Customer Reviews

Dance Off the Inches: Fat Burning Jam

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Another workout from the Dance off the Inches series, this one is led by Michelle Dozois, who has appeared in quite a few workout videos over the years. She is joined by 4 other ladies, including Marie Forleo who has led Crunch Cardio Dance Blast and Prevention's Dance Yourself Thin. They are all in a cozy living room setting ready to groove.

One feature of this DVD is a step guide, which demonstrates many of the moves that make up the foundation of the workout. I was glad to find this in this and other Dance off the Inches workouts that I have tried. I am not the best when it comes to dance moves, so it's nice to have this little tutorial when I need it. Michelle will show you the move, slow at first then at tempo, plus she will show any additional variations that might be seen in the workout, any arm movements that go with it for example.

You start with a fun warmuup and move into the first of three dance routines called Shake Those Hips. Some of the steps seen here include single and double hip shakes, side taps, grapevines and circle walks. Then you will move into the next dance routine, Latin Spice. Here you will see the Spicy March, the slide, cross & bounce, mambo, cha chas (with a turn added), kickball change and shoulder shimmeys.

The final dance segment is Jazz it Up. This routine includes chasses, drags, narrow/wide march (out out in in), quick lunges, tap front/back, box step, side taps, double taps and hops. Then it's time to cooldown.

I thought Michelle did a nice job in this workout, she seems to be having fun here and interacts with her backgrounders throughout, asking them to show what kind of arms they like to do with a certain step, etc. I enjoyed her as an instructor. The moves aren't terribly hard to pick up but they are fun to do and once you get them down you can really get into it. The music is okay, didn't particularly stand out to me but I didn't dislike it either. Overall I give this one a solid 4 stars. I have a few workouts in this series and enjoy them all. They aren't terribly complex which is good for me, some other dance workouts that I have tried are just too hard to follow. Those like me who have 2 left feet, this would be a good choice.

If you're looking for something basic that doesn't have any complex choreography, then you're in the right place. If you're looking for something fresh, fun, funky and challenging, then this DVD is certainly not it.

Michelle Dozois is a certified Pilates instructor, and it shows, due to her lack of personality in demonstrating the dance moves. The choreography is basic, dull, and uninteresting. I was able to pick it up in one go without being challenged too much.

Here's what you get

10MIN TEACHING SEGMENT - For people who are new to dance-aerobics, Michelle takes first timers through a 10 minute segment which spends 1 minute on each of 10 different steps that are used throughout the workout. This is good for people with two left feet and are lacking in coordination, but I found it excruciatingly slow to go through it, with the moves being so basic that I could pick most of them up from sight at full tempo. Of course, the advantage of having such a segment completely separate from the main workout itself is I didn't have to use this segment if I didn't want to.

35MIN DANCE WORKOUT - As well as the warmup and cooldown, there are three dance segments. Honestly, I found two out of three of these boring and unoriginal. Michelle Dozois lacks personality and that go-get-em attitude that draws people into a workout. I was stunned when the workout started to see that Marie Forleo is one of the back-up exercisers in the workout. Marie Forleo has two dance DVDs herself; one from Crunch and one from Prevention, and a Dance Off The Inches DVD due to be released soon. This workout might have been more of a success if Marie had lead it instead of Michelle.

I will say that the third of the three dance segments is considerably more fun than the other two, which is why I gave this DVD 3 stars.

But its nowhere near as fun, challenging and innovative as the original Dance Off The Inches disc with Juliane Arney. I'd still recommend that workout over this one any day of the week. And there's no sign of the 1-2-3 tempo system that was present in the original discs; whether thats a good or bad thing is subjective. I prefer learning things at tempo than slower, since my heart rate stays elevated for longer.

The set throughout all of the Dance Off The Inches series resembles that of someone's living room, to bring through the theme of 'come on over and party at my house!', though the set on this DVD makes me feel like I'm in someone's kitchen rather than in someone's living room. The set will date quickly, as has been shown in Dance Off the Inches two previous discs.

