Customer Reviews

10 Minute Solution: Dance It Off & Tone It Up (With Fitness Band)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Jennifer is so upbeat and a great dancer. She is great at all the movements, but I didn't feel there was quite enough instruction to help pick up the choreography. There is a fair bit of repetition, so in time you'll pick up the steps but it's a little frustrating when you are a co-ordinated person already yet can't do all the moves.
The second segment I found to be the toughest. It's done to 60's style music with 60's style moves and they go way too fast. If however you can get them, you will burn heaps of calories. The abs section is all standing and it's got to be performed as well as you possibly can in order to feel the burn. I didn't think it was as good for my abs as floor work.
Overall, I do like this dvd because you don't need heaps of time on your hands to fit in some sort of exercise, but you need a fair bit of practice to perfect this and I'd really only use this workout as extra to what I already do or on days when I've only got 10-20 minutes to spare.

I will admit, the first time I put this video in, I stopped halfway through the first workout, skipped to another, and then completely quit. The second time, I had a little more luck. Lets just say, by the 3rd time, I was determined that I was going to get through this.

I originally thought that the dance moves were far too complicated, and the instructor far too bubbly (in fact, I kind of wanted to knock her out).

Once I finally got used to her and the moves, I realized that it's actually a pretty good cardio video, given that I abhor cardio. I wouldn't say that it necessarily tones anything up (seriously, that stomach/hip/shoulders roll, who can do that??), but it does make you break a sweat and at least get your metabolism going.

I always do the entire DVD so that I feel like I've got my cardio in, and now that I've finally gotten accustomed to the aspects and dance steps, I really like the DVD. Definitely couple it with some sort of target toners video or strength training that requires weights or a stability ball, or the like, and just have fun with this video instead.

If nothing else, it does teach some pretty good dance moves....I wouldn't bust any of them out in a club, but it's a good, fun DVD, so just have fun with it.

I love the 10 minute solutions series so I was very excited to do the dance one but the choreograhy was very difficult. Because the work out is only 10 min, the instructor went through everything very quickly. I had to keep rewinding trying to learn the steps. Needless to say I have only used this once or twice and have not gone back to it. I was very disappointed.

I have used many DVDs in the 10-Minute Solution series and have written reviews of quite a few of them here on Amazon. I have found 10-Minute Solution to be a consistently good series. However, I did not enjoy this workout--on the whole--as much as I have most others in the series.

The focus of this workout is dancing--and working out out like a dancer. The leader is Jennifer Galardi. She is perky and energetic without being too over-the-top. As with all workouts in the 10-Minute Solution series, you can design your own workout from the 5 10-minute segments, just do one if you're pressed for time, or do the whole 50 minutes in the order presented. My thoughts on the workout follow:

General: I think I would have probably liked this workout a lot more had I been in my 20s or 30s. However, at age 55, the dancey segments didn't thrill me. I felt this workout more in my knees than I did in the parts of the body where I was supposed to feel it. There is a great deal of foot twisting in this workout and some jumping and hopping. If you're working out on a non-carpeted surface like Jennifer, that may not be an issue for you. However, for those of us on a carpeted surface AND with aging knees, these moves can be punishing on the knees. To clarify, when I say there is jumping/hopping, I don't mean that this is necessarily super high impact, just that some of us prefer not to (or can't) jump so I like to forewarn people of that.

Sexy Slimdown: This segment featured one of my least favorite things in a workout--layered choreography; i.e., where steps keep getting added on and on and on in a chain. It gets a bit much to remember. Still, it's a relatively fun segment, I guess, if you can keep it all straight.

High Energy Fat Burner: The music seemed ridiculously (almost comically) fast at times, esp. if you are working out on carpet (unless you are young, thin and fit enough to jump up in the air--like Jennifer--and not have carpet drag). Lots of foot twisting and jumping about in this one. This was my least favorite segment of the workout.


Dancer's Abs: Unlike most ab workouts, this one is done while standing (and dancing). There are some belly dancing moves in here as well as some moves I've done in hula workouts. Some of it I found too fast with not enough instruction or cueing to do the first time around but, overall, it's relatively enjoyable.

Upper Body Tone Up: Here we finally stop dancing and get to stand still. A resistance band is required. This segment works out lats, biceps, triceps, shoulders, back and chest, with a little work on the obliques as well. Nothing very new or earth-shattering, but I liked the segment.

Buns and Thighs Sculpt: Like the upper body segment, a resistance band is required here as well. This segment works quads, hams, inner and outer thighs and glutes. This segment requires good balance to do it as shown (though Jennifer does say you can use a chair to hold on to if you find the balancing too daunting). Again, nothing new here, but I liked the segment.

Jennifer is by far my favorite instructor and this is another great dvd by her. Also I love the 10 minute solution dvd's which makes this one of my all-time favorite dvd's.

I love putting short workouts together to create my own routine for the day since I get easily bored, and nowadays I always use some of the segments from this dvd.

I must say the arm segment with the toning band has worked wonders with my arms. The best thing about the band is that you can always change the lenght of it to increase or decrease the workout. Everyone should try it. The standing ab segment is also great if your really move and follow Jennifer's lead.

Buy it if you like Jennifer and the other 10 minute solution dvd's.

This routine was so fun! I've only done it once but could have done it all over again right away as I was eager to try to improve my steps. Its kind of tough to follow but I'm sure this will help to keep it interesting for more than a few tries. Great music, not a single grapevine!

I love dancing and I don't get any satisfaction from this video. She does not motivate me to burn energy/calories and since she dancing alone (which is fine for some people) she does not have the intensity to make people want to exercise. On the other hand, the video is entertaining and each workout is only 10 minutes which fits my schedule.

I am a big fan of Jennifer Gilardi and I expected to really enjoy this DVD. So far I've only used it twice. The cardio routines are somewhat complex which is typical of Galardi's style but I didn't feel like either of them was a good cardio workout. The ab section is just awkward and almost silly. The upper and lower body toning sections are actually quite good. The DVD comes with a band but the resistance is very light. More advanced users will need a stronger band or to modify the moves to use dumbbells which is what I do. Overall this DVD is much more suited to the beginner.

Being a fairly coordinated person and not uneducated in the art of dance, I found this video to be extremely disappointing. There is little to no instruction, and it's almost as if you are just supposed to watch her dance. The moves looked like fun, and I'm sure I would have enjoyed them if I wasn't so frustrated with the lack of cues and instruction, but the only calories that I burned were going back to the DVD player to take this video out. If you would like to buy it, I'll gladly sell you mine, LOL!

I went through the entire tape one time and then retired it to the bottom of the library where it will remain hidden. The "dance" steps are not only badly choreographed, but pretty dang stupid. Other "10 minute Solution" tapes I've tried are wonderful, don't waste your time or money on this one.