Shape Cardio Workout: Bikini Body All Year-Round

Positives:1. Several workout options, able to put together your own routine in whatever order you choose.2. Upbeat instructors (w/o being annoying)3. Shape meal plan that came with mine has Yummy recipes!Negatives:1. TERRIBLE MUSIC!! I prefer upbeat tempo; the music on this DVD is barely audible and is....well...weird! Sounds like something a kid could play on a keyboard.2. The routines within each section quickly become boring. In my opinion each individual set is repeated too often. =monotonous3. Too many steps to play a single workout session. For example, first you must go to the main menu and choose the warm-up. Then back to the main menu to select your routines, in the order you wish to do them. Then back to the main menu to select the cool-down. You are unable to select the warm up or cool down as a seamless piece of your workout.4. The DVD repeats a "tip" before/after each workout routine option...and it gets annoying to hear these tips EVERY time you do one of the sections. It would have been nice instead for them to include such tips elsewhere.

It is usually pretty hard for me to stay motivated with a cardio workout. However, I can do this DVD all the time. I consider myself an advanced beginner, and this DVD was perfect and I can see myself growing with and putting in more effort to make it even more challenging. It's not too hard but the choreography is intermediate level, so if you're not too coordinated you would have to stick with it a little bit longer to get it. However, you will work up a sweat even as your fitness level increases. I have a dance background and she lost me for a few moves, but it was so fun that I just kept going until I got the hang of it. None of the movements are really high impact and this is great if your knees sometimes bother you. There is a lot of hip shaking, and you should feel free to just let loose and enjoy yourself.The instructors are really upbeat without being too over the top and give great directions. They do not break the moves up so slowly that your heartrate goes down. The only problem I have is that there are brief stops between the various dance sections that give tips about drinking water, eating right, etc. I continue to march during this section so that my exercise is not interrupted.It is so much fun. The DVD is broken up into five ten minute sessions: dance jazz, tribal funk, dance party, latin, and dance funky. There is also a warmup and cooldown. Using a feature on the DVD called Choose Your Cardio you can select how many segments you want do- in any order you desire. This keeps you from getting bored! I highly recommend this workout. :) Enjoy!

I don't understand the poor reviews. I am not a dancer, but I don't think this video is hard to understand or do. The first time I was a little confused (although I think that's to be expected with any dance routine), but the second time I got the steps down. The workout is not tough, but if you do it all the way through, you are sufficiently tired and sweating by the end. Doing this video alone won't give you a "bikini body," but it's fun for a change of pace to your usual routine.I love how there are five 10-minute segments, so you can pick and choose according to how long you want to work out. There is a shuffle mode in which the DVD places the segments into a random order which helps lessen boredom. I don't think the women who lead the segments are bad in their cueing, according to other reviews--I didn't have a problem understanding them.All in all, I think this is a good buy. I have a lot of taebo and yoga videos. Taebo is for my tough workouts, but I like this one for a fun workout.

I am an advanced kickboxer who works out at home. I bought this video because (a) I have already bought every kickboxing video on the market and (b) for some variety. This is very earnest and sincere and prettily done and the leaders are well known trainers. If you play it straight through and do all the dance routines, then do the short bonus pilates at the end, you will get a worthwhile one-hour intermediate workout. If you have never done a dance workout before, DONT do this one first. Go to Collage Video.com and get some beginning dance videos. While the choregraphy is simple and easy to pick up, it does use some dance steps (mambos, grapevines, etc.) assuming you know them, and in order to get that heartrate up, they don't spend a lot of time at a slow pace. So it's a good intermediate level workout.

I used to teach an aerobics and weight training class and I've done many tapes as well. This one is definitely not on the top of the list. The format(mix and match segments) is a great idea, but it's too difficult to follow and unless you are familiar with dance steps this will be a tape that gets dumped on the back of the shelf. Lisa Wheeler is probably a great dancer, but she's not easy to follow and most of the time she goes into a new step without demonstrating what she's going to do first or she goes through it too fast. There are even parts where she does a new leg move, but the camera is busy filming either other participants or just not focusing on what you need to be watching and you miss the step completely. The segments by Michelle are a little easier to follow and she explains what she's doing much better.At the end of the first time through you are frustrated and feel like you just wasted the last hour. If you are willing to spend a lot of time trying to get the steps down, maybe this video will work for you. Most people who buy an exercise tape want to be able to jump right in-that won't happen with this tape. I've tried two Shape videos and haven't had a positive experience with either of them.

Was so happy to find this collection ,I already have a couple and love working out with them. And you definitely get results