Customer Reviews

So You Think You Can Dance Get Fit: Cardio Funk

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Especially while the show is airing, who doesn't want to feel like they can be part of So you think you can dance! Totally fun to dance with a bunch of dancers from past seasons, and get a great workout at the same time.

Three different styles of dance routines (hip hop, contemporary, and disco), you can pick one or do all three, and there are separate chapters for the instructions to learn the routines that you can skip and go straight to the workouts after you get them down. Learning the steps is nice and slow, and easy to follow or repeat if you get lost. Then in the workouts they start with doing the routine counting, and get faster, add music, until it's more like a performance at the end - just music no counting at full speed. There is also a bonus dance that mixes the styles together. The dancers on the video are Travis, Katee, Dmitry, Twitch, Lauren, and Courtney.

My only slight complaint is the music is a bit generic, so you aren't going to feel like you are telling any kind of story in the routine like from the show, but after all it is an exercise dvd, so this isn't that big of a deal. It would be cool if they came out with a couple that were focused more on just dance so you feel more like a real routine though. But for now I'm pretty happy they did this at all, and I'm looking forward to trying the other one, Tone and Groove!

I just received the So You Think You Can Dance Get Fit Cardio Funk and Tone & Groove dvds yesterday (I tried CF yesterday and T&G today), so my reviews will be based on my first impressions, and then I'll edit them again later regarding the long term results.

First thought-I LOVE these dvds! Because the routines were explained well and taught in a progression, I was able to pick up the choreography for each dance the first time through, though I felt all of the routines were definitely challenging and VERY effective as workouts! After just finishing the second dvd today; my muscles are sore, I'm sweating, and I feel fantastic (and like I worked really hard)! The dancers were all very energetic, encouraging, and none of them ever missed a beat/step on the routines. It was exciting to see all of these great personalities from the show (definitely 5 of my many favorites) choreographing, dancing, and having such a blast out there-and it's even more fun to dance along with them!

Getting down to business, the menu screen has a 'Play All' option which takes you through the warm-up, all 3 routines (with instructions), and the cool down. In the 'Workouts' section, you can choose between the 3 routines (with or without instructions) and the bonus workout that combines the three styles with some extra steps (also with our without instructions). The Warm-Up and Cool Down sections are taught by the whole group of dancers, switching off. They're the same combination of dance-infused stretches on both dvds and they've got a funky flavor going on the Warm-Up and more of a bluesy tone on the Cool Down. I found them to be fully effective in preparing me for the workouts and cooling me down afterward, as well as enjoyable ways to begin and end the session. For extra entertainment value, the dvd also includes interviews with the three dancers featured on the front cover, as well as with Nigel Lithgoe. The dancers' interviews include behind the scenes clips from their workout rehearsals, taping, and photo shoot, as well as them just goofing off with each other and having fun. I expect that all fans of the show would really enjoy these parts as much as I did. :) Anyway, I chose to 'Play All' and then perform the Bonus dance with instruction and my total workout time for each day was about 1 hour and 40 minutes! That will be reduced without the instructions, though I think it's always good to get the extra benefit of performing the moves slowly and isolating the muscles whenever there's time. Seriously, for only $11?-What a tremendous value for the money!

On this dvd:
-Lauren-Hip Hop: This had a very nice groove to it and you can tell that she really focused on making sure that we got a tremendous cardio workout in her routine (especially at full speed). It's fast, it hits, and it's very fun!
-Travis-Contemporary: I loved this one! Beautiful, flowing movements and stops that if done correctly will give your back, arms, waistline, calves, and abs a great stretch and workout!
-Courtney-Disco: This was so cute! Fairly simple moves strung together into a FAST and extremely fun little number. I found this to be an especially effective on my legs. There's lots of comedy in this one too, "check you out, check you out!" :)

The video clip at the top of the screen will give you a nice preview into how the steps are taught and the types of moves you'll be doing. I'm so excited to have added this fitness dvd into my collection and hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did! ***** Difficulty: Intermediate/Challenging (At least a little dance training recommended, if not required).

