DVD Review: Jeffrey Beck's Workout

Nothing worse can happen to a young bodybuilder like Jeffrey Beck than this scene: Jeff's mom appears in the gym and brings her son the protein shake he left at home. Finally she gives her "baby" a kiss on his cheek. The other gym guys are watching, and Jeffrey is embarrassed.

This is only one of several funny scenes on Jeffrey Beck's total body workout DVD Me, Myself, and Irony. On the DVD the 26-year-old fitness model and personal trainer shows and explains his favorite and most successful exercises, such as bench press, pull ups, clean & press, squat/lunge, calf raises, deadlift, and many more. The DVD has both: fun and professional information. Jeffrey is the man who succeeds in combining both.

Jeffrey is an entertainer, a showman. When speaking he's actually talking with the viewer. He needs no script, and there're no cuts during his explanations. He always comes to the point. His slapstick is perfectly timed.

You soon get the feeling that you profit from the DVD: from his description of the way he's doing the exercises, from his instructions to avoid damage, from his profound knowledge. Example: In every exercise he squeezes the muscle very hard at the top of the movement "to stimulate as much muscle fibres as possible. Feeling the burn is the key in all exercises, because if you're not feeling the burn, you're not building muscle or defining it."

Jeffrey reveals several of his workout secrets. He trains his abs doing crunches on the resistance ball which is good for all muscle parts: the lower, middle and upper abs. On the photos above you see him demonstrating three different forms of standing bicep curls to train inner biceps, outer biceps and forearms in one exercise. A very useful element on the DVD: For each exercise Jeffrey tells you the optimum number of sets and repetitions, always both for size and for definition (photos below). You can instantly adapt your workout routine.

Finally there's this little masterpiece of workout-comedy, or comedy-workout, which should win an Emmy. It's Jeff's explanation of rope pull downs: "I always treat my tricep workouts the same way my ex-girlfriend treated me." After this introduction he compares what should have been a romantic evening with his girlfriend, to his way of performing rope pull downs. An ingenious, very funny act. At least two Emmys for it!

In the extras of the DVD you find wonderful home video footage filmed by Richard Rossan who has already photographed the most popular young bodybuilders. You get to see private Jeffrey posing, flexing, pumping up at shootings, and doing martial arts, playing basketball and frisbee just for fun.

On the DVD Jeffrey does over a dozen exercises, and he makes over 100 grimaces. This is the special quality of the DVD, especially for our time with much vanity and pursuit of beauty everywhere: Jeff obviously enjoys to build up an impressive physique and to look great, but he could probably do without it. He loves to laugh about himself. His appeal is: Yes guys, hit the iron, feel the burn, build big muscles - but don't take it too seriously. A great message from a young guy. But who wonders - the man has a great mom.

You find Jeffrey's DVD Me, Myself, and Irony on his website: www.jbeckfitness.com

Check out Jeffrey's two Yahoo groups:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JEFFREYBECKTNGTOPMALEMODEL/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RippedModel/