Sean T. is very friendly, personable, confident, jokes around, is truly into dancing & wants to share it. He can be compared to Will Smith's personality. He's relaxed & actually talented & fluid when he dances. He really does everything slowly at first before going to temp & breaks most of the moves down. The workout portion he does all at once, no stopping/starting like most high end fitness videos & he talks with the dancers. He uses the same backup dancers for all the workouts & other portions. When he remarks on a song, you know he hears what you hear so they are on beat. He never let's you stop moving on these workouts, you can only go down to step touches w/standing ab crunches. Each section you can decide if you want the music much louder drowning out Shawn's or hear his voice w/music like most workouts. The production quality in everything is great, lighting, camera angles, editing, sound quality, etc. except the music which I listed below.
Disk 1
FAT BURNING CARDIO - 43 min
This may have looped dance beat music, but I LOVE this workout. Why? It's 80% real dance moves! Hip Hop ab flexing, dip, stomping, frat step, dip side/side, double dutch, kick/knee, washing machine, etc. He even repeats some moves in a routine to keep you going. The only non dance moves were a little jumping jacks though he tries to add a little flava to it, hoping (though more side to side like hip hop) & simulated jump rope. THIS is how ALL his workouts should be.
AB SCULPT 2 - 32 min
The music is looped back beats, but not too bad, better then most fitness dvds. But very disappointed since they said real music in the tv ads. Most of this aerobics section is using weights or weighted gloves. There were about 5 real dance moves, the rest aerobics with a lot of emphasis on standing ab crunch types, knee lifts & kicks. This portion I'll admit made me sweat, though, as I've said, I don't like aerobics & was hoping for more dance moves like the tv advertisement. Mat Work (10 min) Easy plank on knees w/arm raises, then normal plank with 1 knee to chest, then 1 arm raised. Those were nice & challenging. The rest is easy, just sitting with feet on the ground & twists or arm raises weights. Ends with child's pose, sitting fwd bend, cobra, reclined kneed to chest spinal twist.
Disk 2
TOTAL BODY BURN - 45 min
Ok, after viewing now 7 of his cardio/toning workouts within a month (not counting the dance floor ones), I can definitely see a lot of repetition. Like the level 1 total body burn, this has a lot of free weight use, much more jumping jacks & simulated jump roping then all the others, plie/jump up in air, think some kicking & punching. I have to admit by now I was getting bored with seeing the same moves & FFWd a lot. There were a couple dance moves, but most were all done on his other dvds & like said, almost all done on Fat burning Cardio 2. The only new move that had was doing the butterfly with both arms & both legs at the same time with weights. That is a fun, old school move. Mat Work (10 min) the first 4 min are more dance step moves, one hard of touching you hand to ground & back up again. Suddenly you drop into push ups 8x, step touches in between, push ups, step touches, that ab "c" of sitting on your butt with knees bent & turning torso ( I find easy & do yoga boat pose instead).
Learn To Dance "Get abs or die trying" - 21 min
Club looking place w/lights & a dance floor (like the commercial), Shawn w/3 female & 1 male dancer showing a pretty stylish dance routine they teach you. He shows you the routine normal speed, then teaches the lower body 3-4x 1/3 speed, adds the upper body 3-4x 1/3 speed, then both at 1/3 speed 3-4x, then normal speed 3-4x. He doesn't count much at all, he gives you body cues of what to move & direction. When connecting the previous learned moves to the present moves, he will go slow 2x to help you connect them together. This is the best way to teach & I'm very happy he's teaching it that way. At the end, you only do it 4x in a row w/o stopping.
I tried to do this & I was completely lost even on the first set of about 5 moves (he taught about 5 moves in the level 1 as well but since beginner's were familiar I didn't have much of a problem). I wish he would only teach 1-2 moves depending on complexity about 2-3x 1/2 speed & 5x normal speed before moving. For moves such as these, it's needed. I will try this again sometime in the future.
Like I said in the Total Body burn, a lot of repetition & too much aerobics & not enough dance moves. All I want is dance moves that are repeated several times before moving on to keep the heart rate up. That's dance aerobics (though most unfortunately are watered down). Dance instruction is teach 1-2x 1/2 speed & normal speed 1-2x which I don't like. Not sure how long "Hip Hop Dance Party" has been out, but his "Rockin' Body" just came out this month & I hope they have that, but I'll wait for reviews before trying. If you're a beginner & can't stand not being able to keep up even though there's a modifier model, get the level 1. If you're a beginner & don't frustrate easy & want to save $, only get this. Intermediate & Advance, only get Level 2.
If you don't know what Hip Hop Abs looks/dounds like check clips on youtube or do a search on google videos, etc.
