Customer Reviews

Ballet Body

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great total body workout DVD featuring a fusion of ballet toning, yoga, pilates, and light weight training. The DVD features very good instruction by Jennifer Galardi and is not difficult to follow along with. It is a workout for toning and flexibility and does not feature specific cardio work, though it may get your heart rate up at times. There are two other girls working out with Jennifer and one does show beginner modifications.

The entire workout from start to finish clocks in around one hour long. The DVD has a chapter menu to choose either the entire workout or to choose shorter segments. You can choose from the warm-up (12 minutes), the strength segment (13 minutes), the balance and length segment (13 minutes), floor barre segment (11 minutes), and the stretch segment (12 minutes). I didn't see a mix and match option though.

The warm up is very fluid and features plies, ballet arm movements, and some yoga stretches. The strength segment features a leg plie segment, standing ab/core work, and upper body work with weights. The balance and length segment features standing leg work, a yoga strength series on the mat (downward facing dog with leg lifts, plank with tricep pushups, etc), the floor barre segment is done on the mat and features barre and pilates style leg work and abdominal work, the stretch segment is yoga inspired and finishes with a short seated meditation.

I enjoyed the DVD and felt as if I had gotten my strength and stretch work done all in one workout. I also finished feeling very relaxed as if I had completed a yoga class. It's an elegant workout.

This is my first work out by Jennifer Galardi and I was very pleased. I do many types of workouts as I am a daily exerciser and I really like a wide array of different workouts to choose from. I have done pilates, dance and yoga before, but never in such a nice little workout! The workout is in 5 sections:

Warm up-approx 13 minutes and this is concentrated mainly on plies (knee bends). She does use ballet terminology as "your feet are in 2nd position" or "arms are in 5th position", but no need to know what this means, just follow along if you are not familiar with ballet. The movements are easy to follow, so no worries.

Stength-approx 13 minutes and this section uses light weights for arm exercises. No need for heavy weights here. It looks like they are using about 3 lb. but as you need to you can increase if you would like more resistance.

Balance-approx. 14 minutes-this section is based more in yoga and you will do the chair pose, plank, downward dog, tricep pushups and will relax back into child's pose.

Floor Barre-approx. 10 minutes-These exercises do not require a dancer's barre as they are modified for the mat. These exercises are more Pilates based with moves like the roll-up and rolling like a ball.

Stretch-13 minutes of heaven-great stretches based in yoga, including the pigeon, relaxing forward bends, spinal twists, etc. Extremely relaxing and rejuvinating.

I really enjoyed this workout and know that this will definitely be in my weekly rotation. The instructor had good form, controlled moves, which are great for core stability and she has a pleasant personality without being over-the-top.

I will caution, if you are looking for a cardio workout-this is not it. If you are looking for all dance exercises, also not for you, if you want a slower work-out with controlled movements good for toning and creating lean muscles, this IS the workout for you. The fusion between the different types of exercise is a winner in my book. Give it a go if you are up for something a little out of the ordinary!

This workout is a fusion of ballet, yoga and pilates. You begin with a flowing warmup followed by a plie series to work your lower body. Then it's more lower body ballet, standing abs and upper body with light weights. After this you do ballet that incorporates a nice balance challenge! Then onto the flow for upper body work through some great yoga vinyasas. Finally you finish with some ballet barre work done at on the floor, pilates work for abs and a long 13.5 minute yoga inspired stretch. The music is nice and Jennifer does a great job with directives and helping you keep the correct form. I feel so good after this workout!

I really like how the exercises are grouped in separate sections. At first I was concerned that I would not get an effective workout, but fortunately, I was wrong. The variety of the movements makes the exercises fun and motivating.

I've only recently discovered ballet/fusion workouts and have been using a few : this one, Jennifer Kries The Method Pilates - Target Specifics and Bernadette Giorgi: Attitude Ballet & Pilates Fusion and also Ellen Barrett. I've previously done more intense cardio with hip hop, dance and kickboxing and thought it was time to vary my workout. I have several Jennifer Galardi dance dvds, which I've found excellent, so I was looking forward to this one. However, I'm rather disappointed. Though I have no doubt that the moves are effective, I find it dull and I'm just watching the clock wanting it to be over. It also feels a little long - I know other reviewers love this because you can switch off, however I feel I can't even get engaged to want to do the moves properly. It's not that I want to be jumping around or kicking/punching something, it's just that the moves feel like reps. As in very repetitious. Also, I have problems with the yoga part of this workout . I've done some yoga, and many workouts which require you to be in a prolonged plank position and never had any problems, but I find there's something about the yoga portion here that makes my wrists ache that I have to abandon the poses.

