Customer Reviews

Dancing with the Stars: Dance Body Tone

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

 

 

This dancing workout is different from all of the other DWTS workouts. I was expecting it to be like "DWTS: Dance Off the Pounds" but it was totally different. While in "Dance Off the Pounds" each of the three dances was a full routine, some of these dances were not full routines. Yet, they weren't just moves taught to you. Let me explain. . .

There is no warm-up so you go directly to the first workout.

Latin-This 15 minute workout is divided into three 5 minute workouts. The first one is Rumba, the second Cha-Cha, and the third was a Cha-Cha/Merengue mix. The back of the box said to expect Mambo, but I didn't really see any Mambo steps except for maybe one. Maybe. The Rumba is easy and beginners could probably do it. Cha-Cha is a bit quicker and it slightly resembles the Cha-Cha routine on the "Cardio Dance" DVD. The Cha-Cha Merengue was nice, but it features some moves that are more ab toning and less dance. Kym Johnson leads this, and she is a better instructor than in the other video. However, this section just seemed too feminine. There were no male backups and the moves were a little slinky. Focuses on toning abs.

Tango-I LOVED this section! Led by Dmitry Chaplin, it had the same format as the Latin with three 5 minute workouts. The moves were SO fun. The music was GREAT! You really felt like you were really dancing! Unfortunately, this routine has no real purpose except for teaching some really fun steps. It is not cardio at all, and while it tries to tone legs, it fails. At least it does for me.

Freestyle-This routine, led by Lacey Schwimmer IS a full routine. It has NO toning whatsoever, but it takes Jive, Latin, and other steps and adds a hip-hop style to them. This was a lot of fun, and it was the one routine on the DVD that really got my heart rate up. It is the only routine on the DVD that I could actually call a workout.

Cool Down-Once again, there are no male dancers-not even Dmitry. I dunno, I think Cal Pozo (the director/choreographer) was going for just women on this DVD. The stretching wasn't that great. It was more of just relaxing moves. You don't stretch ANY muscles except the glutes, and for a split second the hamstrings. Great choreography in this video. Unfortunately, it only has light cardio/toning benefits.

I purchased this with the other DWTS DVD. I definitely prefer "Dance off the Pounds" to the "Dance Body Tone" DVD.

However, it was hard to go into DVD with an open mind since I loved "Dance Off the POunds" so much, but if you do, you will find that it is actually a good workout, if you put the energy the instructors have for these moves into it.

The first section was Latin dance with Kym. It's called an "ab blast" but honestly, I didn't feel as though I was doing anything really strenuous. There is Rhumba, Cha Cha and Merengue here. The moves are pretty good, not fast paced and easy to get down on the first try. But that was the problem I had. It felt more like I was swaying my hips continuously for 15 mins and that's all. I was a little let down with this section and worried that they were reverting back to the older DWTS DVDs. But I was pleasantly surprised that the next day, my abs and hips did feel like they were worked, albeit not sore exactly, but "stretched out". So this section DID serve it's purpose.

Second up was the Tango/Argentine Tango section with Dmitry. This section was a lot of fun and I felt sexy doing it. I didn't work up a huge sweat since the tango is not a fast dance, and the moves are broken down slowly. But doing the leg flicks you see them do on the show was a lot of fun. Great little section but I really didn't think it was toning anything. Well here I am the day after and let me tell you, was I wrong! My legs and butt are a little sore and I am really surprised. The thing with this section is, you are doing a lot of lunges and steps that you "sit in" so you are doing a lot of thigh and glute work! And you don't realize that. So it was a really pleasant surprise.

Last up was the Freestyle section with Lacey. Like a previous reviewer said, this was the only section that had a routine all the way through and broke down the moves as you go. This section was a lot of fun and had some cute moves. It got my heart rate up since it was pretty much straight on cardio. This was really the only section that made me tired.

Finally there is a 5-6 minutes cool down and stretch to top everything off.

Overall this is a good workout. As I was doing it, while it was fun, I wasn't extremely impressed. And I wasn't nearly as exhausted after doing this as I was after the "Dance off the Pounds" workout. But I did feel it the next day, so that was a plus. It's nice to know I didn't waste 50 minutes on a workout that did nothing. I think the key here is to REALLY get into the moves and execute them correctly, otherwise you will not get any benefit from this.

While I won't reach for this DVD nearly as much as I will the "Dance Off the Pounds" workout, this is good for those lighter days when you don't want to workout but really want to do SOMETHING.

I was quite disappointed with this video. I workout on a regular basis and was hoping to add dance into my routine to change things up. However, this was not the DVD to start with.

The other reviews did a good job of explaining the different sets on the DVD so I won't talk to much about those. i will say that I feel like I got the best workout from the first routine, the Latin routine, which was focused on abs. The other two didn't do much for me.

