Dancing with the Stars: Dance Off the Pounds

Fun and cardio!
Let me start off this review by saying that "Dancing with the Stars: Dance off the Pounds" is my favorite DVD in the "Dancing with the Stars" (DWTS) series of workout DVDs. The styles of dance were fun, actual routines were taught as opposed to just unconnected moves in previous DVDs, and I actually worked up a huge sweat! The choreography was a bit complex, but I really enjoyed the challenge. Beginners to fitness and dance may be a bit frustrated at first, though. There is no warm-up, therefore the viewer has to either do his own or just let the beginning of one of the workouts act as the warm-up. The DVD was divided into the following four parts of the workout:

Swing - Led by Kym Johnson, it is the most basic of all the routines. It's almost an intro to the Jive, which is a style taught later on in the DVD. I found the moves to be rather easy to follow; although there is really no breakdown of the steps. It includes moves such as triple steps, rock steps,...

Dance Workout DVD fan says "It's Adorable, Sophisticated, and Fun!"
I'm a DVD dance-workout junkie. I buy *everything* dance-dvd, almost. This is the best of the four Dancing with the Stars workouts. It's not modern dance - it's super-cute jive, swing and funky-quickstep. It's a great workout.

The first segment is adorable and sweet learning the American dance 'the swing' (triple-step, rock-step, the sailor, etc.). Great intro to what's to come on the dvd. It's not slow either.

The second instructor and routine really shines, is a crazy-fun good time; the pace increases as you are taught the taught the international version of 'swing' which is called 'jive' (faster triple-steps, kicks, heel-bops, Big-X step, swivels, the charleston, the Lindy,etc.) High-impact and difficult cardio which can be modified by not doing arms.

The last segment is a suave, dressed-in-black quick-step routine that is explained well and, tho different, has the same great dance-flow as the first two parts. Make sure you watch it to the end it...

Fun and challenging!
This DVD is a VAST improvement over the previous DWTS DVDs. First off there are less sections, but the segements are longer, which I like more since I think choppy short segments don't give you an adequate workout.

Lots of cardio in this DVD, and while it is a whole lot of fun, it is very challenging. I was soaked after doing the workout. To give you an idea of my background, I am an intermediate level in fitness DVDs and I have been dancing since the age of 4.

I decided to do this DVD from start to finish so I could see the quality of the workouts and time it as well.

The first section is Swing with Kym. This is great, alot of what you may have seen in the Jive sections if you got the first DWTS DVD, but it is still a very good workout. Kym not only does swing, she also adds in some Charleston, which was a nice change since I've never done that. You may be a little lost if you don't have any background in dance, but Kym does do her best to explain...

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