Customer Reviews

Quickfix - Cardio Hip-Hop Workout

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(23)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

This video is very fun and keeps up my heartrate. It might be a little difficult for people with "two left feet" or who haven't done much dancing or aerobics. The instructor was great and I thought she broke it down well, not so slow that your heartrate went down, but not to fast to get lost. I highly recommend this tape if you love dancing and want a good workout!

Julianne Arney has been around with her great, friendly, bubbling personality. She's a good dancer, but in this dvd she calls at the cues as she does them & only goes 3/4 speed at slowest, never half the speed. She only breaks down the moves into 2-3x layers at most.
If she would teach in 1/2 tempo a few times & practice each finished move several times before learning the next, it would keep the heart rate up, easier to follow. Yes, there'd be less moves, but least you could keep up & work more on the details rather then being lost on the basic move itself.
The moves are old school, cool & well known, not too watered down, but also then calls for more practice.

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HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to anyone who wants to shape up in a fun way! It was my first home workout DVD ever and at first I was intimidated by all the moves, but because the instructor is so clear and good at cueing, each dance workout took about a week to learn. To me, this is pretty good because I have no previous dance experience at all. I did all three workouts plus the bonus workout track everyday for about two months. It's a great way to work up a sweat and learn how to dance! The camera work is professional and the lighting is bright and the studio is spacious. The music stays subtle (it's mostly there to keep your rhythm) and the background dancers inspire you to find your own style.

Each routine lasts 10 minutes. The first workout is basic hip hop moves. I used it as a warm up session. The second workout is more MC Hammer style moves, and a little more intense. The third workout is modern/old-school styled dancing and gives the best workout. The bonus workout is dance-party style and also rather intense. All four routines are excellent to get your muscles pumping, but it's up to you how much you put into it -- the better you know the moves, the more intense the workout becomes. The instructor never looses her breath regardless of the intensity of the movements, (she also gives just enough encouragement plus adds some humor along the way) and the two backup dancers keep up equally well. I learned the first routine thoroughly before I moved onto the next, and just added more moves as the days passed by. I think it's a wonderful way to get your daily exercise. Because of this first workout DVD, I've been inspired to continue home workouts.

The instructor, Juliane Arney, is excellent. She demonstrates and describes the dance moves well. It did take me some time to learn the steps, but once you do it is alot of FUN. I wear a heart rate monitor when I work out. This workout does get your heart rate up for a great cardio workout.

I found these excersises to be so much fun, that I wanted to write a review. I am the typical white girl, with NO sense of what's hip, but these three combos made me feel like I could actually go out and dance in public now. In addition to working up a sweat for a quick ten minutes, you really get a sense of accomplishment when you can do these routines without the DVD in front of you. I lost about five or six pounds in two weeks learning how to hip hop, and now I want to try other dance styles! It really makes you feel good, and I thought the girl was peppy without being over-the-top like some other aerobics tape instructors. She does all the moves several time, and I never felt left behind!

This DVD is awesome. I was a little skeptical because all the other dance DVDs have been pretty terrible (like MTV's Darrin's dance groove...yuck), but this one is AWESOME. It's FUN and easy to follow. The lady in it is awesome as well. I've been taking hip hop for a long time, so it could be easier for me to follow, but reading the other reviews, it seems as though the DVD is still good for people who haven't had much dance experience. I recommend this for sure!!! So much more fun than running on the treadmill or something lame like that!! :)

I am 40 years old. I grew up with fun music. This is the closest exercise video I have found that even comes close to great music mixed with great exercise. It took me about 10 or so tries with each workout routine before I learned them. There are 3 routines which are 10 minutes each. I've done all three routines about 20 times or so and just discovered last night that there is another bonus routine. So there is a total of 40 minutes of FUN workout and then more if you want to replay one of the routines. I highly recommend this dvd to anyone who is young at heart, who loves music and who wants to get into shape.

I am not a dancer so I found this DVD hard, but towards the end I was starting to get the hang of it. The moves are tricky, but they look great and I think with a bit of work you could pick them up. The girls look fantastic, their clothes are funky and the DVD is in short 10 minute sections so if you get bored like me, there really is no time to lose interest. I will continue to revisit it as I want to do the dances, and even if you do stuff up like I did, your heart rate still keeps going.

I LOVE THIS DVD!!!! At this price, it's a particularly phenomenal value. And even more so when you discover that in addition to the 3 10-minute routines it promises, there's a 4th "bonus" routine - totalling 4 10-minute routines. Here's what you need to know:
This is not an "aerobics routine" in the conventional sense, but dance coreography. It takes - or, as in my case, forces you to develop (if you stick it out!!!) - a whole different set of "dance" and/or coordination skills than are needed for your average aerobics w/o. I.e., it's not "even" between right and left sides. While many "steps" are in fact repeated evenly between sides, there are many that only one side gets. Additionally, once you start putting the moves together, often the step beginning one move is also the last step of the previous move...unlike other dance and/or aerobics routine where you finish this move then start the next one, basically putting them next to each other...here, they flow into one another. Hard to explain, but you'll know what I mean once you see it!!!

I found that in spite of the fact that I generally tend to catch on to even sometimes tricky aerobics routines, and have always been a good "improv" dancer, this style and coregraphy was really challenging - okay, frustrating - for me at first. But I was stubborn, and I would use the "slow" button on my DVD player and repeat moves in slow motion endlessly til I got it. By the end of 2 weeks, working on it daily (and even in my sleep!!), I pretty much was beyond the frustration/challenge of the style and moves, and knew the coreography. I find the more I do it, the more I "groove" it. I discover new and more subtle nuances to the moves, get into the music more, really dance it.

Rather than getting more boring the more I do it (like most routines), it actually becomes more and more enjoyable...so much so that I can do it for an hour and still want to do more!!! (so much for quick!!! :-)

Another thing - when I played the intro, and heard Julienne's voice, I thought "oh, no way, her voice will drive me nuts!" But much to my pleasant surprise, once I started the routines, I found her to be throroughly enjoyable and a terrific "teacher" - her voice didn't bother me in the least. She's not over the top like some, and she's clear - and keeps up with reminder "keywords" as the routine works from "learning" the moves to "dancing" them.
I also enjoyed the 2 women who danced behind her, and the camera work was great, allowing full view of the moves (rather than focusing only on a face when you need to see legs and feet!) and not being "all over the place".
THE MUSIC is FANTASTIC - better than any DVD routine I've experienced thus far, really professional sounding, without a "canned" "aerobics" sound.
All in all, a really well done, fun, polished production that provides a heart pumping, sweat producing workout. I wish there were more versions of this!!!
HAVE FUN!!!

Going to the gym 4+ times a week - dream on. I barely make it twice a week. This fits my needs really well - broken down into 10 minutes segments, if I can't do all four, or I do what I have time for, get my heart rate up and a light sweat.

This really isn't a DVD for someone who sees themselves as going clubbing every weekend and looking for something to impress. It is for someone who is bored with the tedium of the CRUNCH line, and looking for something fun and quick. I didn't find the choreography particularly hard and "cheesy" seems to be an overused word on these reviews. If the moves aren't over dramatized, then it is hard for a viewer to see exactly what is being done so I figure cheesy is actually helpful to breaking down the moves.

This is one of the few workouts which I actually felt cheerful instead of grim while doing it.