The two So You Think You Can Dance Get Fit DVD's are the best thing to come out since my favorite summer TV show started five seasons ago! This one, Cardio Funk, is such a wonderful change from the same old regular contrived "hip hop" moves in 10-minute segments, or proliferation of oldies music dance tapes. YUCK! I would rate this DVD as intermediate with some impact. If you are not already fit and haven't done dance workouts before, you will be overwhelmed by the choreography; start out with Petra Kolber. I consider it an interval workout, considering the slowness of the beginning choreography of each dance segment. However, each dance builds in tempo until it is being done at full speed and full impact. Even the 10-minute or so warm up starts very easy and builds up to a cardio tempo. However, I didn't feel I would have gotten a full workout unless I did the entire tape, which was about 140 minutes long. I must say, the time absolutely flew by.

Some things you don't get on an ordinary dance exercise tape: the contagious energy and enthusiasm from the SOTYCD crew. Also, really creative choreography. And don't think these guys don't know their physiology as well as say, Kathy Smith. They have been training for years, and throughout the DVD they point out how to do moves correctly to avoid muscle strain.

Throughout the teaching of each set of choreography (hip-hop with Lauren, disco with Courtney and contemporary with Travis), the moves initially seem confusing when they are taught one-on-one with the dancer. But they are done again and again, slowly adding more dancers and slightly increasing tempo, then adding the music, and by the end when they are doing it full tempo with music, I totally had it down. I've also been doing home workout videos for 25 years, mainly dance and kickbox, so again, not for total beginners. At the conclusion, there is a bonus workout, shorter than the other dances, kind of just for kicks, that uses moves from all three workouts.

This workout is a total blast! Not my hardest workout; I have 45 minute kickbox DVD's that leave me more winded. But none are more fun, and if you do the whole thing, you've done a good, core-emphasizing workout. My only complaint is that the choreography of the warm-up of this one is identical to that of the Tone and Groove DVD, and I think universally everyone is going to buy both. With all their creative choreography, they could have come up with different warm-ups. But the rest is so great, I forgive them!

In order to get a good workout, you need to be willing to re-do the non-instructional segments which takes some willpower. I think the choreography is pretty simple and anyone could learn it (although maybe not do it as good as the dancers!). I was disappointed in the music selection -- it's pretty boring and for me, having great music is most of the fun of dancing! I wish they had used popular music like they do on the show.

"So You Think You Can Dance: Cardio Funk" is a workout DVD based on the popular TV show with three of the styles from the show: Hip-Hop, Contemporary, and Disco. It is led by past contestants who are pretty good teachers and seem to enjoy what they are doing. I've broken down my review into each workout portion to best explain this DVD.

Warm-Up-The warm-up is rather long, lasting about 13 minutes, but it is really fun each time I do it. It is led by the three featured instructors as well as the other three from the partner DVD. It contains the same exercises as the partner DVD which include stretches and some hopping dance moves. A rather long warm-up, but it is fun.

Hip-Hop-Led by Lauren, the hip-hop routine is full of high cardio hops, knee lifts, and twists. Lauren instructs really well by being motivating, but not over the top. Her music choice is not what I'd expect for hip-hop, but it is still nice.

Contemporary-Led by Travis, this routine is the lowest cardio on the DVD, but the best in terms of REAL dancing. The routine features moves I've never seen before, and Travis does a great job of teaching them. He is a bit silly sometimes, but he really is a good instructor. Once again, the music choice was nice but not what I'd expect for contemporary.

Disco-Led by Courtney, this routine is full of shuffles, hitchhikers, and points. It moves quickly, but the steps are easy to learn and fun. Courtney is a great instructor, but she sometimes sounds like she's yelling at the TV screen. She can be quite loud. The music choice is disco, but it's not a song I recognize.

Bonus-Led by all six instructors, it mixes the basic moves from each routine together. I was able to get it my first time through, but others could find it a bit more complex. Fun and great addition.

Cool Down-Once again, this is the same moves as in the other partner video, but they are great and relaxing. They seem to stretch every muscle, and they really calm your body down. My one complaint is that the stretches aren't held long enough, but it's no biggie.

Overall, it is a fabulous fitness DVD. It's so fabulous that as soon as I finished it I had to go order the second one. It is a tad misleading, however, as it says that it lasts 116 minutes. About half of that is teaching, and once you get the routines and just do the workouts, the mixture of all six parts will be about an hour. Great work, So You Think You Can Dance, can't wait to see what you come up with next year! BTW, you don't have to be a fan of the show to enjoy!

