Recipe of the Week

Fun, Facts & Fitness from Mary Morris MSc.

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I have exceedingly fond memories of making exercise videos with Rosemary. The planning always began months earlier with two things top of the list... selecting the very best 'troupe' to accompany Rosemary and choosing great pieces of music to motivate followers to exercise and enjoy it! On both of those counts we went to a lot of trouble to help make the video the best it could be but we were fortunate. We had no shortage of volunteers of amazing backing dancers and the video producers were prepared to spend money on quality music.

I first met Rosemary at a television studio where I had been asked, as Chief Verifier for the RSA, (the institution that set the gold standard for exercise teachers), to join a panel on the stage discussing the pros and cons of home exercise videos. However, as I have learned is so often the case in television, I had been slightly misled by the researcher. In fact, I was expected to express my complete and utter disapproval of home exercise videos, which was certainly not the case and which I was not prepared to do – and I said so! I was then unceremoniously moved to the audience where I was unlikely to cause any trouble!  

The programme was a bit of a shambles, I have to say, but both Rosemary and I came out of the experience confident that we had won the argument in favour of fitness videos, providing they were put together and delivered with the safety of the participant being paramount. In that case it was a good thing, as it meant the general population, and particularly women, would be exercising more. 

Having run a private Health Club for many years I was aware of the reluctance of many people, and again, particularly women, to enter the intimidating environment of a gym, with the preconception that it was only for the 'body beautiful'. Therefore, the need for an opportunity for those many people who needed to exercise (but didn't) was necessary, and the comfort of their own home offered a safe and far less intimidating environment in which to get them moving. That was more than 30 years ago and thankfully today this has moved on considerably, with all age groups and differing abilities more likely to join a gym.

However, there are some points that need a mention about the potential risks of using a home exercise video:

1. Remember, the instructor cannot see you (a bit obvious I know)!
2. Injuries can occur from poor execution of the exercises.
3. Home exercisers can work too hard when they are not fit enough to do so.
4. You can bump into the furniture!

So, the planning and choreography of each video needed to take all these important facts into account. As Head of Training for the Rosemary Conley organisation I was training teachers who were to be working with a high-risk group, as the expectation was that they would possibly be very overweight and may possibly have a multitude of health problems. 

That's when the 'Ethel and Susie' workout was created. The need to split a group of participants into one side of the room exercising at an easier level whilst allowing a fitter group to bound around more energetically on the other side. This of course demands a higher level of technical expertise from the teacher. I also introduced this technique into every video we made together, allowing the participants to choose the level they were capable of and would therefore enjoy and, crucially, want to keep repeating. Ultimately, with practise, we hoped they would progress and move to the more energetic alternative as their fitness improved!

Selecting Music

My first job was to choose the music and put forward each track for Rosemary to say 'yay or nay'. Thankfully, being of a similar age, we pretty much liked the same type of music and gradually the programme came together with specific timings for each section. One issue was always whether each of the artists/writers/producers was willing to have their music used for an exercise video and often they weren’t!  Another issue was also the cost of each track and this is why so many exercise videos use unfamiliar music as that is a much cheaper option. We were fortunate that the production company were willing to invest a substantial amount to ensure we used popular tracks from original artists. Those who use our videos regularly comment on how important the music is for motivating them to move. That was the plan!
 

Training the Troupe

Several weeks before the video was to be made, we put out a call to all the Rosemary Conley Club teachers to put forward any member who could move well, had lost a considerable amount of weight and was now in good shape. We would then hold auditions. These members were always a joy to work with as they were so determined to perform well.

One thing that they had to master was working off their left side when Rosemary was instructing the viewers to use their right side because television reverses the actual image. Initially, quite confusing as you might expect, but plenty of practise works wonders. When you are in a class and the teacher is facing you, as she/he is teaching you, then they are using their left side, despite calling out for you to use your right side. For me this is the basics of good teaching practice and I have often felt frustration if I see a teacher constantly with their back to the class.
 

The Shoot

The day dawned when we entered the recording studio to shoot it after all the hard work in preparation.  It was very exciting, with make-up artists ready to make the team look lovely and all wearing specifically created carefully coordinated outfits. We were all so keen to make it the best it could be.

I was always positioned just behind the camera, indicating the next move to Rosemary as she had the difficult job of concentrating on reading the words off the autocue as well as correctly making the moves! By cueing her just ahead of each move, counting down with my fingers the number of repetitions left before the change, we became an accomplished double act!  

Each track was shot separately but very cleverly joined together by our highly skilled Director, Nick Patten. An amazing guy who had the same attention to detail as we had, meaning a track could be shot several times until we got it just right. Over the 2 days of shooting, you could only hear the call 'it's a wrap' with elated exhaustion!

 

Home Workouts in 2024

Since those early days of VHS and DVDs, technology has moved on at a considerable pace and now the choice of home workouts is enormous. Our website offers you a good mix of different workouts as do streaming sites such as YouTube, offering every type of programme you could possibly want and designed for all age groups. This is really the era of 'no excuses'. Whatever kind of exercise you are looking for, it's out there. Let's just do it!

1. Dust off an old favourite fitness DVD this week and do it 3 times or select a new workout on any website that you enjoy.
    
2. On your daily 30+ minute walk, spice it up with a route you have never done before and improve your mindfulness by taking a good look at your new environment. On a walk this week my group stopped to look at an enormous and beautiful Camellia just coming into flower. Spring is on the way!
    
3. Go to the Stretch Programme on our website and try an early morning stretch this week as often as you can.

Did you know... 

The very first home video system was released by Sony in Japan in 1975. It was called  Betamax and used an analogue format magnetic tape in a cassette and, much like a music cassette, you could record onto the tape as well as play pre-recorded content. Other video systems launched around the same time included a laser disc format and a method using a vinyl disc and needle similar to a long-playing record however these were only for pre-recorded content and were not capable of recording video directly from a TV programme in the home.

In the Betamax system the tape ran through the machine at 1.57 inches per second, which allowed very good quality recordings and playback however it meant that the standard-size cassette could only store 2 hours of video. An alternative system known as VHS (Video Home System) which came out shortly after ran at a lower speed with slightly lower quality but could hold four hours of video. By the mid-1980s Betamax had lost the competition for supremacy and VHS had become the standard system for home use. 

Rosemary's first fitness video, Rosemary Conley’s Hip & Thigh Diet And Exercise came out on VHS cassette in 1989. It was followed by 30 other videos produced over the next 25 years, 14 of which were choreographed by Mary. The early ones were all on VHS cassettes until the Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) eventually took over as the standard video format. We still often get asked if any of the early VHS videos are available on DVD or online streaming however problems of copyright (which we don’t own) and the costs of remastering the recordings compared against the relatively small number we would sell means that it just isn't practical to reissue them. In addition, Rosemary wouldn't recommend some of the very early videos and tries to steer users towards the more recent videos such as the Ultimate Whole Body Workout or the Salsacise programmes which, with the guidance of Mary's choreography, are generally more effective at helping you to lose weight and get fitter.