Dance with Julianne: Just Dance!

Why do I always always always find workout DVDs when they’re already at least several years old? It’s not fair. Just once I’d like to do a workout DVD that’s relatively new. Within the same year kind of new. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with the workouts themselves. I’d just like to be able to review something new, that’s all.

I stumbled across two “new” dance workout DVDs at my local library last week. I’ve tried one of them. Yeah, I never got around to the other. I may just have to make a note of the title so I can find it and borrow it again later.

You know the TV show Dancing with the Stars? I love that show. Well, if you’re a fan then you’ll have heard about Derek and Julianne Hough. Awesome brother/sister dancers. Derek took a break last season and Julianne left the show some years back. I knew she was acting in movies etc but I didn’t know she had made several dance workout DVDs.

Dance with Julianne: Just Dance!

Get a lean, toned dancer’s physique! No partner needed. Two-time Dancing with the Stars champion Julianne Hough is ready to share her secret for staying fit: Just Dance! Known for her stylish choreography, sparkling energy and ability to teach anyone to dance, Julianne will lead you through three upbeat routines—no partner needed. You’ll kick and you’ll shake all the while toning your abs, legs, butt, arms—everything! Each fat-burning move is specially designed to keep your heart rate up and help you dance your way into fabulous shape. “In these dances, you’re working your whole body and you don’t even know it,” Julianne says. “It really does work!”

This DVD came out in 2010 and I wish I had found it sooner. The first time I tried it, my sides cramped up during the first dance because I wasn’t used to all that hip and oblique action. My guts were tired! I was sweating and breathing hard. Soooo pooped!

And that was only the first dance. 15 minutes long and I was too tired and didn’t want to continue. Although I used to use another dancing workout DVD (it sits in a box all but forgotten) and I’ve done plenty of Zumba before, I haven’t done any kind of dancing for quite some time so I’m soooooooo not used to this kind of movement anymore. Not to mention that I’m also not used to a whole lot of cardio anymore either.

And did I mention it’s in the 90s outside??!! Our poor apt air conditioner is working so hard but can’t make much of a dent in the heat indoors. Still, 79 degrees is a lot better than 95.

I didn’t want to give up on the DVD though because, although I was tired, sweaty, and had a stitch in my side, it was a fun workout once I got the hang of it. Of course it took me the entire practice to be able to get the hang of it and even then I didn’t do that great a job. But still. I’m not known for my dance coordination skills but at least I have ceased to trip and fall.

…That’s only partially a joke.

So I tried it again. This time I went through all three songs. Each is 15 minutes long and focuses on different things.

The first dance is called Work It and it focuses on, from what I can tell, getting into the groove and just going for it. The second dance is called Flaunt It and it focuses on, well, flaunting it. Being sexy. I suck at being sexy but I caught on to that dance faster than the other two…minus the sexy part. The third and final dance is called Pump It and, as you might be able to guess based on its title, it’s focus is to really get you moving. You work harder in this dance than the other two and this was the one where I literally kept tripping over my own feet. It was so hard! The beginning seemed simple enough and I thought, “Oh I got this! Yeah!” Too soon I was left going, “Whaaa?”

I suppose the movements are simple enough compared to other dance routines I’ve seen but, like I said before, I’m not known for my dance coordination. All in all, I found the first dance to be the easiest but there something in all three that I was good at and something I was supremely bad at. The main thing this video lacked was music. There’s really no music to dance to during the workout. Without any beat to really get me into it, it was more like learning moves, not actually dancing.

Despite my failings though, I had a lot of fun doing this and Julianne is a good teacher. A little difficult to follow at times but a lot easier than other dance DVD teachers.

Here’s my attempt at Work It.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGrsm_FiJ08/?taken-by=kstjshin

Let me assure you that I had been practicing the dance about four times by this point. And that includes my practice before and during the recording. You do the dance about six or so times each session which was really good for me because it gave me ample time to learn it. By the end of the routine I finally got the hang of it…only to be done with it. But that meant I was that much farther ahead the next day when I tried again.

I found this copy at the library and borrowed it for a week for free, but at $9.46 (plus s&h) for a brand new copy on Amazon, it wouldn’t be expensive to buy. And it’s even cheaper if you get it from a third party through Amazon.

Learning Bellydancing

I do not pretend to know anything about dancing or any styles of it. In fitness I started out more as a “pick up, put down” kind of person. My idea of dancing was to sway from foot to foot or look like a complete weirdo by going all out silly as a kid.

That was actually pretty fun and I don’t regret a minute of it, but it kinda backfires on you when you do it in front of people and they take you seriously.

That’s why I like the little little kids who are around 3-5 years old. They’re not old enough to want to try to be “cool” so they think it’s hilarious and fun when I get down and boogie with them.

