Product Description Fitness instructor Hemalayaa Behl combines yoga with Bollywood dance moves for a workout designed to improve strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular health. Genre: Exercise/Fitness Rating: NR Release Date: 2-JAN-2007 Media Type: DVD
Really Fun!January 9, 2007 Anna Hope(PA United States) 114 out of 116 found this review helpful
I know it is a workout dvd, how can it be fun!? But really, Hemalyaa (and please dont ask me how to pronounce that name. I have no idea, sadly.) approaches the workout as playtime and makes the individual segments very enjoyable. The time just seems to fly by which is especially weird for an exercise dvd!
The dance "playtime" is exactly what you would expect to see in a Bollywood film. It combines hip-hop, basic belly dance, and just plain fun body movement to form a style that looks execptionally easy and fun- when Hemalyaa does it, not me. I probably look like a floundering chicken. But I dont care! I still had fun and it was a definite workout particulary in the upper thighs.
The choreography goes fast but is pretty well explained and they always redo all of the movements, so even when you feel like you have no idea what you are supposed to be doing the dancers will suddenly go back to moves that you have already mastered. Sometimes it is just fun to watch them dance for a minute- and I say that not just because I was slacking for that minute!
Feed the chickens: It's fun!February 3, 2007 Basbenee(USA) 76 out of 78 found this review helpful
I had a lot of fun with this workout. It's challenging and time flies, and so does the sweat! It has its warm up and a number of segments -- some basic moves (for the workout) and then a couple routines, ending with some yoga-infused cooldowns, and a few minutes of floor work in between. The workouts are more challenging, and if you're not in the best of shape you may want to pace yourself: some of the moves involve a lot of knee bends and squatting deep down and there's hopping around (high impact, definitely), so if you don't have strong knees or have a lot of weight to carry, modify until you're stronger -- you'll still get a good workout -- especially with the dance steps and kicking your knees up high -- and Hemalayaa makes you use your arms a lot, which is good for total body. It's a lot of fun to dance around, the music is nice (you don't have to have voiceover while working out, either), the setting is beautiful, and Hemalayaa is cool, along with her 2 dancers (by the way, she emphasizes a lot of "sass" as part of the workout -- which some might find annoying). If you love bellydance or think the Bollywood numbers are a blast you should really enjoy this. Some of the moves are definitely different from what you see in other videos and DVDs (the names of some of the moves, such as "Feed the Chickens" are fun, too), in a good way. One word, besides the potential hard work on the knees, if you aren't familiar with a lot of these types of dance moves, a bellydance dvd or class might help a lot, since a lot of these steps are bellydance inspired, only with more oomph. It's great fun!
A Fun and Different WorkoutFebruary 14, 2007 H. Savino 42 out of 42 found this review helpful
I am always looking for ways to make working out fun and this workout definitely does that. It is about 50 minutes long but you're having so much fun, you don't even notice it. It just feels like you're dancing in your living room with your girlfriends. I am not very familiar with Bollywood but I had no trouble following the moves. A couple of them were a bit tricky at first but Hemalayaa is always reassuring that you don't have to do exactly what they are doing, and I liked that feeling of freedom. If, after doing the workout a few times, you didn't feel like following their moves, it would be perfectly comfortable to just dance along with the music. I recommend this DVD to those who like different kinds of workouts, especially dance workouts. This will provide great variety and definitely keep you from getting bored. I have only one warning: you might want to make sure you can be alone to do this workout so you can really get into it and enjoy it without feeling self-conscious. But that all depends on you! I also recommend Elsa Leandro's World Dance Workout, which also has a Bollywood segment, along with other dance forms.
Great workout...makes time flyFebruary 13, 2008 Edward G. Nilges(Hong Kong, China) 13 out of 13 found this review helpful
I was a little concerned about adding "The Bollywood Workout" to my aerobics workouts. For one thing, I thought it might only be for girls. Also, Indian dancing is barefoot, and the moves are impossible in gym shoes. I like dancing without shoes, the human foot was meant for this, but injured myself when doing aerobic workouts without running shoes.
I decided to give it a try because in Bollywood films, the guys dance just as crazily as the girls, trying to impress them I would suppose. As to the shoe issue, the ONLY impact movements in this workout are the two and three hop Hare Krishna moves and Hemalayaa is very conscientious about telling you to bend the knee to absorb the stress. The other foot moves are characteristic of Indian dance and art: rather than being *en pointe* or a continual *jete* into space (with stress on landing) Indian dance stays rooted to the earth and gets its strength building from variants of *plie*, if you'll pardon my French!
This I found a very rewarding workout that unlike Jane Fonda's (which I also like) seems to last far less than fifty minutes, because there is more variety. The ladies look like real women and not Barbie dolls but are "eye candy" all the same.
You do need to be careful in the head whip moves if you have any history of neck or back trouble. But doing them slowly and ramping up may (in my nonmedical opinion) help to clear these very problems up.
Of course, as an introduction to the vast dance tradition of India, this is like playing Louie-Louie on the *sitar* and purists may be offended. But Bollywood itself plays around, respectfully, with India's traditions and this workout introduces the Westerner to many unvisited bodily zones, for example, when Hemalayaa invites you to breathe into a specific area.
More advanced dancers will of course laugh at these gals, but those of us fighting depression and advancing age with Siva's dance applaud Hemalayaa's efforts to bring this important practice to ordinary gymnosophistical slobs such as yours truly.
Good workout for any levelJanuary 10, 2007 Victoria K. Taylor(Springfield, IL USA) 11 out of 11 found this review helpful
The workout is fun and although I am an advanced exerciser I enjoyed the video. She constantly tells the viewer to move at their own pace if she is too fast. Therefore, beginners can move on their own and do the easy base moves she provides. If you are advanced, you can also enjoy a great 40 minute workout on days that you don't want to really push it. That's what I use this video for. It's just enough cardio.
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