A Good Workout, Butt... (The Hotpants Workout (DVD))

Member Name: venice105

Product:	The Hotpants Workout (DVD)
Date:	07/03/07 (526 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun, gets you moving/sweating

Disadvantages: Some routines tricky

The hotpants workout. Why did I buy this? Do I have a creeping desire to shimmy around a disco like Kylie, with bits of my perfectly toned rear on display for all to see? Erm, no. It was the no.1 selling exercise dvd when I bought it on Amazon last year, so I figured it must be good.

This dvd has, as you can see, an annoyingly pert bottom on the cover. I figured it was just a sales tactic but turns out to be one of the dancers in the dvd. The dvd has the following chapters:

Photo Gallery
Behind the Scenes
Hannah's Story
Workout:
1. Bounce
2. Slide
3. Rush
4. Groove
5. Two Step
6. Abs and Butt-Ups

If you choose to play the dvd from start to finish, you will be greeted with a video style-y dance performance by Mr. Dan Karaty, choreographer to stars like Kylie and Britney. While there is no doubting Mr. K is an excellent and muscular dance artist, this bit seems extraneous as there's no way any mere mortal could do what he is doing ,as he is doing gymnastics off of the walls and such like.

Next up Dan introduces himself in a friendly way, and he is a likeable chap. He then proceeds to tell us of the tragic case of a young dancer called Hannah, who was once in high demand as a video dancer but now, due to back surgery, has become grossly overweight. Cut to a video of a perfectly normal sized girl walking pensively around a flower market in Londontown. She goes to a shop and tries on some hideous Daisy Duke shorts with American flag applique, and despairs she will never be thin enough to wear such fashion disasters ever again.

Hannah then goes home and weighs herself, and to her complete horror she weighs in at what many women would probably be quite content with. But Hannah's body is her bread and butter, so she must fight the good fight to become a waif again. We pray for her. Over the next six weeks Hannah weighs herself, and sure enough the scales begin to diminish. Not once do we see her do Dan's dvd or does she mention what she is or is not eating to have achieved a weight loss of a stone and a half in six weeks. But there is hope?

The workout:

We are welcomed to a dance floor, with fairly low lighting. There stands Dan, muscles ready. He is surrounded by four dancers. They are all wearing sparkly spandex outfits. Two of them look like normal dancer types. The two flanking Dan, however, look like last minute cast-off's from a Red Light District. Do-dgy. This doesn't matter much though as the camera mainly focuses on Dan the Man.

1. Bounce: This is described as a "bootylicious warm up for butts and thighs" Who knew, bootylicious has now officially entered the lexicon as an adjective? It's a decent warm-up, easy to follow and slow paced, but a mild sweat can be had by anyone who is not a marathoner.

2. Slide: This one is my least favorite as it is virtually impossible to do on a carpet, having to "slide" and "drag" and "pop" the feet like a hip hop star. The popping is particularly tricky as requires simultanous sliding and weird jerking motions. So for bits of this I revert to old school aerobics.

3. Rush: This is meant to be the highest fat burner as is the highest energy section (I disagree). This one is my favorite, and I am a lazy cow, so it cannot be that hard. As in the other sections, the movements are repeated enough so that they quickly become familiar. There's a bit of jumping in this one if you have neighbors. It is broken up by two quick stretch breaks to catch your breathe.

4. Groove: A cool down after Rush, meant to target your thighs. You are still sweating from Rush so this slows down the sweating slightly, but keeps the heart elevated.

5. Two Step: "Give your thighs the message with some freaky footwork" Freaky footwork indeed. It's a very complicated and fast basic step that requires breakdancer-like speed. It's basically a six part back forth back forth jump step. I enjoy giving it a go, but can see why some might find this part frustrating to master. I've found with exercise dvds there will usually be one thing or another that I can't do, so don't get too worked up about perfecting my Kylie video audition.

6. Abs and Butt-Ups : Does what it says here, basic army style crunches, nothing new or groundbreaking, quite a few repetitions but not more than are humanly possible. The "butt ups" are the usual upward squeeze from a prone position on the floor. I thought the workout could've used a bit more toning exercises as most these days seem to have a mix of aerobic and toning. Also in this section a few basic stretches, you might want to have a good stretch before you begin as well as there is none in the workout.


In the extras the behind the scenes portion shows the dancers getting wiped down with towels, they really are pouring with sweat although you never see this in the dvd, I thought that was funny.

A note, this dvd requires SPACE. Dan Karaty likes to take four steps and leaps in every direction, so please keep this in mind if you don't have a large exercise area. Maybe if I did this dvd five times a day I could fit into hotpants, but without alot more toning, squatting, lungeing, etc., I don't think that is possible from this dvd alone. It is a good addition to any exercise dvd collection, I use it in rotation with a few others. I would recommend this dvd to anyone looking for a dance style workout, with the note that the one section is hard to do properly on a carpet.

Dan Karaty is a very clear and likeable instructor. He doesn't seem cheesy or false as he really is a trained dancer, and is very graceful and makes you aspire to execute the dance moves like he does. They are not dance moves you'd necessarily do out in public, unless you like to create middle of the dance floor moments a la John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever(and more power to anyone who does!). At any rate, it makes me sweat and I feel good after doing it, not utterly wiped out but like I've had a good workout nonetheless.

Summary: A decent dance-style workout that might get you into hotpants?