It took me months to teach my body that it had hips. And over a year to add any sort of grace or style to my Zumba moves. Not that I’m graceful by any means. It’s been over a decade since I could be termed clumsy, but when I get to dancing something new, I can assure you I am a klutz.

Bellydancing is not new to me anymore but when I was first starting, I had no idea what DVD to look into. I wanted to get exercise out of it, not just learn it.

After looking around on Amazon (I’m not the pickiest shopper), I chose

Veena and Neena’s Bellydance Fitness for Beginners

and Discover Bellydance with Veena and Neena.

I’ve heard good and bad things about them but, seeing as how I was a beginner in exercise and in bellydance when I got them, I was satisfied. Aaaand I’m still a beginner so I’m still satisfied with them.

However, the question remained: Can they really be described as bellydance? I still don’t know the answer. I mean, yes, they have you learning the moves and bellydancing routines but are they authentic? And what would constitute as authentic anyway?

I’m still working up the courage to tape myself doing one of these videos but I think I have a respectable hip sway…most of the time.

Anyone have any suggestions on bellydancing DVDs?

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Zumba Rocks My World!

I had a post all ready to post here about interval training but I decided to postpone it because I had Zumba this morning and it was so purely awesome I just had to blab to the world about it. I think I was even blinded by its sheer awesomeness.

The instructor didn’t incorporate any new dances into the class so I wasn’t all…

There was, however, new-ish choreography that she introduced a few weeks ago. I only take the class once a week but, after 3 or so classes even I start to get this stuff down so I didn’t look like a total goofball in class. In fact, I was able to grab a spot in front of the mirror today. I wanted to see how much progress I had made since restarting back in January.

WOW! I had no idea I was able to get my groove on so well! I didn’t bother watching myself during the song I’m still having difficulty with (it’s super fast but I’ve almost got it) because I was too busy watching every tiny movement the instructor was doing, but I’m sure I wasn’t THAT bad…

I wore my HR monitor and checked out the results of my ultra-fun “work”out.

• Class Length – 45min
• AVG HR – 164bmp
• Peak HR – 180bmp
• Calories Burned – 701

701 calories burned. Who cares what you look like, right?? Am I right?? Yeah, I’m totally right.

Here are some reasons to try Zumba:

Who wouldn’t want all of that?? And you can look super sexy. Well, in your head you can anyway. But after some (or a lot) of practice, you can look sexy for real doing it. You know the saying, “Dance like nobody’s watching?” That’s how it is with Zumba. Just pretend nobody’s watching you and DANCE!

Now I’ll leave you with a video as a parting shot to get you to join me in my Zumba love.

Fighting Against Nature?

I love to dance. Am I any good at it is another issue altogether.  My favorite form of dance is Zumba though I really enjoy hip hop as well.

Today’s cardio was my favorite Zumba class at my gym. I’ve been taking Zumba classes off and on at my gym for a couple years now. I had to really work to memorize a mechanical version of the moves before I could even begin to attempt something resembling dance. It took well over a year doing the same dances again and again to learn to be mechanical.

Then teachers changed. Though choreography stayed the same, it was done as a dance instead of simply moves strung together. It wasn’t very difficult to adapt because I already knew the moves.

But I took a break to focus on running (my knees weren’t liking doing both) and when I came back the teacher had changed about 90% of her songs. One class a week for 1-2 months now. Some of the songs have been easier to get the hang of than others but I’m still fumbling a lot. Now she’s added 2-3 brand new songs today and I feel like I have 2 left feet and perhaps 2 left arms as well.

Sometimes I feel as if I’m defying nature by trying to dance. It doesn’t come naturally or even easily to me. I’ve spent the last several years practicing different kinds of dancing and I still suck big time. I have to learn an awkward mechanical version of the steps and memorize them in their entirety before I can even hope to turn it to some clumsy form of dance.

I’m not going to give up dancing just because I suck at it – it’s way too much fun. But I wonder if it’s just not in my genetic makeup to dance.

What kinds of skills don’t come naturally to you? Did you ever want to do/try something but given up on it because you weren’t good at it?

Tracy Anderson Method: Dance Cardio

Despite being a terrible dancer, I love to dance. I have little rhythm and even less coordination and what I do have of each was earned with grueling hours doing the same exact dances numbers over and over and over again. Well, not really but it would’ve seemed grueling had I been able to watch myself learning the steps. My husband came home one day, saw me doing a belly dancing DVD and laughed outright. Another night I was doing hip hop. More laughter. He said later I was cute. Hmph.

The Tracy Anderson Method: Dance Cardio Workout DVD

So this week I’ll be practicing The Tracy Anderson Method: Dance Cardio Workout DVD.

