Customer Reviews

Bellydance Fitness for Beginners - Arms, Abs, Hips, Buns & Thighs

5 star:		(63)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I don't technically have the DVD yet (it's in transit as I post this), but, I have both routines on video.

If this is a direct transfer, it can't help but be wonderful :).

Neena and Veena have made my boring exercise maintenance into a fun and muchly-anticipated part of my week. I did these routines near daily for 3 months, and then transitioned them to once or twice a week (doing other things, also). But, during that three months I improved my flexibility (I can reach *past* my toes!), my muscle tone, and learned to pinpoint my muscle isolations.

These two workouts have a good mix of "traditional" exercise movements (squats, lunges, crunches, etc.) and movements unique to belly dance. I think the twins provide an almost flawless method to learn the movements, as the routines are slow enough that you don't need a separate teaching segment, but, fast enough to keep you improving once you know what you're doing. I really appreciate their teaching style. They wear snug spandex workout clothes with dainty scarves, so, you can clearly see what they're doing. Plus, there's two of them, so, if the camera angle is a little "off" on one, you can see what to do from looking at the other.

The arms and abs routine is dedicated to strengthening your arms, rotating through a variety of arm movements, and an almost yoga or pilates style ab workout. These seem to be a bit more general, in the sense that you're working your full arms and shoulders for the arm routine, and most of your abdominals at the same time, for the ab routine.

The hips, buns and thighs routine is more focused on isolated movements. There's also a good stretching section that I really like.

What's particularly nice is that they teach you "real" belly dance movements but in the structured environment of exercise routines. So, you can enjoy these workouts if you're looking for something a little different, or, to build up a basic collection of movements. However, if you want to learn to dance properly, you'll have to look elsewhere. These are exercise routines, not dance lessons.

This series of videos contains workout videos which incorporate belly-dancing moves, rather than belly-dancing itself. You could say that it is a workout that will benefit you to develop greater stamina for belly-dancing as well as give you a chance to exercise and improve your health, whether you desire to pursue belly-dancing or not - in a fun and enjoyable way.

It is one of my favorite workout videos.

A caveat to begin:
I bought two (defective - skipping straight out of the case) copies of the DVD before getting it on video. Emails to Natural Journeys Customer service went unanswered. The "extras" on the DVD consist of bonus performance footage (the same footage at the end of each of the videos), benefits of bellydance (goes on for pages and pages - essentially every positive benefit you could ever want) and commentary. Pretty useless. Buy it on video.

I'll start with the negatives... and with the aforementioned commentary.
- Most of the bellydance exercises are ineffective if you use improper posture and form. Unfortunately, there is very little guidance as to proper form. I was hoping the commentary would provide this, but it is mostly dead air interspersed with the twins talking about buying costumes in Egypt, and saying "this exercise is great for toning...."
- The routines are very slow-paced, and could be quite boring for many people.
- Although the twins have wonderful form for dance moves, I wince watching them perform the more standard exercise moves. Ex. lunges where knees go far past the toes, bad form on crunches..
- The twins have distracting "stage smiles," and the voice-over narrator keeps making reference to how "sensuuual" everything is.

The Good:
- These are great, short exercise routines for the beginner. For someone with an interest in bellydance who doesn't mind a slow pace, they could be quite fun. The only exception to this is that the end of the ab tape is WAAAYY harder than the rest of the videos. My abs hurt for days.
- The twins have great dance form, and are cheerful. The cueing is pretty good.
- On an interesting note, one of the twins appears to be a far better dancer than the other. The camera work focusses on her, however.

A tip: when doing bellydance you should have very upright posture, with the shoulders back. If you do not do this with the arm exercises you will only work your shoulders. With the shoulders back, some of the work is shared with triceps/biceps etc.

Bellydance Fitness Arms and Abs (which I'm reviewing alone because Amazon no longer has a separate listing for this video) is designed to tone your upper body using bellydance-inspired movements. In the first half of the workout, you will do a variety of arm movements, most of which require you to hold the arms at shoulder level or above. Although the voiceover instruction suggests that these moves will tone your biceps and triceps, I felt them mostly in my shoulders, which quickly became fatigued. Eventually, you move on to working the chest and ribs, mainly through isolation movements. The final ten minutes of this workout are performed on the floor. You'll start with several non-traditional abs exercises--eg, leg lifts while propped on your elbows--and then you'll work on more traditional crunches. The workout finishes with several yoga-inspired stretches, and the total time comes in at about 28 minutes.

Overall, I found this to be an okay light toning routine. However, because the workout concentrates on the upper body, there is no footwork, which removes the fun factor (as well as the cardio work) that exists in other videos of this series (eg, Basic Moves). If you're interested in toning the arms and abs and are looking for something a bit different, this workout might be for you, but if you want to experiment with some fun bellydance moves, you'll probably want to try one of the other videos in the Bellydance for Fitness series.

I am 2 months removed from my second c-section. Situps are still very uncomfortable near my incision and I could never do them right anyway. I bought this DVD and the basic fat burning dvd mainly for the abdominal work. The instructors are VERY talented and the programs are easy to follow. If you are looking for a taebo type energy this workout is not for you. It is however very tranquil, elegant, and demanding. After my first workout I felt a burn in abdominal muscles I didn't know I had. I highly recomend this dvd for moms who are looking to strenghten and tone abs. It is also a great dvd to learn the art of bellydance. My husband loves it!

