Video Fitness

Fit to the Hits: Rock Hard Assets

I haven’t found too many dance videos I like, but this is one of the exceptions. I do admit that I haven’t tried very many because I can’t dance and I generally feel awkward trying. The Fit to the Hits workouts are an exception.

Tamilee starts the workout with a fairly short warm-up that doesn’t include much, if any, stretching. The routines all last through one song and she builds the combos fairly slowly—they last approximately 5 minutes each. She only teaches them on one side (the exerciser’s right side) and starts the combo from that side each time through. Most of the time this isn’t a problem because you still work the other side equally. The one is exception is the “head throw,” which is only done using the left arm and side of the body, going toward the right.

Tamilee’s teaching style reminds me of Charlene Prickett more than Christi Taylor or Gay Gasper. While there is TIFTing, it is only within the combo you are working on, not from the beginning of the workout. There is one exception on this video and that is in the final song when you put all the combinations together one time through before moving on to the cooldown. She does count out one move that she must consider tricky, making point of telling you where you should be on each count.

The combinations aren’t incredibly difficult, so I caught on easily the first time through. There are some turns and pivots, but no more than two or three and it is easy to figure out which direction they are going. The camera angles are good for the most part and there are no diagonal angles that I can recall. I don’t remember getting frustrated with the cameras not showing what the feet and arms are supposed to be doing.

The music is all vocal and has a good instructor voice to music balance. The box says Start Me Up is included in the workout, but I have to assume that the cover was made before the filming because it isn’t there. Instead, the music is China Grove, Rock ‘n Roll Band, Your Love is Driving Me Crazy, The Kid is Hot Tonight and Free Ride (twice).

The outfits aren’t your typical exercise gear. Tamilee is wearing some kind of denim-looking pants with a yellow bikini-style top. The girls in back vary from tank top and pants to bikini top and pants. One of the girls is wearing the cover art outfit for the workout. They aren’t bad outfits, they are just different and flashier than what I am used to.

The workout isn’t high intensity for me at all, but I save it for fun days or days that I’d like to fit in something late in the day. It can be low impact or more bouncy and/or hoppy, depending on what you want to put into your dancing. I can work up a nice sweat and be in the low end of what I’d consider my target heart rate zone if I put a bit of effort into it. I prefer intermediate to advanced cardio workouts for intensity and choreography, so this is just my perspective on this.

Instructor comments: Tamilee sings the songs often and encourages the exerciser to sing, too, since “no one is watching, anyway.” I noticed that she has some kind of belly button jewelry—I can’t see it very well to tell what it is, but it flashes from time to time so you’ll know it’s there. The clip at Collage shows pretty much what Tamilee is going to be doing as far a talking and singing throughout the workout. Her cueing isn’t excellent, but it is okay. She does mention once that she is too busy singing to tell us what to do or something to that effect.

Karen (Rhae)

02/20/06



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