Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Having done every DVD in the "Dancing with the Stars" (DWTS) workout series of DVDs and not being too impressed with the last toning-focused DVD, I was very surprised when I popped this one into the DVD player and found out that I got a great cardio workout, felt my legs tone up, AND had fun all at the same time in this DVD.
"Ballroom Buns and Abs" is divided into four sections: Rock, Paso Doble, Argentine Tango, and the Cooldown. Here is what I thought of all the routines seperately:
Rock'n Abs - Led by Edyta Sliwinska this routine is largely composed of Jive moves with a few other styles of moves mixed in. Edyta, who is upbeat and encouraging the whole time, teaches very well by slowing down the moves to half tempo and doing them with the viewer several times slowly before moving onto tempo and then the next step. The first 5 minute section is spent teaching you combo 1, and the second 5 minute section teaches you the first part of combo 2. Then the third 5 minutes finishes combo 2 and puts both combos together for a high cardio routine that you do a few times through. Although the moves are taught slowly, you will still get a cardio workout because the moves are really fast and high-impact with kicking, triple-stepping, and twisting included in them (very reminiscent of the moves in Jive sections of the previous DWTS DVDs). These moves are designed to work the abs, but I mostly felt this workout in my calves even though the twisting worked my abs a bit, too.
Paso Doble - Next up is the Paso Doble with Chelsea Hightower. The majority of the moves are traditional Paso Doble and Flamenco moves taught with leg-toning in mind. Chelsea is just as chirpy (without being over the top) as Edyta is, but she has a different teaching style. Instead of slowing down one move to teach at a time, she will slow down the whole combo to teach. At the end of learning all of the combos, they are all put together for a full routine that you do three times through. This actually doesn't bring down the cardio too much, for most of the moves (like the moves in the previous section) are high impact to keep the heart pumping. There are lunging moves, kicks, and cape moves (no cape required), and some of the moves are quite difficult to pull off, especially since no modifications are offered. Ultimately, I felt this routine mostly in my thighs and on my quads.
Argentine Tango - In this Argentine Tango routine, there are no real cardio moves in it, but it still manages to work the legs very well. When Kym Johnson, the instructor of this routine, announced that the chair you use as a prop during the routine was the "man" of the routine, I was afraid this was going to be a very feminine section, but it really wasn't. I used the chair as my "woman" and really enjoyed all of the moves that Kym taught; the chair actually made the routine more fun, making it seem like I was dancing a real routine, instead of exercising. Kym teaches one move at a time, and at the end she puts them all together to do one time. Kym is probably the cheesiest of all three of the instructors, but you will really overlook that as you work your body doing the flicks and lunges of this routine; I mostly felt these moves on my abs and buns.
Cooldown - Finally, all three of the girls get together (with the four background dancers that had been present in all the routines) in order to do some stretching and cooling down of your body. There are some stretches for the abs, calves, quads, chest and hips; and I really felt like they did a sufficient job of stretching my body out.
Overall, this is an amazing workout with 2 cardio/toning sections and 1 section dedicated to just toning. I really felt my legs and abs work in this workout, and I also had a great time, making this DVD 5 stars in my book.
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