I have been doing this DVD for roughly four – five weeks now and combined with a calorie controlled diet, it has helped me to lost 8 pounds so far, so I thought I’d review it!


--- What is Pump it up and who is starring in it? ---

Well Pump it Up is a fitness DVD by Ministry of Sound. This one is called the Ultimate Dance work out but there are also a few others in the collection like the high energy one and the ultimate beach body work out. In this particular one which was made in 2004 it is starring the girls (and one man) from the infamous “Call on Me” video. The lead instructor is Deanne Berry, the star of “Call on Me” who is an Australian dancer/fitness instructor who has choreographed many videos and dance steps for famous people. You may also recognize the girl on your left, Laura More, from music video Ai No Corrida and the main man (“Juan”) from film flop, Three, starring Kelly Brook.

The DVD is a mixture of dance moves, aerobics (high and low intensity) some toning exercises and also a few pilates based moves in the “cool down” and toning section.


--- What sort of music is in this DVD? I hate all that cheesy music in some of the celebrity DVDS! ---

Well, it’s not at all bad! As it was made in 2004, the tracks are a bit old but still played regularly at clubs and on the radio and they are still catchy and work well with the exercises. The music is club and dance music, very catchy! Here is a list of the songs on the DVD.

1. Call On Me - Eric Prydz 2. Stand Back - Linus Loves 3. Pump It Up - Danzel 4. Let The Sunshine - Milk & Sugar 5. Do You Know - Angel 6. Every Little Time - Onyx 7. Somebody To Love - Boogie Pimps 8. Sunshine After The Rain - Bel Air feat. Lisa 9. Loneliness - Tomcraft 10. Pasilda - Afro Medusa 11. Satisfaction - Benny Benassi 12. Get Up, Stand Up - Stellar Project feat. Brandi Emma 13. Rapture (Soulside Mix) - Ilo 14. Get It On - Intenso Project feat. Lisa Scott-Lee 15. Heaven (Candelight Mix) - DJ Sammy 16. Deepest Blue (Jon Hopkin Mix) - Deepest Blue 17. American Dream – Jakatta

--- How long is the work out? ---

95 minutes long! Not for the faint hearted!


--- OK, so what can I expect from this DVD? ---

A tough going work out! This is honestly one of the best fitness DVD’s ever, the combination of the catchy music and the bouncy dance steps is great and doesn’t make exercise at all boring. The young, gorgeous cast are great as well, sometimes teasing and joking amongst each other. Deanne and Juan have a flirty thing going on and join each other on some of the saucy salsa moves! The girls have a giggle and you can see them struggling, which makes you feel better (though Deanne doesn’t seem to sweat a bead) All though they are young, gorgeous and toned they don’t make you feel like stabbing your eyes out, they make you feel motivated to really pushing yourself and getting into shape!

The DVD is divided into five sections which is good, incase you don’t have as much time as you’d like and want to squeeze in a little exercise. The first section is…

Warm Up – This starts off with a few stretches and moves on to some basic moves. Expect to find plenty of grapevines, leg curls, step touch moves in this section. The first bit is quite easy, it’s when the Boogie Pimps Somebody to Love comes on when you really feel the burn. You do the “rocks” a lot, rocking from side to side and punching (stings as Deanne calls them) and you do these sets of squats that go on forever! Now, they are no normal squats. You do a few up and downs, then it’s down and thrusting yourself in and out and then holding for three and letting go! You really feel the burn in your thighs at this point, but at least you know its working! This is when I start to get flustered!
I’d say around 15 minutes long.
Easiness for me 8/10!

Dance section – This section starts off with side lunges and forward lunges. This is personally, the worst bit for me, I cannot stand the endless side lunges as they are boring and I don’t feel anything from them. You move on to do some box steps moves, and again, you do the “rocks” which is bouncing from side to side. You also do a move called the “Pony” which you also did in the warm up section. This is basically a move where you kinda of skip from foot to foot using your arms and sometimes moving backwards and forwards. A simple move but keeps you moving and sweating! You also go on to do some basic salsa steps in this, though I am not sure everyone will find it easy. Some of the footwork gets trickier like the “side step behind” move which is a lot of foot and arm action at the same time. However, I am sure the most basic of people can get used to this after a few goes and it does wonders for your legs!
About 20 minutes long.
Easiness for me: 6/10 maybe some people with two left feet will find this hard to do and can be hard going for unfit people.

High Intensity – One word: Killer! The first time you do this, it is exhausting. It is nearly all high intensity aerobics so you constantly have one foot off the ground. This section is a combination of calf raises (OWW!) star jumps, knee lifts, arm to knee lifts, twists on the spots, jogging and heel digs! My worst one is when you jump and have to punch at the same time! This is really hard-going and I really struggled to get through this section the first few times I did this DVD. You are constantly moving with both your feet off the floor and it seems to go on forever! It goes on to some of the moves from the warm up to cool you down, then the dance moves you learned and then you finish off with the Call on Me dance. THIS IS HARD! Seriously, it’s a combination of squats thrusting yourself in and out and side lunges, doing the same thing! It’s a killer for your thighs but I can honestly say, this is the best part of the DVD! For beginners I recommend you only attempt this as far as you can manage, if you can’t do it, stop and try again. Don’t try and force yourself to go further as this is a tough section.
A tough twenty minutes long!
Easiness for me: 4/10 it’s hard going and all though it’s gotten easier for me, people with lower fitness levels may struggle.