I just started this program about 3 weeks ago in conjunction with a diet plan, and can already feel a difference. I currently wear a size 24, so this workout is just the right pace for a full-figured woman like me who has done very little exercising in the past. At first, I could barely complete an entire section of this DVD. But now I challenge myself to do both workouts at once. I still can't do EVERY movement the way Neena and Veena do (particularly the floor exercises), but I'm working on it. Even the horrific pain in my knee is almost gone! It's wonderful for me because the music and narration are both very soothing. And since there is no bouncing or jumping around, I can do it in the privacy of my bedroom (I live with my sister, nephew and grandfather). I am now up to five times per week and plan to purchase another in the series so I can vary my workouts. I'll keep you posted.

I've been working out for about 6 months now and lost a total of 35 lbs through diet and exercise. I've tried many different workouts - Richard Simmons, Tae Bo, Mari Winsor Pilates - and this is one of the funnest workouts yet! For a beginner this would be a great video to try because it's fun and goes by quick. I've found that videos like Tae Bo, while great, get boring after a while. This is a great way to mix it up a little bit! I have been using this and The Method Afro-Brazilian dance and really enjoy it! The voice over doesn't bother me - I can see how it might be difficult to talk while doing these moves. Neena and Veena's wonderful physiques make me want to do even better - and now I've developed an interest in Bellydance! Don't worry if you're more heavy set - it's still fun and no one's going to be watching! And - the only way to get those beautiful belly dancing bodies is to exercise - you gotta start somewhere! Try this video!

That said, go ahead and buy this DVD because it's really quite effective. Just watching these two chicks alone will make you say, "Jesus, I'm fat." These [women] are IN SHAPE. Actually DOING the moves is pretty difficult, but the music and the atmosphere help to distract. Be warned, you're going to look pretty goofy trying to shimmy your hips while doing "snake arms", but in the morning your [body] will HURT like it never has before.

Plus, there's no large men with socks in their unitards screaming, "Knee! Knee! Kick!" to spoil the fun.

One word of caution, however: They don't actually teach you HOW to bellydance or dance routines or anything, so don't buy this thinking you'll be Princess Kashmir or some sh*t. All the exercises are based off of bellydancing moves, but an instructional dance video this ain't.

Don't be confused - this is a workout video, not a belly dancing instructional video. Just so everyone's clear.

This workout might not look like much at first, but you will feel it - especially in your arms. The moves are simple and easy to do, you probably won't have any trouble keeping up, but they still provide quite a good workout.

There's 2 workouts on this DVD, my favorite being the Arms & Abs workout. You can do either the Arms & Abs or the Hips, Buns, & Thighs workout, or both. My only complaint is that each workout isn't a solid 30 minutes - it's more like 27 minutes of workout preceeded by 3 minutes of Veena & Neena dancing and giving an introduction (and followed by one or the other dancing while the credits roll). I know, only 3 minutes, not a big deal, and the dancing and intro are not bad by any means. I'd just rather it be 3 minuts of dance/intro, 30 minutes or workout, and then the credits. Like I said, not a big deal, just a little something I'd like to see improved.

Be advised if you do both workouts, it plays the credits for the first workout and the intro for the second in between the end of Arms & Abs and the beginning of Hips, Buns, & Thighs. So you might want to have the remote handy to fast forward through that.

I have been using Crunch's Pick your spot and wanted to add variety to my daily routines, and especially to focus on my arms. After a thorough search, and reading all the reviews I picked this DVD (and the other one on Basic moves and fat burning).

Some of my reasons for these two selections were: I had taken some bellydance classes years ago and enjoyed them very much, I love bellydancing music and rhythms, the reviews mentioned the low key approach which is a plus for me because I have no patience for the shouting or mannerism of the over enthusiastic LA crowd.

I never, ever, return products but I am sending the two DVDs back one day after receiving them: I started with Bellydance Fitness for Beginners Arms, Abs, Hips, Buns & Thighs, and I did not bother opening the other one on Basic moves and fat burning. Note that I played the DVD on my portable.

Here is why I am returning the product:

1. The structure of the DVD, as other reviewers mentioned, is wrong--you have to fast forward a dance and a silly little speech to get to each exercise program. Tedious and unecessary. It would have been much better to have an introduction accessible from the Main Menu, so that the second time one may go directly to the exercises (See Crunch's Pick your Spot for a good example on how to do it).

2. I did not mind what another reviewer called "the disembodied voiceover." In fact, I found it pleasantly unobstrusive. What I did mind is the quality of the instruction, because it is:

(i) not well synchronized with the exercises. If you do not look at the screen all the time you will not realize the instructors are onto another exercise--not a big deal but annoying;
(ii) not complete, but a rather superficial description of what is going on instead of useful directions about how to do the exercises and what to watch for in terms of doing the exercises correctly to get the maximum benefit and to avoid injuries;
(iii) I believe not accurate--e.g., on the very few occasions when breathing is described, the breath in and out instructions seem counterintuitive;

3. The exercises sequences and progression do not seem to have been well thought out, particularly the second series of exercises Hips, Buns, and Thighs. For example the cooling exercise is not so much about cooling.

In sum, Deena and Veena had a great idea, are pleasant and charming, but they are not professional trainers and they were not well advised. I am certain they could have put out a superior product if they had worked with a professional pilates trainer who would have helped them select the movements, build the right sequence, write useful directions, and synchronize the voice over.

The DVD has a bonus section on belly dancing performances that is wonderful to watch. The costumes are beautiful. Fine.

I'll keep looking.