Customer Reviews

Denise Austin: Body Burn With Dance & Pilates

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

 

 

This DVD suprised me. It's actually quite good and of intermediate challenge.
The 30 minute cardio/dance section was really fun to do. The first part had more of a latin flair and the second part was more hip-hop oriented. It was also easy to modify the moves to make them higher impact for a more intense workout.
The 10 minute standing Pilates segment worked the upper body and core with weights. The time just flew by.
There is also a 10 minute floor Pilates routine targeting the abs and legs. Strap on wrist and ankle weights and it becomes nicely challenging. Denise is also very pleasant throughout, just the right amount of friendliness. My only gripe is the music. Had they used better and more motivating music in the dance portion, this would have been a 5-star workout.

There are 3 segments: 30 minutes of easy-to-follow dance combinations with plenty of waist and hip action. There is no warm-up, but it didn't seem necessary. There's a nice stretch at the end.

10 min of standing Pilates with light weights. If you have Denise's Power Yoga workout, you'll recognize some of the work from the 2nd segment of that DVD.

10 min of floor Pilates. Classic floor Pilates. You start with the usual ab work, including the 100, but Denise gives you variations to keep it interesting. Also a few things from the side-kick series, along with the ever fun Can-Can.

A pleasant, effective workout with Denise's patented "girlfriend" factor, and better cueing than usual. (Yes, the music could've been better.)

This is one of the most fun workouts I've done in a long time. I love the dance portion (she moves quickly with little explanation so you just kind of have to jump right in). Luckily there is enough repetition of the moves that even a novice dancer can catch on. When I started getting down the moves I was having a blast and actually caught myself smiling a few times! How often can you say that about a workout? The pilates portion of this tape is excellent, too. Really great moves that I could feel firming and toning my body from the first few seconds. This is a fun and effective workout that I would highly recommend.

I've done a couple of other videos before and after having to sit out a while due to various things, I picked this up because it looked like something I could do, have fun with, and get some exercise. Not so much. As some of the other reviewers stated, the steps are called out right before she switches to them and they are not demonstrated. If you have a background in dance (like maybe you were drill team or a cheerleader) then you will probably breeze through this, catching on quickly and really enjoy it. For the coordination challenged, look elsewhere. I may try the Biggest Loser video I've got, or I may go back to Kathy Ireland - I can actually follow those. And I KNOW you want something that's challenging - if it's too easy it's not a real workout, right? But I need something I can actually DO, rather than marching in place trying to figure out what the heck is going on.....

(Next day: not good for bad knees either!)

I am hesitant to buy Denise Austin DVD's because of how people review she doesn't cue right. This is my 5th purchase of her workouts and it's great. I think the dance part is cued wonderfully. She just repeats the steps over and over to make it easy to learn. I'm new to Pilates but the workout definitely made me sore. I consider myself an intermediate exerciser for aerobics and this is a great workout for my fitness level.

I love this workout.

It was fun, enjoyable and got my heart working...and I didn't even get to the pilates part yet.

Lots of dancy moves done in a fun, fun, fun way. I started feeling good within two minutes and felt very very good the whole way thru.

I thought the steps were perfect. Not too complicated and not too easy. Just enough to provide a bit of challenge and interest but not too easy where it is boring. I have a very small workout space...if I can do it with my space, almost anyone can do it. I have to maneuver a bit but it is still very doable.

For the record I don't have a problem with Denise's cuing or her personality. Somehow I just get it without much of a problem. And I, personally, like positive personalities but that is just a preference.

Also, I have taken serious dance in the past (ballet, modern, and jazz) and still liked this video. I didn't think it was "cheesy" at all. Before starting up cardio again, my exercise was mostly walking my dogs and yoga (both strenuous and just stretching).

I am really looking forward to doing the pilates segment and trying Denise's other dance videos. I'll add on to this review once I do the pilates.

Denise, thank you for providing easy ways to incorporate exercise into our lives and in a fun, positive way, too.

I love Denise Austin but this workout is not so great. I think if I were a dancer I would have gotten the hang of it and enjoyed it. But since I'm not, I found the instructions to be very poor. The moves are not explained and it was hard for me to follow along.

I have many workout DVDs because I like to change things up and I got this one because I wanted something fun and energetic. I was NOT disappointed. It has become one of my very favorite DVDs.

There are three sections - dance, standing pilates and mat pilates. All three sections are great! The dance portion will get your heart rate up and make you sweat but is not difficult to follow. I have read other review of Denise's DVDs stating that she doesn't cue well but I do not find this to be the case at all. The pilates portion strengthens and lengthens but also relaxes. If you like dance and/or pilates - BUY THIS DVD - you will not be disappointed.

I was disappointed in this dvd. I like Denise Austin but I really didn't care for this one. The pilates was ok but the dancing was not my thing.

I've been doing Zumba for about three years, so I thought a different kind of dance workout would be a fun way to mix it up. But the "dance" workout on this DVD is just different moves awkwardly mashed together. I did not find this section to be much of a workout at all; it was easy, not very dance-y, and sort of boring. (I didn't find it hard to follow the cues, like some other reviewers have said, but that again could be because I'm used to doing dance-like workouts and I'm able to pick up on moves much more quickly now than I was able to when I first started doing Zumba.)

The shorter Pilates workouts, one with lights weights and focusing on arms and the other on the floor and focusing on abs/core, were much better. I haven't done much Pilates, and I found it easy to follow and just enough of a challenge; it combined moves I've done in other classes or on my own with moves I hadn't done before.

In sum, if you go for this DVD, skip the cardio dance section and do the two Pilates workouts instead.