Review: So You Think You Can Dance Get Fit: Cardio Funk

So You Think You Can Dance Get Fit Cardio Funk gives viewers more fun and variety than your typical dance workout video. Most fitness workouts based on TV shows cash in on the said show’s popularity and leave the consumer with nothing to show for their money spent. So You Think You Can Dance Get Fit Cardio Funk avoids this mistake. I’m not saying Cardio Funk will appeal to everyone -- I, myself, do not care much for the “dancer’s” workout -- but this DVD workout stands high above many others. It’s not as much fun as Richard Simmons, nor is it as easy as Tae Bo, but Cardio Funk offers a fairly simple workout led by real people who actually seem to care about the viewer’s well being. Get ready to put your personality into your workout, and burn those calories!

Led by former contestants of So You Think You Can Dance, Lauren, Travis, and Courtney, the DVD includes a warm up and cool down, as well as hip-hop, contemporary, and disco workouts. The routines presented aren’t the real thing -- something you can only get with a regular practicing time with professionals and perhaps a partner -- but they follow the basic steps and general ideas of their dance styles. The routines require a lot of room to move around, and they do work viewers to the max -- thus, the name Cardio -- but they also have their own, as the title also suggests, fun Funk. The routines are also fairly simple, yet challenging. Viewers can go at their own pace (and are encouraged regularly to do so). Each dance style includes a lesson, a dance to count, and slow, medium, and fast dances to music. The music isn’t exciting, but its beat keeps exercisers on track.

Some exercisers may have a hard time with the steps, but encouragement from the dancers in the video and fairly simple steps makes it easy for the exerciser having trouble with coordination to believe in herself and to believe that with enough practice, she can do the steps perfectly. Despite how good-looking the dancers on the DVD are (which may intimidate some viewers), their encouraging words, explanations of what muscles the exercise works out, and fun personalities (along with coordinated outfits and colorful lights in the background) make this a motivating and fun workout for most everyone.

Special Features include a bonus dance routine using the best moves from all the exercises and behind-the-scenes interviews with dancers Lauren, Travis, and Courtney.

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