There are 7 different song combinations. First Tracy goes through each combination without music and teaches you how to do them. She starts off slow verbally and visually pointing out each step with her back to you so that you mimic her exactly. Then she’ll show you what it looks like performed faster and standing face-to-face. Lastly she’ll go through the entire combination at the normal pace with her back once more to you.

She highly recommends learning the combinations before you attempt the actual dance cardio section in order to get the best workout you can get. Since I have the DVD for only a week, I’ll endeavor to learn only a few of the combinations given.

I started learning this morning as my son was eating breakfast. At least he doesn’t laugh at me when I attempt something new. In fact, he tells me I’m awesome. He gives me my best self-esteem boosts. Let me remind others who are thinking of taking up dancing because I forgot what it was like to dance at home.

I was barefoot…on carpet. Ouch. My poor little toes. Can we all say “rug burn?” Always wear shoes.

Anyway, the first dance combination wasn’t hard to learn, even for me. However, walking through the movements without music is very different from dancing the moves with or without music. Actually, it’s probably harder without music because you have no beat to match your moves to, but that’s neither here nor there. I sucked. Big time. But at least the moves themselves were simple so I have high hopes of being able to learn it by tomorrow (or today depending on how much time I put into it).

Learning Hula by DVD

For most of my fatty little life I was a tomboy. I dressed like a boy, a lot of times I wanted to be a boy. I was still very much a girl when it came to having crushes though. I wondered if perhaps I was a lesbian after awhile but I wasn’t attracted to women. Then sometime in college I lost a ton of weight and some of the girly girls I hung out with made me their Barbie doll. Makeup, tight clothes, hair style, etc. I was still very much a chunky monkey but for the first time I actually had something of a waist and could fit into Gap clothes. At first I didn’t care much about any of it but I guess being female finally caught up with me and I began to enjoy it.

Then came the day when I learned I actually had…HIPS!

Wow! I have hips? Who knew?

Three women taught me about my hips. Not my mom, no.

Kili, Neena, and Veena.

To many those names would sound familiar. But to many more I think they’d be a mystery.

Neena and Veena are twin sister belly dancing instructors of whom I will speak later.

I started with Kili’s Island Girl Dance Fitness Workout For Beginners DVDs. With Kili as my instructor, I discovered my hips and that I could move them!

Hula Abs and Buns with Kili was her first DVD that I bought from Natural Journeys. She teaches outside in Hawai’i with two women as her backup. The dance routine you learn is demonstrated first so you know what you’ll be in for. Then she’ll guide you through a warmup and into the routine itself. Each move is broken up and practiced before adding in another move and another and another till you have the entire routine. She’ll go through the routine in its entirety once or twice with instruction before doing it in silence about two more times and then ending in a cool down.

Among the moves taught in this DVD are the:

• kaholo
• hela
• double hela
• ka’o
• ‘ami

It can be difficult for the ultimate beginner in fitness and in hula. It was super difficult for me on both counts but mostly because I was new to hula itself and had to learn how to move my hips. After trying the DVD a few times, not only did I know the dance well enough to never make a mistake but I had also discovered my hips.

Her other DVD that I have is Cardio Hula with Kili. Harder than Hula Abs and Buns but also more fun in a way. She employs the same teaching method and teaches many of the same moves in a different pattern.

Some different moves taught in this DVD are the:

• ‘uwehe
• lele ‘uwehe

When I first tried these DVDs I wasn’t in shape so I huffed and puffed and sweated like an Irish guy I knew for a time awhile back. Now, however, the constant movement warms my body and gives me a light sheen of sweat but that’s mostly because I sweat rather easily. The workouts are meant for beginners and are not intense. Kili also sways down to the ground a couple times and my knees can’t take that (nor can my thighs for that matter) but I go to my limit and stop there, swaying at my level till she comes back up and we go on with the routine. You can get both DVDs at Natural Journeys.

On each DVD is a bonus dance performed by Kili in full garb. It’s…different. I’ve seen more interesting dances on youtube but no complaints. I’m sure people are asking, “Is Kili teaching real hula dances, etc?” Honestly, I don’t know. It could be more of a fitness and basic moves thing for beginners. I have no other hula teachers with whom to compare her. However, I do know of someone who learned hula in a professional class setting for I don’t know how many years. She’s competed with her group in more than one competition and made lasting relationships with the others in her school/group.

I’ve lost touch with her since she moved but she can be found on twitter @HulaSan. Her name’s Amanda.

*DISCLAIMER: Always check with your doctor first before starting any new exercise programs. I’m not a certified trainer or group fitness instructor and will NOT be held responsible should any injury occur while trying something posted here. These DVDs are merely two dance fitness DVDs I enjoy and wanted to share.*

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