Baywatch Yoga Rhythms

I am a beginner whowas intrigued by Collage's description of this tape. The dance segment is fun,fun,fun! Lots of hip rocking and neat arm movements. I did not break a huge sweat, but it still made me feel more coordinated and agile. For more advanced exercisers, I imagine it would make a nice cool down after another tape.

The yoga and ab sections were beautifully done. Just challenging enough for a beginner, and not "mystical" or off-putting.

I might also add that this is a gorgeous, shot-on film production. They switch back and forth between an outdoor garden and a luxurious indoor cabin. I found that the switching was not at all distracting and kept me alert and interested.

The resident "Baywatch" babe, Gena Lee Nolin, is actually not as bothersome as I expected her to be! She follows all the moves to the letter, and rarely says anything (when she does, it's short and easily tuned out). The occasional cleavage shot is easily forgiven.

All in all, I'd say this is a great tape for beginners looking to improve their coordination before attempting more challenging dance tapes. More advanced exercisers won't find it hard, but it is still fun!

Being the cardio queen and strength studdette that I am, I recently realized that I have been ignoring an important, essential element to my workouts. Flexibility training. Now I may be pretty advanced when it comes to cardio and strength but when it comes to flexibility, I am probably in the beginner/intermediate category (and I'm being generous by saying intermediate). So when I saw the Baywatch Yoga Rhythms video on sale, I threw all caution to the wind and purchased it. Now I usually don't do exercise videos with celeberties featured in them but for some reason, this one intrigued me.

I must admit, that I was pleasantly surprised with this video. The video is only 40 minutes long but consists of seven segments which can easily be broken up. The first few segments consists of a warm up and light aerobics using tribal dance movements. Collage accurately lists the aerobics as being only 13 minutes long. While this may not be a suitable cardio workout for an advanced exerciser, I found it to be a nice way to warm up my body for the yoga/pilates exercises in the second half of the video which is why I purchased this tape. I actually broke into a little sweat doing the dancing. The tribal dancing was nice and I absolutely loved the music. The moves were pretty simple and easy to catch on to. I'm definately not a dancer but the music just makes you want to move. You also do the entire workout with no shoes so I found this to be nice for a change.

Gena Lee Nolan does not lead this workout. Two other instructors, April who leads the tribal dance segment, and Jackie leads the yoga/pilates sections are both very good instructors. They are easy to follow and likable. Gena just follows along with what the instructors are doing and they all look like they are having a good time.

The Yoga/Pilates sections are very relaxing and soothing. The stretches just felt so good, I could rewind and do this section again. I also like to tack on this section to the end of a cardio or tough strength workout. This segment is only 15 minutes long but it does the job.

I really recommend this video for those who are just getting started with a flexibility program and also for those who are just starting an exercise program can get cardio and flexibility in this tape.

First of all, Collage rates this video as Intermediate. Its not. Since I don't post on the forums, I will say that I am a beginning (overweight) exerciser (also, I'm not an experienced reviewer! I do know that some of you have been looking for a review, though). For comparison, I find FIRM Basics Abs, Buns & Thighs to be very tough, and I sweat hard. This is not a "sweat" tape, even for me. I expected it to be a little harder. I rewind the aerobics section to do it twice.

However, I really really like this video! It is basically in two parts, the aerobics section, and the stretch/yoga/pilates section. The first section is instructed by April Underwood. It is based on a few basic moves, the "pelvic scoop" (I guess it is kind of a pelvic thrust), the "rock", where you rock back and forth and kind of "play the drums" with your hands, and some squatting. The music in the aerobics section is great. It is by a ten-piece band, and really is funky. The aerobics is way too short, and like I said, I rewind it. The choreography is very easy, I hate too much choreography, and I picked it up the first time I went through it. However, I still felt pretty funky doing the tribal/rhythmic dance. April's cuing was very good.

Next is the yoga/stretch section. The first part is led by April Underwood, and she does the mountain, warrior and tree poses. And downward dog. I have never done any yoga or yoga-type things before, and I could follow it very easily. Then it moves into Jackie Potter's section. She does more yoga/pilates stuff, most of which I could do. I could not hold "plank" for very long. She moves into some ab work where I can really feel my lower abs working (and I can feel it the next day, too). I think these must be some of the Pilates movements. At the end, there's a guided meditation.

I think this is a really fun tape, but it doesn't do too much. I think for advanced exercisers it would be really good for a rest day, and for beginners like me, it is a good add on to another workout (I added on the aerobics to a FIRM tape the other day). If I do the whole tape by itself, I feel very relaxed by the end of it.