Saundra

Body Combat #65 On-demand version clocks in at 27:45.  This workout is lead by Dan Cohen, Rachael Newsham, and Brian Cochrane. The on demand version contains the following segments. 01a Upper Body Warm up (3:58) lead by Rachael. 01b Lower Body Warm up (4:25) lead by Dan. 2 Power Training 1 (4:29) lead by Brian 3 Muay Thai (4:07) also lead by Brian. 4 Power Training 3 (6:09) and 5 Conditioning (2:51) - Racheal is the lead in both 4 and 5. I was a bit bummed that this workout didn't feature a combat segment.  Those are usually my favorite.  The power training segments featured punches - mostly jabs, uppers and hooks and cardio (running or jogging in place, scissor feet).  The conditioning segment was core/ab work.  Of the segments presented, the Muay Thai segment was my favorite. 3 & 3/4 stars

Sh'Bam #21 features Rachael Newsham, Remi Brouns, and Nuno Alvaro Adelaide De Brito as the presenters.  The workout clocks in at over 28 minutes and features 8 song tracks. The tracks : 1.  Dance With Me (3:35) 2.  Cuba 2012 (3:45) 3.  Juicy Wiggle (3:35) 4.  Heartbeat Song (3:16) 5.  New Thang (3:08) 6.  7/11 (2:36) 7.  Celebrate (3:09) 8.  I've had the time of my life (3:50). This one was pretty good. Most of the tracks and dances I liked. In one of the dances, the presenters went out and dance the end of the song with the audience.  In the Heartbeat song track, Rachael presents most of that one by herself. 3 & 3/4 stars

Sh'Bam #20 clocks in at under 28 minutes.  The presenters for Sh'Bam #20 are Rachael Newsham, Sarah Robinson, and Carla Fitzsimons. The tracks and approximate times are: 1.  I will never let you down (3:01) 2.  Yeah! (3:55) 3.  Burning Up (3:34) 4.  Payphone (3:17) 5.  Hey Mama (3:10) 6.  Conga (3:20) 7.  Born to Hand Jive (3:20) 8.  Dance! (3:00) This one was super fun. One of my favorites. Dances follow the same pattern as the other Sh'Bam workouts. Presenters start off teaching a move usually at 1/2 pace. They increase the speed and layer on moves as the song track progresses. You get a bit of a break as you move from one song track to the next. 4 & 1/4 stars

Dance Off Fat Fast featurs Leah Sarago.  Leah takes you through five 10 minute dance inspired workouts.  Four of the workouts are cardio and one of the workouts is sculpting. Leah teaches the dance workouts in a layered approach breaking the routine up into two blocks. You learn one block, practice that block.  You then learn the next block and practice it.  Towards the end of the 10 minutes you combine both blocks for three repetitions before the workout ends. The sculpt workout consist of a series of toning moves for the legs, arms and core.  You are doing the exercises on one side of the body before transitioning to repeat the moves on the other side of the body. The transitions moves incorporate the whole body evenly. Some of the dances I enjoyed and some I did not.  The music in a lot of the dances was blah.  My favorite segment was the sculpt segment. The workouts are : Simple  Slimdown - 3 & 1/4 stars Fat Blasting Flashback - 3 & 1/4 stars Flirty Fat Burner

Jillian Michaels Beginner Shred features three workouts.  Jillian labels these as 20 minute workouts, however, they are closer to 25 minutes. Each of the workouts features a warm up, three circuits, and a stretch. There are five exercises per circuit and each of the three circuits  are performed twice through before moving on to the next circuit. Jillian states that the workouts get progressively harder as you move through them. I didn't really think workout 3 was any harder than workouts 2 and 1. Jillian might start off doing one or two reps but she is mostly coaching and offering form pointers. There are two other cast members.  One cast member keeps the moves at the beginner level and one cast member shows more advance options. I like the set. It was nice bright and spacious. Equipment:  mat, dumbbells The DVD Menu offers the following options: Workouts        Workout 1        Workout 2        Workout 3 Workout Recommendation Set up      English      Spanish

Fat Blasting Latin Dance Mix is lead by Stella Sandoval. Stella takes you through five 10 minute latin style dances.  Each of the dances are self contain and features a mix of the various Latin rhythms such as cha cha, mambo, salsa, merengue and tango. The five dances are taught in the same pattern.  Stella does a very brief warm up and then she layers a series of four to five moves.  You practice these moves until about the five minute mark of the workout, Stella then adds on another series of 3 to four moves.  You practice just these moves for a couple of repetitions before adding in all the moves (taking it from the top) for three times through. I really like this one. The music in all the dances had pretty good tunes. The dances are: Fat Burning Cha Cha - 3& 1/2 stars Salsa Slim Down - 3 & 3/4 stars Hot Cardio Mix - 4 stars Merengue Grooves - 3 & 3/4 stars Tango Toning Twist - 3 & 1/2 stars