But the real issue I has was not being able to keep up with the steps. I am no a dancer at all, but my sister has been dancing all her life and is in a show choir now and she had a hard time keeping up with the steps. Often times you only see the steps once before you do them at tempo. I also felt like I needed a lot more space than would be available anywhere in my home.

If you want to learn the dances this may be a good DVD for you. If you are a beginner or are looking for a good workout I would suggest skipping this video.

I borrowed this DVD from the library to preview it before I purchased it. Some other reviewers commented on the lack of a warm up and the type of instructions given. I do have to agree with these comments. The DVD does have a cool down, which is a plus. First up is Kym, who leads some Latin-style moves. Not too inspiring, just a lot of hips swaying; I wasn't sure if it really counted as a dance or a workout. This segment was quite disjointed. Next was Dmitri, who leads a tango style routine. His instructions are clear and he does go slow- at least 3 times so you get it. His routine is more of a routine, but I didn't feel too challenged. Last is Lacey with Freestyle. Now, while I didn't care for this style of dance, sort of hip-hop/jive/bouncy, it IS the best workout. First, it's VERY aerobic and secondly, it is a whole little routine from start to finish. She breaks it into sections and builds upon what was done. Then she goes through the whole routine several times. There's some jumping, so it's not quite low impact. Of the 3 dances, this one made me feel like I was working out.

All in all, I was disappointed and a, glad that I did not purchase this DVD.

What I do recommend is the DWTS Latin Cardio with Maks and Cheryl. It's not perfect and sometimes her instructions are a bit fast, but you feel like you've exercised. There is a nice warm up and cool down and 4 dances to choose from.

I suppose this "workout" would be fun if it weren't so frustrating. I'm admittedly not a dancer, but I'm not a dunce and I am able to follow instruction. Before jumping into a move, oftentimes, the more challenging moves were only shown one time, and sometimes at a rapid pace. I struggled to learn the moves. They spent far more time explaining the step touch (as if anyone couldn't master that one) than "the cookaracha" or other more advanced dance moves. It would have been nice if they would have slowed down the pace on the instructional part so the viewer could get the move down before having to learn a brand new move and when ready to advance, go into the music without instruction section of the work-out.

For me, a very inexperienced dancer, this was a complete waste of money. I've wanted to get into it and pulled it out determined to figure out the moves several times, but to no avail.

I can't speak much to the intensity of this work-out. I didn't get far enough into it to know if it was possible to "feel the burn"

This exercise video is a lot of fun but challenging enough that I'm still not bored with it. It's been at least six months since I bought it! The freestyle dance segment is a bit too modern for me but the other two segments (latin and tango) are right up my alley.

The instructors speak to you in a normal way; the volume is not too loud or too soft and their pace is not too slow or too fast. You can select to do the workout without the instructor's voice if you want to. You can also select which of the 15-minute exercises you would like to do and in what order you would like to do them for a customized routine.

The down side to this exercise video is that in some cases the instructors don't break some of the faster moves down for you. I used the pause-step function on the DVD to watch them in slow motion but sometimes it was still hard to see their feet because all of them are wearing loose black pants. Another downside is that there is no separate warm-up segment in this particular DWTS video; it's in the latin segment in the guise of a rumba.

People with knee or hip problems shouldn't use this video. You have to be able to balance on the balls of your feet while doing a lot of very quick movements; this can put a lot of pressure on the knee and hip joints until your muscles grow strong enough to hold yourself up properly.

I think this video has been worth the money I spent on it. It really strengthened my quadriceps and core. I definitely recommend it to anyone interested in dance.

It was too difficult for me to catch on to the first time so now I'm not interested. Maybe if you are really motivated and keep trying or if you have dance experience it would be fine.

You really need to know somewhat how to dance to this.. It's very fast paced, with little instruction. I picked it up easily, but if you don't know basics, It may take you a little bit to pick it up. The 'one-on-one' instruction really does help, so that's a bonus.. Over all, i'm glad I got it on Amazon instead of paying a massive price at Target for it.

I have all the DWTS workout videos and they are all good and they get you to sweat and burn off so many calories while having fun and doing something I love...dancing.

The reason I give this one 4 stars is because it isn't as high energy as the other ones and even though you do burn calories not as much as the other videos, but that might be because it is to tone and not a cardio workout. But it is still awesome.

The one other thing I didn't like it that they split the routines into tiny pieces and never really put the whole thing together so it isn't like a Choreography except for the freestyle section.

But overall I highly recommend this DVD if you love dancing, are a fan of DWTS and want to burn and tone up.

Somehow the creators of this DVD managed to find BORING latin dance music! IMHO a difficult task! Other than that, reviews by Rayna, B.Glass and Justin Bailey said it all. Wish I had: 1) read these reviews before purchasing and 2)spent the $ on a few downloaded tunes instead.