Fitness queen Davina brushes off the competition to top DVD charts again

Full body workout: Davina McCall's DVD is the most popular

She may have made her name as a TV presenter but Davina McCall is fast becoming the nation’s fitness guru.
In a market that was once dominated by Jane Fonda and Rosemary Conley, now it is the former Big Brother’s tough regimes people are using to fight the flab.
The star has topped the New Year fitness charts with her latest fitness DVD – the eighth in her collection.
Miss McCall’s workout Ultimate Target topped HMV’s chart and is Amazon’s most successful new release in the category.
The 44-year-old has an astonishing five fitness DVD’s in the top 50 – including two in the top 20.
The mother-of-three’s boom sales comes after one of her earlier regimes was voted the most effective routine to get in shape by 89 per cent of a poll of 2,000 British women.
Miss McCall’s popularity is in part because she has always admitted that staying slim does not come easy to her – and told of her struggle to lose the four stone of baby weight she has put on during each pregnancy.
She said in a recent interview: ‘By stealth I have quietly muscled my way into the fitness arena. Up until 25 the only fitness I did was night-clubbing.
‘[But now] I’m a yo-yo sort of person. It’s a constant thing I have to think about. It’s really a pain in the arse.’

The star confessed that along with drink, drugs, and cigarettes, she has now also banished chocolate from her diet, in a bid to stay in shape as she gets older.
She said: ‘I have tried to really, really cut down on sugar. It’s a toxin.’

 

Fans of her regime credit the fact that she is a mother of three – to Holly, ten, Tilly, eight, and Chester, five – who admitted her battle to get back in shape after having each of her children.
She gained more than four stone during each of her pregnancies and each time has shaken off the weight and managed to keep it off.
The star works with married trainers Mark and Jackie Wren and her latest offering includes regimes such as Fabulous Fat Burner and Target Abs, as well as targeted workouts to tackle “bingo wings”.
Miss McCall credits her slim frame – she weighs around 9 stone 9lb and is a dress size 10-12 – and toned physique to sticking to the workouts rather than fad diets.

The camera adds ten pounds? Davina's weight notoriously fluctuated during Big Brother but the star always managed to shed the pounds with her successful regime

Fans online forums say her regimes are good because they include workouts to burn fat as well as tone up.
One user Nadia said: ‘Since I discovered the Davina workout series 2 years ago I have lost over 9 stone. I love the fact that you can target specific areas, and the abs section is amazing.’
Others said the high energy workouts were more cost effective than gym membership.
A spokesman for HMV said: ‘Davina has been the queen of workout DVDs for a number of years now, and you’d expect her to be selling really well in the first full week after Christmas.
‘Propelled in part by our obsession with fitness and looks and all things celebrity, workout DVDs have become big business in recent years, which, just like well-intentioned memberships to gyms and keep-fit classes, we’re taking up with increasing enthusiasm at the start of each year.  High profile artists, who appear regularly on our screens - such as Davina, often sell well.’
He added that while fitness DVD’s and games were once the sole preserve of women increasing numbers of men were now buying them to help get in shape.
ITV presenter Christine Bleakley has had mixed results with her new video – she failed to make the top ten in HMV’s charts but is at number eight in Amazon’s.
Traditional favourites Rosemary Conley and Jillian Michaels are also enjoying success despite not releasing any new products.

THE BEST WORKOUT DVDS

1.   DAVINA - ULTIMATE TARGET                     
2.   NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL FITNESS               
3.   10 MINUTE SOLUTION - BLAST OFF BELLY FAT     
4.   JENNIFER ELLISON FAT BLASTER WORKOUT         
5.   JILLIAN MICHAELS - 30 DAY SHRED              
6.   10 MINUTE SOLUTION - PILATES PERFECT         
7.   10 MINUTE SOLUTION - BELLY BUTT & THIGH      
8.   THE ONLY WAY IS ESSEX - THE ESSEXCERCISE     
9.   10 MINUTE SOLUTION - PILATES                 
10.  JILLIAN MICHAELS RIPPED      IN 30

Miss Conley’s Fitness Triple Pack has been on sale for almost five years but has seen a surge over the Christmas period and is now in the top 20.
American health guru and reality star Miss Michaels has seven DVD’s in the top 50, and two in the top ten.
In Amazon’s chart, which updates hourly, the only workout to beat Miss McCall’s was the “Zumba” workout, which is a Latin-American inspired dance craze that has been hugely popular over the past year.
Fitness DVD’s are increasingly being released by stars who have piled on the pounds and are now keen to cash in on shedding them.
In recent years TV stars such as Hannah Waterman and Natalie Cassidy have all released workouts but have had limited long term success. 
Miss Bleakley, 32, has said she decided to make her £14.99 DVD after being inspired by sister Nicola’s weight loss.  
The 29-year-old slimmed down from a size 24 to a size 12 and won slimmer of the year in 2004.
Routines include the “arm sculptor”,  and “legs and bum transformer” as well as the Bleakley Blaster for burning fat effectively and toning up.
But she has had a mixed response from shoppers with some claiming that it was disappointing.