Customer Reviews

Prevention Fitness Systems - Express Workout: Dance it Off!

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

This is one good workout. I love it and do it 2-3 times a week and have noticed already (in two weeks) a small change in my shape. There are 4 10-minute segments; Ballet for toning up, Latin, Hip Hop and Jazz for the cardio parts. The instruction is very easy to follow. She cues very well and to the beat. All up, it's about 73 minutes or so, but it's fun and enjoyable and you'll get results I bet. I have.

This workout is so much fun! I have always done only yoga and am very partial to the Gaiam videos, but my New Year's Resolution was to add some cardio work. In the last month I have branched out and purchased several new dvds and this one is great. I was intrigued because of the ballet exercise segment, which is wonderful, but I found that I enjoy all the dance segments. The moves are not difficult and the instructor is very easy to understand. One of the best parts of this video is the bonus section on energy. The thing I like about this whole dvd is that the instructor makes you really feel that you can do it, and you find yourself believing it too! I would be interested in another of Jennifer's workouts or another Prevention workout as well, since I have been so impressed with this one.

This is one of my favorite Cardio Dance workouts. Not only do I get a good sweat out of it, but I really do have fun while dancing to it. I also have the Crunch Cardio dance with the same instructor (Jennifer) but I like this one better.

However, this workout may still not be for everyone. I have dance experience and have tried many types of classes and dvds out there (dance, step classes, boxing, pilates, yoga, etc.) but it still took me two/three times to be able to follow up to speed with everything. But once I picked it up, I really do enjoy it!

My suggestion is that if you are pretty active or you have a good sense of rhythm, then you will have no trouble with this one and soon be having fun!

However, if you are not too active, needs moves to be taught repetitiously and break down slowly, then you may have trouble following along; and consequently feel tempted to quit or give up on it early.

My suggestion of doing this (and other cardio dance dvds): watch it thorough once; you'll get a sense which part is tough for you and which part the foot work seems tricky.

ALWAYS Resist the temptation to put in the hands movements until you really know your foot works. I know it looks good with the hand movements, but trust me, after they add the hand movements they will often change the footwork and you might get thrown off. This is why some people feel a particular DVD is too hard or they lose interest.

The good thing about this DVD is that it is divided into different categories of Dance.
- The Hip-Hop section is more funky and rap style; with moves that bop up and down a lot.

- The Latin dance is really fun with cha cha moves. It may look complicated to beginners only because the instructor is swaying more; by turning and twisting her hips a lot. For beginners, don't worry about having to move the hips too much. Just follow along and once you have more experience and feel more comfortable, you'll be able to add the sway of your hips to it too.

- For the Jazz section, it is like a choreographed MTV session of sort. This section is a trickier one; but so much fun once you can get it. If you just avoid the temptation to add in hands movements too soon, it's easier.

- And for the Ballet, it is mainly stretches with kicks and more of a balancing thing. I see this part as more of a cool-down rather than a cardio segment.

Like most dvds, this one lacks a good warmup. My suggestion; I always play the Cool-Down segment first before doing the warm up segment. There are more stretching moves in the Cool-Down section and I feel more properly warmed up.

This is a Fun dvd to do; if you want to get a good sweat out of it, really get into dancing it out; twisting and moving your hips in the latin section, and getting low with doing the hip-hop....you'll be sweating and having fun all at the same time!

This is a fun workout video with easy-to-follow moves and instruction. Jennifer Gilardi is motivating and energetic without
projecting the feigned enthusiasm and annoying fake smile so many of these workout video instructors seem to wear. I like the fun variety provided by the hip-hop, latin, and jazz sections, and it feels great to stretch your muscles through the ballet moves in the last segment after all of that dancing! I highly recommend this one!

I am 50 and feel I am fit, walk daily, do elliptical machine, ect. But tried this video a couple of times and hurt myself. It moved so very fast, twisting & turning - I actually hurt my knee joints and have never felt pain in my knees before. I returned this video. I thought Prevention was for everyone, at least their magazine is for all ages. Not a good experience.

Jennifer's instruction is excellent. I actually feel that I am dancing, even though I've never had any training. I like the variety offered by the four segments; you really get your heart rate up while working all different parts of the body. This DVD is fresh, motivating, and effective. Give it a try; you'll be too busy having fun to worry about how you look!

I can't believe that other reviewers are calling the moves in this video "easy to master". I found some of them to be nearly impossible to follow. The camara barely focuses on her feet as she perfoms intricate latin dance footwork! I am an athletic twenty-three year old girl who is not a slow learner. I just excercised with this DVD for the first time and it was really tough! I didn't get a work out at all because I was scratching my head and rewinding the thing so much. She doesn't break down the moves at all and it's just so much more confusing than it needs to be. The dances are cute, but it's frustrating that she doesn't explain the moves. I hope no one else has to waste their money on this stupid thing.

i think this dvd would be great for someone who has a lot of experience in dance. it was too hard for a beginner like me. she doesn't give enough time for the inexperienced person to get the hang of one move before she goes on to the next one. i didn't find her as annoying as some of the other reviewers did though. i think it should be stated on the cover of the dvd that this is an intermediate or advanced workout.

I rented this off of NetFlix before buying it, and I'm so glad that I did! Although the dances were fun, I had trouble following a lot of the steps, and just plain couldn't do the jazz section. The workouts are shot like a music video so that sometimes the camera is not even on the instructor when she shows you new moves and you have to sort of pick up what to do. I also did not like that after each section the video went back to the main menu so that I had to keep manually programming each section to play; really took me out of my groove and interrupted the flow of my workout.

That said, the instructor really is a lot of fun and very sweet and perky (but not in an annoying way as Denise Austin can be). She encourages you to have fun and really get into the spirit of each dance. While the steps were hard to follow, I still found that I got a decent cardio workout. If you have the patience for this video and think that you can get the hang of it, then go for it. I, however, am going to keep trying out videos through NetFlix.

I was frustrated by this DVD. This DVD is not typical of the Prevention series. The instructor went through the steps too fast and did not explain the techniques well enough while she launched right into well rehearsed routines with her students. This was about her having fun with her students, not teaching the viewer the dance steps.

The cameraperson felt it wasn't necessary to show the dancer's feet for several critical dance steps.

By the time the instructor got to the slower less complicated dances, I completely lost interest. This is the first exercise DVD I threw away because to me it is useless.