10 Minute Solution: Fat Blasting Dance Mix

THE WORKOUT: 10 Minute Solution: Fat Blasting Dance Mix ($9.99 at Amazon)

REVIEW BY: Sophia

WHO CAN DO THIS: This is great for beginners as long as you’re not rhythm-impaired. Intermediate exercisers also can work up a nice sweat but hardbodies won't be sufficiently challenged.

THE BREAKDOWN: Five 10-minute workouts include three calorie burners as well as a chapter for abs and one for butt and thighs. This excellent series allows you to play all the chapters, choose one, or program your own mix.

This ranks high among my all-time favorite workout DVDs. I pop this in to do one ten minute segment and invariably do at least three, sometimes all five. It’s the potato chips of workouts—I can’t do just one.

The dances in the cardio chapters are built slowly with lots of repetition so if you have any rhythm at all, you will be dancing by the end of each one. Steps are simple but stylish, even after arms are added (often where I lose it). If you let yourself dance, you will feel fly or phat or solid or whatever.

The Butt & Thigh Blaster chapter also is dancey and fun, with a focus on moves incorporating squats and lunges. Because the dances require quick moves that don’t go deep, the chapter doesn’t burn like a traditional squats and lunges workout but it’s much more fun.

The Ab Attack is all done standing and includes isolations and standing crunches. You’ll have to concentrate because it would be entirely possible to dance through all 10 minutes without fully engaging the target muscles. As many times as I’ve done it and hard as I try, I’m still not sure I’m getting as much of an abs workout as I'd like. Tedious as they are, plain old on-the-mat crunches are more effective.

Jennifer Galardi is pleasant and low key, her little friends are cute. The music, while generic, has a good crunchy beat that makes me feel like dancing.

THE SWEAT FACTOR: Dance like you mean it and you’ll work up a sweat.

BUT IS IT FUN? Totally. Every time I do this, I build a workout of two or three chapters and end up doing more, just because it goes down so easily.

WHEN IT'S OVER: You’ll feel energetic and happy.

GEAR AND APPAREL: Supportive shoes and enough floor space to move four steps up, back and side to side. (If you must do it on carpet, be very careful not to wrench a knee on twisty moves.)

FINAL WORD: I'll give this one up when you pry it out of my cold, dead (but otherwise healthy) hands.

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