Of the ballet/fusion dvds I own, I'd say this one gets the least use and actually I'm tempted to give it away. I much prefer Jennifer Kries which, though it says it is pilates based, has ballet steps for working out the hips and legs, and my favorite upper limb toning section ever. That one also has a fair bit of yoga, so it's a great fusion workout. Bernadette Giorgi who explains the ballet moves wonderfully well and adds variety with a hand held weighted ball. Hers is a little slower paced and the floor work is tough. These are not just ballet workouts though, so if it's just ballet your after, these may not be for you. However if you want to incorporate various disciplines, these dvds are fabulous. They are really energising, whereas if I try to do this Ballet Body dvd when I feel tired, I'll just be yawning and struggling. I will persist though, because the moves are effective. It's just not much fun.

I was tempted to give it a three rating but figure some of my rating is based on personal preference. I had used the stretch segment a handful of times and liked that but then finally decided to give the entire DVD a try. I stopped the DVD about 33 minutes into it.

1) Except for my calves and feet, I really did not feel like I was getting a good workout. I tend to be tight in my hips so found I had to reduce the range of motion just slightly for the fast paced second position plies. I had no burn at all from the thigh work. For me, I much prefer the isometric work with barre inspired workouts like Core Fusion, Pure Barre, Bar Method, and even Rockin Models!
2) The yoga section was pretty easy and I actually got bored with it.
3) She mentioned on the video a few times a cardio impact but this wasn't cardio for me at all.
All in all, I just did not feel like I was getting a decent workout and I was bored.

I'm surprised that Collage Video rates this as intermediate/advanced. I would think as long as someone doesn't have bad knees, I would rate this as beginner/intermediate. If you have tricky knees you may have problems with all of the fast paced plies.

I became a fan of Jennifer Galardi after doing one of her shows on Fit TV (All Star Workouts) that is very similar to this DVD. This type of exercise really gets results without some of the more gruelling "gym rat" exercises. I particularly like doing ab work without having to do crunches on the floor. I enjoyed the work so much I did the entire thing (63 minutes) the first day, and only found myself a bit overworked in the "Balance" section, where you move from down-dog to plank position for a while without touching down.

The very next day after the workout, my hips felt tighter (after all those plies!), and as always with ballet workouts, I felt more balanced. There's an ease of movement that come from it that's hard to describe but is really a joy. I highly recommend this DVD, and hope Jen Galardi will do many more like this.

I love Jennifer Galardi's workouts on Exercise TV, so I was really excited to find this whole body ballet inspired workout! I love this workout. I feel great after completing it and just the right amount of soreness the next day. I've only done the workout maybe once every two weeks for the past three months, so that's probably why I still experience some soreness. I love all five segments and I think they go really well together for a complete workout, so I've only ever done the full workout, although I'm sure many would enjoy only doing smaller segments at a time. What I love about this workout is that it FEELS good to stretch and stregthen using these exercises. My least favorite section on the video is the barre exercises because my hips must be really tight and they get really sore quickly doing these floor exercises. But I have noticed an improvements recently, so they must be working!

I do like this workout overall, she does typical ballet moves that work you somewhat. However, I feel that she moves pretty quickly through things, not giving slightly uncoordinated people a chance to figure out the steps. Also, I found it a little odd that she uses weights in part of the workout because in a true ballet workout, you are not using weights. You are using your arm movements and holding them up alot which is weight in itself, to develop those pretty arms. But that's a minor complaint. Also, she seems to use a bit of yoga in this DVD as well. That's ok, but I am not into yoga and I felt she could've kept the whole workout true ballet exercise, but once again, a minor complaint. Had I read the full description, I would have known that she incorporates yoga, pilates and ballet all together but I somehow missed that. I may not have bought it based on that but I'm not unhappy that I did and I'll do the workout again. However, if you are looking for a true ballet workout or to seriously get a dancers body I suggest Kari Anderson: Reach - Upbeat Toning & Flexibility for a Dancer's Body or else Element: Ballet Conditioning. Those are very good ballet workouts that will leave you feeling like a dancer. Kari's is more focused on balance and flexibility and strength, While "Element" is totally focused on ballet exercises like lots of plies, releve's, tendu's, degages, etc. My legs and arms are screaming halfway through the "Element" DVD, maybe sooner. With Kari's I can do the whole workout and feel very much worked out but I can finish it. It's my favorite of the three. Those two DVD's don't require much room to do which is nice, and both have nice music. Jennifer Gallardi's requires a little more room to move around. I kept kicking walls in my bedroom which is small so I'll have to take it to the living room. Also, the instructors in the Reach and Element DVD's have been in ballet dance companies and their exercises are based on many years of experience. You finish knowing you did a true ballet workout. No weights, no yoga. Kari Anderson has good stretching and flexiblility sections. But still, Jennifer Galardi's DVD is pretty good & worth buying. It's just that knowing the other two are better, I can't give this 5 stars or recommend it above those two. If you can get all three, though, go for it.

I'm very pleased with this workout, I'm 56 and have arthritis in my spine, knees and hips. Most workouts with the jumping and so forth were not good for my joints and I gave up in pain. I never thought I'd find a workout so intense with out having to run, jump, walk or step-up. The Jennifer Galardi has struck the right balance of Ballet, Yoga and Pilates. The results happen very quickly. It is quite challanging and I can't do all the moves correctly yet, but I'm getting there!