Jaana Kuntiz Xtreme Cardio Dance Series - Thoughts

I snuck these workouts in these week and overall it is not a bad series. Xtreme Cardio Dance is led by Janna Kunitz of Core Rhythms. I really enjoyed Jaana

in the Core Rhythm series so I was very happy to see that she had put on more dance exercise workouts.

Exercise - repetition through movement (repetitiously move your muscles). This is what Jaana says exercise is. I point this out because there is a lot of repetition in these workouts, a lot of taking it from the top.

Features that all the workouts have in common.

There is a clock up for each section of the workout. The clock counts down for each section and then resets itself at the beginning of the next section. There is also a progress bar at the bottom of the workouts that I guess is there to show you how much of the workout you have completed.

Each workouts has a modifier and the warm up is the same in all the workouts except for Sexy Sculpt. The are four cast members in each of the workouts.

The Workouts

Latin -is approximately a 45 minute workouts. Along with a warm up and cool down, it features three combination sections focusing on a particular Latin dance. Combo 1 is Merengue, combo 2 is Samba, and combo 3 is Paso Doble. Each combination featured 3 to 4 moves done over and over. The moves were fun, the constant repetition was not. I wasn't crazy about the music either. It didn't seem to have the pop that the Core Rhythm workouts did.

Hip Hop - This workout is also approximately 41 minutes and it features 3 combinations of about 10 mintues each. Each combinations features a series of 3 to 4 different moves strung together in a routine. The music is on the edgy side. One of the music tunes sounded like it is a remix of a Beyonce song. Jaana breaks down the moves and then increases the tempo. At full tempo, you do feel your heart rate go up.

Disco - The Disco workout is about 41 minutes in length and features 3 disco combinations. I feel the disco workout has the most intensity. It seem the tempo started fast and it was kept that way throughout all the combinations. I think I enjoyed the combinations and moves in this workout the best.

Sexy Sculpt is approximately a 30 minute workout that is deceptively challenging. I felt my muscle fatigue in several spots during this routine. Sexy Sculpt didn't really have combinations. It had a series of moves that focused on a particular body part (e.g. abs, hips, back, chest). Jaana would show you the move that worked that part of the body and you did two sets of about 16 to 20 reps in various tempo patterns. I really like this workout.

All in all not bad. I just have to remind myself of Jaana definition of exercise - "repetition through movement."

Xtreme Cardio Dance Latin - 3 stars

Xtreme Cardio Dance Hip Hop - 3 stars

Xtreme Cardio Dance Disco - 3 1/2 stars

Xtreme Cardio Dance Sexy Sculpt - 4 stars.