Sports, Fitness & Wellness VB Purchasing Guide October-December 2008

The country may be in a recession, but that hasn't hurt Anchor Bay Entertainment's fitness business. “Recessions are bad for gyms, but not for us,” says Julie Cartwright, VP of brand marketing for Anchor Bay. Consumers choosing to stay at home with a DVD for their workouts have helped the company continue to grow its fitness segment, she says. Anchor Bay's fitness business was up 42% in 2007 over 2006, and it's experiencing continued growth in 2008, she says. Without celebrity instructors, Anchor Bay has been able to compete in sales with the more well-known fitness properties. The company does market research to learn which titles will work for consumers, and based on that, it has developed four proprietary fitness brands. The latest is a property called Results Fitness, which includes meal plans as well as exercises. The first two titles are Boost Your Metabolism and 10 Days to a Better Bod. “Each DVD is designed to deliver the exact result the title is promising,” Cartwright says. “You know what you're getting.” Other Anchor Bay properties include Dance Off the Inches, which is about to debut the new title Dance It Off Ballroom. —Cindy Spielvogel

Dance Off the Inches: Dance It Off Ballroom Samba, cha cha and jive can help users get a dancer's body with Latin and ballroom dance champion Kristina Milova; Results Fitness: Boost Your MetabolismUsers can burn more calories all day with this 55-minute metabolism-boosting workout and meal plan from Tracey Staehle; Results Fitness: 10 Days to a Better Bod This program, featuring Ultrafit Nutrition founder Cindy Whitmarsh, allows users to lose up to eight pounds in 10 days through a workout and the included Better Body meal plan. All street Dec. 2, prebook Oct. 30; DVD $14.98 each