Getting started with the Tracy Anderson Method

As you may know through past entries and Instagram posts, I am a consummate fan of the Tracy Anderson Method. As such, I frequently get asked about it and the most common question by far is “How does one get started?” So that’s what I will be tackling in today’s article. I hope it can help those of you interesting in giving this fitness practice a try.

As far as I’m concerned, there are a 2 main routes you can take if you want to get into the Tracy Anderson Method (TAM) habit:

Route 1 : Metamorphosis
I call it Route 1 because it’s the first program she came up with. Often nicknamed “Meta”, Metamorphosis is a 90-day program she launched years ago, which includes nine 30-minute mat workouts that change every 10 days and one 30-minute dance cardio segment. After 90 days, you can enroll into the 3+ year continuity program, which gets increasingly challenging over time. In Year 3, the mat workout becomes an hour long.

It comes in 4 flavors depending on your body type:

• Glutecentric if you have a behind that tends to be flat and you want some lifting
• Hipcentric for those whose trouble spot is the leg/hip/saddlebag area
• Abcentric if you have the tendency of gaining weight around your stomach and midsection
• Omnicentric if you gain weight pretty evenly throughout your body

Cost: The 90-day meta program costs around 90$ (30$/month)

Pros

• Great results
• Cheap
• Targets specific body types if you’ve got one area of your body that seems very imbalanced with the rest*

Cons

• Because the content is filmed and edited, Tracy never sweats, you don’t see anyone else doing the moves with her, etc
• The music is generic
• There aren’t any beginner, intermediate or advanced options
• It changes only every 10 days
• No trainer breakdown and  brief cueing is done through a voice over

Route #2 : The Online Studio
In her studios, Tracy teaches a one-hour Master Class that changes every week. Since 2015, you can get access to this and more in what loosely call “streaming”, aka. The Online Studio.

When you enroll to this program, every week, you will get:

• The Advanced Master Class, usually taught by Tracy (1 hour)
• Intermediate Master Class, taught by Tracy or one of her top trainers (40 minutes to an hour)
• Beginners Class, taught by Tracy or one of her top trainers (30 minutes)
• A trainer breakdown video for each class
• Weekly cardio, taught by one of her dancer trainers (30 minutes)
• An “Ask Tracy” segment where Tracy herself answers questions sent by her clients

Cost: 90$/month

Pros

• Great results
• It’s very flexible, you have a choice of levels to choose from: In my experience this is very useful because not everyone can jump straight into Master Class in the first weeks or months
• The content changes every week, not every 10 days. It takes a couple of days to get the hang of a class so that you can perform it really well for another few days. One week is in my opinion the perfect amount of time to stick to one class. I used to always find 10 days too long back in my meta days.
• Although part of Tracy’s method is to not cue so that you can develop your own brain/mind-body connection, a separate trainer breakdown really is helpful, especially when starting out
• You get access to her latest moves: the meta moves are amazing and in the 3+ years of the program you get access to thousands of them. But she keeps innovating and rolling out fresh new ones every week, some of which are even more effective than some we saw in meta.
• Last but not least, you are in the studio with her and other students and have music. This was a total game changer for me. It’s very motivating, the pace is more realistic and you actually feel the vibe of the class. The transitions from one sequence to the next have more of a flow and you move to the rhythm of music. It’s the main reason why I could not go back to Metamorphosis. I really think you develop slightly more coordination when following a real class because you need to be more alert.
• It feels like the more time passes, the more she is adding things to The Online Studio, so it’s a much better deal now than it was when it first launched with the Advanced Master Class alone.

Cons

• Costs 3x more than Metamorphosis
• You can’t keep old workouts, once the week passes, they are taken off the site and replaced by fresh content
• You don’t get body-type specific classes in her real life studios, so the same applies to The Online Studio*

Other ways to get started

If you aren’t ready to enroll into anything and just want to check TAM out, here are other options:

• Her DVDs (availble on her website in DVD format or in digital format – my favorite one is Precision Toning but they are all good)
• The TAM youtube channel
• Take a class in one of her studios
• Go to one of her Vitality Weeks – she doesn’t have any at the moment, but she hosts them many times a year
• Take a look at Instagram and follow the #tracyandersonmethod and #tamily hashtags – most people either “stream” or do meta and if they are posting their workouts, they are usually more than happy to help and encourage others interested in the method

My conclusion

Meta is an outstanding program and I have seen a ton of people transform their bodies and feel stronger and more agile after having done it. But I prefer streaming because it is a live experience, is always evolving, has tons of options and offers great results too. It is also more motivating for someone who is trying to get into a fitness habit. So, if you can afford it, I would say go for The Online Studio. But if you can’t, then Meta is a great path. Either way, when you commit to one of these routes, you are on a journey that keeps changing, where results will keep coming and where you’re not alone thanks to the community of worldwide “TAMmers”. I think that’s why Tracy’s method is so sticky.

If you have any questions about the method from a user standpoint, feel free to email me anytime, otherwise reach out to the Tracy Anderson team through their Facebook page where you can get advice from one of their trainers.

*The Online Studio offering will tackle all problem areas, the same way Meta omnicentric would. But if someone does have a big imbalance, eg. very weak abdominals and lower back, lots of extra weight around waist and back, but thin legs, then I would ask the Tracy Anderson Team about it. I suspect they may suggest to start with meta until the day there is some kind of centric-specific offering in the Online Studio.