Island Girl Dance Fitness Workout for Beginners: Cardio Hula

This is a 30ish minute hula workout led by Kili with 2 background exercisers. It is set outdoors in beautiful Hawaii w/ greenery and the ocean & a mt (volcano?) in the background. I love outdoor sets!!! and this one is absolutely gorgeous. You wont need any equipment for this workout. The dvd is chaptered so you can start at any chapter.

I felt like this w/o was mostly hula work with just a few additions (knee ups, hops) to up the cardio effect. The workout is built add on style so Kili teaches you a hula move, then another & then adds them together. By the end of the workout you have learned an entire hula dance. Before the workout begins they demonstrate the dance & tell you thats what youll be learning- I was leary- but sure enough I could perform the entire routine by the end of my 1st attempt!

This workout is really a core cardio workout- I really felt it in my love handle area- lots of hip sways!! There are a few body weight lower body work- but this is a cardio w/o w/ a focus on the core. My heart rate was elevated, probably similar to a walking workout cardio-wise. You will perform hula moves such as pliets w/ arm movements, torso twists, hip sways (throughout), some ballet style lower body toning (pliets, pliet pump), mambo w/ hip sways, a static lunge & squat w/ bicep pumps, side mambos, etc.

I would rate this a low intermediate core cardio workout. The moves were easy to catch onto but the routine is not boring or repetitive at all. If you are a hula pro or a dancer- maybe this would be too easy for you choreo-wise but I really enjoyed this and had a lot of fun with it! I will definatley be using this w/o alot as I love standing ab work and core cardio workouts. My obliques were really feeling this the next day! I received this workout from Natural Journeys to review.

This is a Hula dance DVD. It is filmed outside so there is some wind noise during parts. Kili and two female background exercisers do the routine on a platform in a parklike setting with water and a mountain in the background. They are wearing a bikini top and shorts. There are specific warm up, dance, and cool down portions. The music has a traditional island sound to it.

This is a good video to work the hips. It's not very hard but I feel my hips get sore from trying to sway the hips as much as they do. I enjoy it as something different.

I am an intermediate exerciser, and I enjoy a wide variety of choreography from simple/athletic (think Leslie Sansone or Tamilee Webb) to dancy (think Christi Taylor or Marcus Irwin), but I am completely funk impaired.

I rented this video from Netflix, and while I enjoyed doing it a few times, I didn't enjoy it enough to buy it.

The setting is gorgeous: obviously Hawaii, with a volcanic island visible in the background. Kili is accompanied by two background exercisers who are also obviously familiar with hula. The music is pleasant sounding island (I assume) music. Kili et al do the workout in bare feet, and I did also. Except for a few small hops, this is completely low impact. The workout is about 35 minutes long, including warmup and cooldown. If your hips won't sway, this workout is not for you.

I found that this workout wasn't very intense. Ok, I wasn't really expecting very intense, but I could easily do this in my pj's. Occasionally my heart rate got up into the low end of my aerobic base building zone, but it didn't stay there.

Overall, pleasant but not exciting.