Are exercise videos better than e-books? Technology has advanced so much in the past few years with email, e-books and anything internet-related. Despite that, exercise videos are easier to access and better than e-books. They’re also more dynamic and interactive and allow us to accurately go at our own pace with simple steps and great visuals - something that an e-book can’t do.

Remember the Jane Fonda exercise video craze? Or how about Suzanne Somers? And who can forget Richard Simmons?

They paved the way for the great selection of videos on pilates, yoga, tai chi, belly dancing and more on the market today. There’s a huge variety of exercise videos out there and that’s why they’re still popular.

Exercise videos are convenient. For some, the effort of getting in their cars to get a workout is daunting especially if the closest gym is an hour away. Not to mention battling the weather or struggling through traffic.

Videos are inexpensive. A one-time cost gives you a lifetime of workouts and if we don’t feel like it, we’re not pressured to train because our membership is almost up or the gym will be closing in an hour. And there are no monthly fees or hidden costs of gas, parking, and travel time.

In addition, videos allow us to go at our own pace especially when there are certain moves we need more practice with. We’re shown how to do it correctly and we can also pause the video at any part and keep repeating the section if we need to.

That said, there are the social butterflies who like the interaction they get in gyms. They prefer real time feedback from their instructors and look for encouragement and support from their peers. In fact, the setting inspires them to achieve their goals.

And so, the pros and cons of exercise videos have been laid out. We love their no-trouble, low maintenance quality, low cost and privacy options, but we do have to consider the lack of social interaction aspect of it. We need to evaluate our preferences in order to make the perfect choice for our lifestyle.