Hannah Waterman was born in 1975, the daughter of Minder star Dennis Waterman. She joined EastEnders in 2000, and subsequently married her co-star, Ricky Groves in 2006. At only 5'2 Waterman reached 10st 4lbs and was advised to lose weight by her doctor for health reasons. She was also spurred on by seeing pictures of her on the beach and feeling 'mortified'. In 2009 she released her fitness DVD 'Hannah Waterman's Body Blitz', too much controversy. Other fitness DVD 'stars' including Coleen Nolan and Natalie Cassidy criticized her for losing too much weight saying it was unhealthy and difficult to maintain. Waterman denied these claims, defending her weight loss on long term health grounds. Waterman had gone down to 7st 8lb and had apparently became obsessed with her diet and fitness, going from a size 16 to a size 6! This apparently led to the breakdown of her marriage and she split with Groves in 2010. Such a controversial start was bound to be good for publicity!

I brought Hannah Waterman's body blitz after being recommended it by a friend. I was fairly dubious to start with - she did start looking a bit like a lollipop and I felt the need to feed her up a bit! But, It was meant to be good so I gave it a go. I think I am fairly fit, I can run for an hour (not fast - I am certainly not built for speed) and enjoy walking a lot. But I hate doing weights or any toning exercises at the gym - I find it is a very male dominated area where they strut around competing for who has the biggest muscles and who can lift the heaviest weights and I feel intimidated! So I decided to invest in Hannah Waterman's DVD.

It is very cleverly done. Advised by Sports Scientist Martin MacDonald from Loughborough University Waterman advocates interval training in her DVD, short bursts of intense exercise followed by a rest. The claim in that 10 minutes of this work out is equal to 1hr of normal aerobics! There are 4 twenty minute routines, Cardio Blitz, Box Blitz, Tone Blitz and Extra Abs and Cool Down. Waterman is accompanied by 2 fit looking men, Elia and Adam to guide you through! Each of these has an easy and a more difficult routine to follow.

When I first did these DVD, I was convinces it couldn't be that difficult, so I would go with the hard bit all the way through. Big mistake - it is hard! Regardless of how fit you are, start off slowly! I live in a flat with wooden floors so did find some of the exercises difficult as I seemed to slip and slide all over the place on my mat, and you do need quite a bit of room to do the exercises.

Each section of the DVD is good for different parts of the body, but all have the same ultimate goal - fat loss!
From Waterman's own website - Cardio Blitz - easy moves to burn fat; Box Blitz - punch and kick your way to fat loss; Tone Blitz - an all over fat burner and toner; and Extra Abs and Cool Down - Tighten your belly then chill out.

The variety of the DVD is great, and it is great when you have limited time. You can chose a routine to do, and don't have to do all 4. I tend to try to do a different one every day, with a bit of a warm up and then the warm down afterwards. They are all good fun too, and by choosing a different one, they don't get as boring as doing one routine continuously every time you do the exercise DVD.

The results have been great, and I am getting better at doing the hard version all the way through. There were times when I first started doing the DVD that I just stood there and looked at the screen in amazement, thinking 'I cannot carry on right now'!

The only down side I have, is that she gets very annoying! I have absolutely no problems with her whatsoever - I think this is probably the same with all fitness DVD's. How many times in a row would you watch you own favourite before it got boring?! One of the benefits to doing it more and more - you know what's coming up so you can mute her and put your own music on instead!!

Pricewise, you can currently get it for £1.84 plus postage from Amazon.

I would give her 4 stars - losing one for the annoying chat in the background!

Also published on Ciao by MrsW2011