workout that focuses on the core abdominal and back muscles, and has a high repeat viewing value. Recommended.