SUMMARY
- Easy to follow
- 10 minute teaching segment good for those new to dance aerobics
- 1-2-3 tempo segments from previous in the series not present in this disc
- Lacking originality in choreography
- Instructor lacking dance oomph
- Set will date quickly

I'd hesitate to recommend this.

You've probably seen Michelle Dozois in some Prevention dvds and 10 Minute Solution dvds. She's really outgoing and fun without being too over the top or annoying. Instead, you find yourself having a blast and you've done a great workout before you know it.
This is one such fun workout. It's easy to follow and easy to do. It's only a little over half an hour so it's not that hard to find the time for it. She lets you know that it's ok to either follow exactly what the others are doing, or make up your own style. There's a fair bit of dancy moves, but not hard and it's like a moderate impact workout. You don't need to be totally fit, but somewhat co-ordinated and not to have two left feet.
This is probably better kept for those days where you can't be bothered exercising but need to do a little something. You don't need to try hard, but this will change your mood and keep you happy for the rest of the day. It's great and I hope you like it too.

Purchasing this DVD was a leap of faith for me; I always come to Amazon and read the reviews before making a selection. I have had great success utilizing the review system, so when I was up for a new title for my fitness collection, seeing this video and its high ratings was an encouragement.

I'm not going to outright bash "DOTI: Fat Burning Jam" because it does have several merits. The steps are simple so that even someone who has never done aerobics can follow along and be successful in one or two tries.

The instructors aren't stick-thin, non-sandwich eating supermodels. It's refreshing to see that in fitness videos because chances are, many of us just split a Ho-Ho with our toddler (and washed it down with a swig of Capri-Sun) about 45 minutes prior to firing up the DVD player.

Nor are the instructors all 20 and under. Michelle looks to be in her late 30s/early 40s, as is her companion Sasha. That, too, is an encouragement to the real world. You may get a bit creeped out at seeing a couple of women who aren't 20 whipping their hips about (as I was initially); I had to remind myself that just because you turn 30 doesn't mean you can't move like that and boast toned EVERYTHING.

Just don't wear the skirt made from a single paper napkin and the fishnets when you sport your moves in public; now THAT is the fast track to Skankville, my friends, no matter how buff you are! ;)

The cons for Fat Burning Jam stem more from personal taste than anything. I wasn't keen on the "living room" set that was utilized; when I work out, I want to feel as if I am AWAY from my home and at the gym for 30 minutes. I kept waiting for a couple of grade-school kids to chase each other behind the dancers, hollering, "Mom, he's LOOKING at ME; make him STOP!!!"

The music is somewhat dated as well; I had to stifle a laugh more than a few times, particularly when I'd reached the "Jazz" section; the rhythm was about two beats away from an 80s erotic film. Part of what motivates me in my fitness routine is a degree of seriousness, so when I'm hearing this funky music and Michelle saying, "Sasha, I like those hips; look at her move 'em!" I can't help but envision a scene with red satin curtains, haze, and the very afroed Dirk Longjohnson over there on the rotating bed.

So to boil it down, if you're a beginner and you're looking for something to move you, then this is a decent choice. But if you're looking for more intensity and more complicated footwork, I'd suggest looking elsewhere.

I've been mixing up my exercise routine by throwing in some dance aerobic videos lately to use on lighter days and so thought I'd give this a try. "Dance off the Inches: Fat Burning Jam" is a 35-minute all dance cardio DVD filmed in a living room style set. Michelle Dozis leads this video who is joined by four female background exercisers. As for the workout itself, the dance moves are fairly basic, and Michelle seems to be a pretty good dancer with relatively easy-to-follow lead. Her moves are graceful and well demonstrated and there's a nice flow to the workout. However, there's nothing really new or exciting here - just the same old cha chás, mambos and grapevines I'm used to seeing everywhere else. The music is very generic-sounding as well. Michelle's comments throughout are also quite corny, like she's overly trying to be `hip' and `cool'. I also thought there was a distinct cheesiness to the "Dance-Off the Inches: Calorie blasting party" DVD as well, so perhaps it's just this particular series (we'll see, as I'm now about to try the "15 Minute Express" one). Now I realize that Denise Austin (whose dance exercise videos I admittedly like) also tends to be cheesy but there's a difference. I see Denise as just being her idiosyncratic self (another example would be say, Richard Simmons) which actually makes her quite likeable and entertaining in my view. But to me this just seemed phony with her comments such as "Are you ready to take this South of the Border?!" as they're about to move into the "spicy Latin dance routine" - which there's hardly anything sultry or `spicy' about it.

