Yoga Booty Ballet Live: Complete Body Shaping
Reviews from VideoFitness
About me: I'm a former advanced exerciser, now squarely in the middle of intermediate and at a stage in my life where I prefer to enjoy workouts. Caveat: I'm partial to Yoga Booty Ballet, which is a "love it or leave it" brand of workout.
Equipment: all of the YBB toys are incorporated - yoga mat, squishy ball and band.
Summary: A joyful workout, a little over 30 minutes. An Oreo cookie of introspective pranayama at the outsides and non-stop, moderate level, full-body body movement in the middle, flavored with essences of dance and yoga. I am by no means fried, pumped or burned afterward, so if that's what you seek this is not your workout. I enjoy this as a refresher on busy days or an add-on after a more vigorous workout, and it?s a nice little gift to my bad back in the bargain.
Breakdown: You begin with 108 spinal flexes - seated cross legged, hands holding onto shins, inhale deeply while flexing forward and exhaling sharply while scooping belly and rounding spine. "Sut-num" is chanted silently, an intention for truth. There is a brief mudra for vitality - Ravi or sun (incidentally, Ravi is on drums as always) then the workout moves into seated warm-up of shoulder rolls, reaches and twists. Next you are up for about 7 minutes of standing movement on the mat. Not being a dancer, I can only describe it as flowing yogic dance incorporating a variety plies, footwork, rounding to the sides (think of "Play the Harp" from Advanced), foot sweeps, sunflowers and swan, a sort of flowing, standing Cobra.
Three minutes of Triangle pose follow, then 10 minutes of non-stop standing work with the band. This was frustrating at first but after a few fumbling attempts, as I got to anticipate what was coming I became more adept with positioning the band. The moves include standing on the band in a wide-legged stance and stepping out and in, the ?Momix walk,? and leg lifts which were surprisingly hard. Further band work includes lunges with lateral raises, step plies with lat pulls, triceps kickbacks and extensions, and a military press/pec squeeze/rotator cuff superset that still baffles me.
After thankfully putting the band aside, a nice upper body stretch is followed with standing work squeezing the squishy ball between the thighs. Personally, I haven?t seen anything like this in another workout - demi-plies and pelvic tucks on the toes while curling the upper body forward and squeezing the ball. After all the squeezing you free up with pendulum swings, a rejoiceful movement holding the squishy ball in both hands and sweeping it side to side and overhead with leg lefts. I wish this segment were longer than five minutes because it benefits my aching spine after sitting at work all day.
Finally, you are seated for the yoga finale, Double Pigeon, Gomukhasana and Seated Bound Angle. And for me, a big smile and parting thought, ?that was wonderful.?
Teigh and Gillian's friendship and chemistry comes right through. Form pointers, cueing and reassurance flow from both instructors throughout this workout.
The emphasis is on toning and it is recommended that you have the following equipment: yoga mat, band and a ball that you can squeeze between your thighs.
The set is very pretty, airy and colorful. There is a live drummer and the music has a very upbeat vibe to it; definitely not generic.
Exercises:
Kundalini: Spinal flexion, Ravi mudra and twists with arms raised. Funnel mudra mixed with ballet plies and heel raises followed by mostly modern dance movements.
Hatha Yoga: Forward bend with legs spread wide while stretching arms/shoulders, triangle pose.
Band work: Legs going in and out with a wide stance to work the outer thighs, leg extensions to work the glutes and challenge your balance, lateral raise, hammer bicep curl, demi plies in first position while doing regular bicep curls, rear lunges, moving second position plies while working the shoulders, upright row, tricep kickbacks and pulses, overhead triceps, military press, chest squeeze, rotator cuff.
Stretches for waist, shoulders, triceps.
Squishy ball: Releve while squeezing ball between your legs and repeat with forward contraction; raise ball while lifting legs side to side.
Standing yoga stretch for hamstrings
Floor core work while using squishy ball
Ending stretches including some nice seated hip work.
Fun and motivating workout for the high beginner or low intermediate exerciser. Length of workout: 36 minutes.
Very cheerful instructors who seem to geniuinely enjoy what they're doing.