Bums and Tums – You do some sit ups in section to tone your arms, again, if you can’t do all of them, don’t. I only manage 16 all together and can never do 16 in a row still, so don’t push yourself if you can’t. You then move onto do sit-ups, again, I find this OK, thanks to my slender tone I think! But if you can’t do it all the way through, do as many as you can, stretch yourself out and try again next time. You also do a “plank” where you lie on your front and lift your body up, lying on your forearms. This really tightens your stomach and you can feel the burn! You then finish with some bum exercises where you lie on the floor, knees apart and lift yourself up. These are quite simple and relatively pain free, so you feel the burn through your bum, which you stretch out afterwards.
A measly around 8 – 10 minutes long I’d guess.
Easiness: 10/10 All the moves are simple.

Cool Down – Nothing special about this section, I find it too long and do my own stretches. It’s a mix of shoulder rolls and basic stretches. Fifteen minutes is too long for me, so I do my own, but never attempt to do this DVD without “cooling off.” About 15 minutes long (!!)
Easiness: 10/10

--- Can I expect results from this DVD? (My opinion) –

Everyone is different but if done regularly, you should do! I have lost 8 pounds and inches have come off my hips and waist, though I have been on a calorie controlled diet. My stomach has definitely tightened and is more defined and my thighs don’t wobble! My arms have also toned up drastically and I can honestly see a new body taking shape. I started off at 34-30-39 and am now a 34-28-36 so really am pleased and feel that this has contributed a lot to my weight loss! The DVD is hard-going at times; I was probably medium fitness when I started this though I did struggle. I definitely recommend it though. It is one of the best!

--- EXTRA STUFF ---

From this bit you can press PLAY WORKOUT, this is basically just Deanne doing a short introduction and then you move on to do the whole DVD in order. I just go so “straight to routine” and start with heat and do it from there as I don’t want to listen to her rambling on every time! From here you can pick and choose what sections you want to do also, like I said earlier, good if you only have time for one or two sections.

There is also a boring behind the scenes feature, just loads of people carrying equipment around and seeing the girls getting ready. Pretty pointless!

You also have an option to turn Deanne’s commentary off, though I never have as I find her encouraging. You will also find five videos Eric Prydz Call on Me, Danzel Pump It Up, Lisa Scott Lee’s Get it On, Boogie Pimps Somebody to love and The Biz Satisfaction.

TOP TIPS

** Have plenty of water near by, you sweat buckets and need it! I sometimes go a good litre of it!

** It is essential you have a good sports bra to do this DVD as you are bouncing about constantly. I remember once I attempted it without one and I nearly knocked myself out!

** Always do the warm up section of this DVD, and cool down too. You need to stretch before you do any sort of exercises.

** Make sure you’ve got some comfortable stuff to wear. I usually wear a pair of shorts and just my sports bra as I get really hot during the DVD.

** Never exercise within two hours of eating a meal. I have done this before and kept getting stitches throughout the DVD, not a good idea at all!

** If you’re a beginner, or have never done any sort of high impact aerobics before don’t be hard on yourself and expect to get all the way through it. All the girls are extremely fit in the video so don’t get yourself down. If you feel very tired, rest and have a drink of water then join in again or even just leave it and try it again next time. The more you do it, the fitter you’ll get and you’ll find it easier each time you do it.

** You might need somewhere spacious. Some of the moves are on the spot but for the grapevines and jogging forward you need a decant amount of room. If this is not possible sometimes, like it isn’t for me then don’t worry too much. When they jog forward, just stay on the spot and “substitute” some of the moves. If I have to do it in my tiny room sometimes, for example, I’ll replace the “grapevine” with the “rocks” just to keep myself moving.

** If you’ve got laminate flooring it’s a good idea to get a mat, you can pick these up cheap at places like Argos.

** Tie your hair back; you need it out your face! I don’t know how the girls manage with their long hair down!

--- Do I recommend? ---

This is a great DVD and I really recommend it if you want a fun, up to date work out. Forget all the ones with boring music this is catchy and stylish! The best part of the DVD is definitely the high impact aerobics, yes it hurts at first and is tough but I definitely think the main results I have had have come from this. My thighs are completely different and my bum is more toned and doesn’t have the “wobble!” The camera work (apart from the salsa bit) is very good and is easy to follow. It clearly shows the footwork well and the angles are good too. I’ve never had any difficulty with the camera work and find the moves easily conveyed.

Deanne is encouraging and not annoying, she does say things like “that’s the way” a lot and “c’mon guys!” but she seems very friendly and smiley and she has a body to die for, which makes you work yourself harder! The guy is OK to look at, though I feel sorry for him in his tiny green shorts thrusting himself in and out though his quite funny to watch sometimes! The girl in the red at the back can be a laugh to; you don’t feel like such a fool getting the moves wrong when you look at her as she gets them wrong a lot herself!

The downsides? A fifteen minute cool down section to me, is not nesscary. All though it’s a hard workout, I do my own cool down and have had no ill side effects from doing my own! More stomach exercises would have been nice. You do some sit ups and the plank for your stomach but I’d have like to have seen more, a lot of the exercises here work on your legs. In the salsa section as well there is some dodgy camera work, though I can’t fault the camera work anywhere else.

If you want results and want to tone up whilst having fun, I highly recommend this DVD!

(You can currently get this from play.com at 6.99 delivered!)