Disco Abs

Cheryl Burkes' Disco Abs is a 3 dvd set (with 5 workouts) in one dvd case. For a total of 90 exercise minutes. Cheryl works out in a nice open set with a disco ball on a TV screen & a few platforms that 2 of the 4 backgrounders exercise on. Each dvd is chaptered by song and/or by workout (2 of the discs have 2 w/o's each). There is also a music volume option- louder or softer. You can still hear Cheryl's cuing in the "music louder" option but it is not as prominent as the music.

The music in these workouts is fantastic and really makes you want to move! There is also a countdown timer in the corner of the screen. Each song has its own routine and at the end of the workout you string the routines together for a longer disco routine. Cheryl does a great job of adding in core work to standing cardio moves and really gets in the disco feel to the cardio moves by adding in fun disco arms and disco hips. The workouts are: Thats the Way You Like It, I Will Survive Cardio, Boogie Oogie Buns & Thighs, The Beginner Hustle, and Disco Abs.

Exercises include: egg beater arms, kick ball change, hussle, grapevine & disco point, hip shifts, shimmy, hip shakes, hip swings, triple step up w/ egg beater arms & hip shift back, knee hop-disco point, skater w/ disco arms, brush your hair, wiper arms, standing crunches w/ chicken arms, spine rolls, toe tap- point, chasse, hip lifts, and other fun disco inspired standing core work.

Buns & Thigh Exercises include: squats, lunges, dips, & pliets w/ disco arms (egg beater, shimmy, & point), lunge- kick w/ a twist & point, hip shakes and figure 8's, and includes plenty of tempo changes and fast paced moves to get the heart pumping.

I rate this a lower intermediate workout in terms of choreo and cardio intensity. These workouts are all SO much fun! I absolutely loved doing all of these and def felt it in my core-from every angle. This core work is so much more fun & more effective IMO than doing a million crunches and you burn more calories! So many time options make these workouts perfect to add on to other workouts, string together, or as stand alone workouts. I liked Cheyl- good energy but not overly excitable, and good cuing. I received this dvd to review.

This is a set of 4 DVD's, 2 of them with 2 workouts on them. There is also an add on package available with 4 more DVD's. Here is what is on the DVD's

DVD 1

I Will Survive Cardio (30 Minutes)

The Beginner Hustle (12 Minutes)

DVD 2

Bodies On Fire (20 Minutes)

Ring My Total Body (10 Minutes)

DVD 3

Boogie Oogie Buns and Thighs (30 Minutes)

DVD 4

Disco Abs (30 Minutes)

That's the Way I Like It Abs (5 Minutes)

Add Ons:

DVD 1

Get Funky Cardio (30 Minutes)

DVD 2

Shake Your Goove Thing (30 Minutes)

DVD 3

Celebration Cardio (30 Minutes)

DVD 4

Boogie Oogie Burn Cardio (40 Minutes)

Get Down On It (16 Minutes) This workout uses the green band with handles that comes with it.

I previewed 5 out of the 8 DVD's and I actually did 3 of them. The moves become more complicated as the DVD's progress, and yes, they are quite "Disco" oriented, with lots of "John Travolta" type back and forth finger pointing. So if you find that sort of stuff too cheezy you will not like these. The ones that were led by the women other than Cheryl Burke were slightly more fitness oriented in there moves but not much. The Buns and Thighs one had less dancing and LOTS of squats and lunges. For the 30 minute workouts there are only 3 actual songs and for the 20 minute workouts only 2 songs. The format is a song for about 5 minutes followed by 5 minutes of a disco type "mix" with a monotonous generic disco thumping instrumental. That means the workouts only have the actual songs for half the time. Each song has about 3 combos. They teach one and then TIFT afew times. Then they teach the next one, TIFT that one afew times and then TIFT combined with the previous combo afew times. Then on to the 3rd combo and put it all together at the end of that song. Then they do 3 more combos for the next song the same way. Then at the end of the workout, they combine all 9 (or so) combos the TIFT those afew times. When I did the first tape, My first impression of these was that they were a good purchase, would be very fun and a good workout and I would keep them. But after trying 3 of them and previewing 5, the negatives became more obvious and in the end outweighed the positive-the main one being that the workouts were supposedly comprised of original disco music. But since the music was only half of the workouts and I found Cheryl Burke's style less than appealing, I returned these and am awaiting my refund.