In addition to the above factors this is definitely a beginner-level workout, which is perfectly okay, and I would have given this DVD three stars since it's by no means terrible and can be kind of fun to do. But I docked off another point because in addition to all of the little things about it that bothered me, I failed to even break a sweat - and I've done other beginner-level workouts that at least accomplish this. I'd recommend the "Crunch" dance-exercise videos instead - and yes, I also enjoyed Denise Austin's "Fat Blasting Dance Mix" a lot more as well.

Rating: Mediocre

Michelle Dozois does another great job. She is probably one of my top two favorite instructors. These are dancey moves, but her clear instruction leave you without doubt you can do a good job. Fun and challenging, you do not even realize you are working hard. Great calorie burner as the heart rate elevates properly. Good set and back-up people. This is great for in-between your toning days. Excellent buy!

I enjoyed this work out. It is fun. The instructor, Michelle Dozois, is about my age so I feel good knowing I am not the only one who likes to shake by stuff!! I like how Michelle involves her "team", especially Stella and Marie Forleo. I have a few of Marie's DVD's and she is also in some Shape exercises tapes with Ellen Barrett (who is my favorit).

The Fat Burning Jam video is devided into three (3) ten minute sections. This does not include the warm-up and the cool down sections. I personally whish it was 10 minutes longer, but I ususally do one of the sections twice, therefore getting a 43-45 minutes work out. I did not do the step guide, and picked up the moves pretty fast. If you are new to dancing the step guide is very helpful. If you are advanced and excercise often, I work out almost every day, it is very easy. You will work up a bit of a sweat, especially of you let loose and really shake it! I sometimes combine it with another exercise DVD. If you are a beginner, I think you will really enjoy it. I am glad Michelle does a proper cool down afterwards. I would have given it 5 stars had it been 10 minutes longer.

Others have written great reviews... I just watched the first 10-15 min of this streaming from rental giant ntflx. I'll just add the moves a very simple & almost silly they are so old, there's even bunny hops in it. The only complex move is a hip circle as you walk sideways, the only other cool move is a double hip bump. There are some mambos, grapevines, etc. There's a double lunge which is popular on dance floor that looks hot, but with these women, it only looks like aerobics. If you like decent music & real dancers, avoid this. If you like something easy & not intimidating to get you started, you'll love this.

Preview at collagevideo com

I have a bad back and was looking for a gentle workout I could do in short intervals because of frequent interruptions at home. I would say this video fufills the need to get you moving without too much challenge or time commitment. You may not have to be as careful not to hurt yourself as you might using a standard fitness video if you have fitness restrictions. However, it kind of tries too hard to be fun and I didn't find Michelle Dozois to be very charismatic. My daughter thought it was boring and for old ladies, which it probably is, but it suits some of us fine.

DOTI Fat Burning Jam runs 34 minutes with warmup and cooldown. It's led by one of my favorite instructors, Michelle Dozois. She does a great job cueing the moves. The music is the usual generic stuff.

There's a lot of fun hip shaping moves in this one. I was glad to see Stella and Marie from previous DOTI in this workout as background exercisers.

There are a couple of moves on this workout that don't do well on a carpeted surface (ie - the twirl on the end of the box step) and there's one high impact move as well, but both are easy to modify.

There was just a tad too much TIFTing (taking it from the top in vidiot-speak) for my taste, but still a good workout and a keeper for me.

Recommend to beginners/intermediates