I read the reviews on Amazon before purchasing this DVD, so I expected it to be a good, fun workout. I was extremely disappointed.

Most dance workouts are arranged like an aerobics class. The teacher teaches you a move to the music, and then you practice that move while watching the teacher. Then you move onto the next part, you practice it, then put the moves together. This way, you are constantly moving while creating muscle memory.

The creators of this DVD decided it would be better to spend an absurd amount of time having the audience just watch the instructor talk through the dance before actually getting to engage in it. When you do start dancing, it's to the instructor counting out a beat rather than to actual music. After some of that, you finally get to do the dance to music.

This means that over the course of 20 minutes, you learn one short dance routine, and you only dance it to music for 7 minutes. In order to get a workout, you have to just repeat that part over and over again.

I think the whole setup was a really poor choice by the creators of this DVD, and I regret purchasing it.

I'm not a dancer at all but can mostly follow it. It's fun and will leave you breathless!

I recently got my Mom both So You Think You Can Dance workout DVDs for her birthday and have been using them myself since. Personally, I recommend the Cardio Funk DVD over the Tone and Grove: the routines feel like more of a workout and they're more fun. Lauren's hip hop involves a lot of jumping around so you're really breathing heavily when it's done. Travis's contemporary is my favorite: it's not as fast-paced, so it gives you time to focus on your movements and engage your muscles. My back and arms were sore after performing the contemporary workout. Courtney's disco is just fun and energetic, so you don't mind repeating it a few times.

It's easy to learn the routines at your own pace thanks to the scene skip function on any DVD player. Once they're taught slowly in detail, the routines are done to counts and then to music at three successively faster speeds. I found the routines easy enough that I only had to go through the instructions once to learn them sufficiently. The bonus workout that combines moves from the three routines is done much more quickly and can be a little hard to follow; I haven't mastered that one yet. As others have said, the music is somewhat uninspiring, but the dancers' enthusiasm makes up for it.

I'd recommend this DVD to anyone who's a fan of the show and finds traditional workouts a chore. The familiar faces and fun dance routines are a great way to mix things up!

So You Think You Can Dance Get Fit: Cardio Funk
i'm >40 and i'm trying to improve my dance mojo! i own several dance videos (paula abdul, 10 minute solution, dance off the inches, The Firm, Lisa Wheeler, The Method, crunch...) and have been exercising to videos for >10 years. dance is an area i've been trying to improve on, and i needed something more fun than Leslie Sansone's walking videos, hence my latest foray into dance workouts. i still have the Leslie's but just needed to try something with more intensity and challenge.

i've used this video twice and i chose to do the instructional segments both times. even though they take time, you can still get a good workout with those segments since the movements are very deliberate as you learn the moves. i used my heart rate monitor and noticed that i can stay in my cardio zone, and even go higher than that in some instances (lauren's segment, for example).

for example, Lauren's hip hop segment has some high impact (side to side "pony" jumping). whether you do it slow or fast, your heart rate will go up.

in Travis' contemporary segment, it kind of reminded me of standing yoga/pilates where you're using your entire body to do the moves. it flowed well.

Courtney's segment is disco, but not your 70's disco. the moves are travolta, but the music is contemporary, if you can imagine that.

the disc is chaptered so you can choose just the workouts, and each workout at dance speed, is roughly 6 minutes apiece. so with the warm-up (11 min) and cool down (5 min?), you've got a roughly 35 min workout.

the great thing about this too is that they mirror cue, even in side profile position. that means when they refer to "the right foot", it's "your own right foot", like you're looking in a mirror.

i have never watched the show, so i can't compare whether it's similar. as a workout video, it's pretty solid. the warm up is very generous and thorough. i do the entire workout barefooted, and some of dancers do it in bare feet.

It's great for anyone who has danced. Even though the movement is simple, you still get a good workout and opportunity to improve your technique while learning fun little combos! It also includes a nice warm up and cool down. There are a lot of options to customize your workout depending on how much time you have or how advanced you are. Each combo is repeated a number of times which means if you don't get the steps right away, you'll still get a decent workout without having to start the while thing over again. I'd recommend it to dancers and people who are very interested in dance.