Full disclosure: I received a free review copy of this workout.

I kept hearing about Bellyfit and how much people loved the original Bellyfit Earth workout. I finally bought that original DVD, just to see what it was, and really didn't like it. The camera angles drove me nuts and I found the instruction in voice over to not be helpful to my concentration and there was a lot of talk of energy centers and chakras and stuff that I am just not into, enough that it made things confusing for me. Yet, there was something about the workout that appealed to me when the camera angles were good and I "got" the moves they were doing. So, when this set came out, I decided to try it, especially when I read that they had fixed some of the problems with that original workout.

This set comes with 5 workouts, all on their own disk. And, each workout is set up exactly the same. So, if you understand one, you will understand them all. So, in this review, I will use the singular, talk as if there is one workout, but whatever I say will apply to all five workouts.

If you do the entire workout, it is an hour - 40 minutes of cardio and 20 minutes of Pilates/yoga/stretching. Personally, the Pilates/yoga/stretching part is not something I'm really interested in, so I've just done the cardio sections. (But, I did watch a couple so that I could describe this section some for those that are curious.)

The workouts begin with a guided meditation or relaxation. It is done in voice over. When they start with meditation, it becomes entwined with instruction on how to stand and align the body. And, this section cannot be skipped. There are no chapter points that take you to the beginning of the cardio section. When the cardio section begins, then the instruction switches from voice over to live (which I like much more). Each cardio section begins with cardio preparation - aka, a warm-up - then there is the actual cardio section followed by the cardio recovery - aka, a cool down. The cardio preparation begins slow and easy and ends with your heartrate ready for cardio. The cardio recovery section takes those exact moves and just reverses them, so it starts with the more intense moves and ends slow and easy. The cardio section is comprised of two blocks of cardio. They build the first cardio block and then repeat it twice. Then, they build the second cardio block and repeat it. Then, they put the two cardio blocks together and you do them three times. If you do not like TIFTing, these may not be the workouts for you.

After the cardio section, they move into a flow that includes moves from Pilates, yoga, and feel-good stretching. The aim of this section is both to strengthen muscles and to relax them - and they do both depending on the move they are doing.

There are three exercisers involved in these workouts. Alice Bracegirdle, the instructor, does the middle version of the moves. If the only choices are "harder" or "easier", she does the harder version. There is one background exerciser that does harder versions of moves. For example, there are some places where she leaps instead of stepping though certain moves. There is also a modifier who does easier moves. I'm pretty picky about my modifiers and thought both them did a pretty good job. I mostly followed the easier modifier when I wasn't following Alice. I thought she gave good versions of moves that cut down on the torqueing of joints - mainly the knees - or that cut down on impact. The modifiers continue into the Pilates/yoga/stretch section giving options. However, the easier modifier doesn't give options that are very different - for example, for the moves where weight is supported on the hands, she doesn't give an option to that. Throughout the workout, Alice encourages exercisers to do the moves that work for them *today* with the acknowledgement that one's energy and capabilities can change on a regular basis.

The music was really well matched to the workouts and the moves within them. It is mainly instrumental, although there are a few vocals. But, the main thing is that it was obviously chosen to match and complement the workouts.

The moves themselves are pretty simple: grapevines, step touches, kick backs, knee raises, etc. Generally, she introduces the basic move, then she adds the upper-body accompiament. If it hasn't been added yet, she then sometimes adds a dancier element or a higher-impact option. The pace of learning the moves is not rushed at all. Some people will find this good. Some people may find it repetetive and/or boring. She gives each of the moves a name - and it's not necessarily descriptive of the move itself. Sometimes, it is more ethereal or mystical or ______ (some word I'm not coming up with right now) than that. Many of the moves are similar from workout to workout, but the names are sometimes more linked to the theme of the workout (Air, Fire, Spirit, etc.). Keep in mind that I have not done belly dancing workouts in the past and some of the names of moves may come from that background.

Each Bellyfit DVD is named after an earth element and the workout is designed around the theme of that element. For example, in the Fire workout, some of the names of some of the moves follow the theme of fire or heat. Plus, in what she says, she talks about the heat of the body and she talks about fire and harnessing its power. Each of the workouts seems to slightly stress some parts of the body more than others. For me though, they all seemed like cardio workouts that work the full body (with slightly different emphases).

Personally, I don't see needing 5 workouts that are all so similar. But, for those that really like this type of workout, you might enjoy having that many. Personally, I didn't like Water all that much. Earth I had problems liking from the beginning because of my so disliking the original Bellyfit Earth. It was ME, not the workout. :) I really liked Fire and thought it would be my favorite until I tried Air. I loved Air. Spirit was okay, but the TIFTing got to me at the end.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

My career is in training - corporate training, not physical fitness. Because some of the jobs I have had have been in instructional design - creating classes - I tend to notice the design of workouts (or the lack of intentional design in some cases). To me, these workouts seem to be some of the best designed workouts I have seen in a really long time. She tells you what she is going to do and then she delivers it in a very structured, yet fun, way.

On the other hand, some of her design elements work against her some. For the workouts that I didn't enjoy totally, the TIFTing got tedious. Also, she gives moves cutesy names that don't necessarily remind me of what I am supposed to be doing and at multiple points in every workout I would stop and look at the screen to see what they were doing. Yes, even with the TIFTing...

Her talk in these workouts is smooth, on point, and empowering. In places, she just seems to be having a blast doing the workout. She is passionate about these workouts and encourages you to enjoy them as well.

Like I said above, I don't think 5 workouts that are so incredibly similar are needed; I think that they should have been sold separately to let people choose what they wanted. It's not like you need all five workouts to have a well-rounded program. If you like these workouts, then you might enjoy having all five.

Personally, I think that they worked hard to create a high-quality set of DVDs with good workouts on them. For people who are not dance people, she makes the moves in the workouts accessible. They are at an intermediate level, but enough options are given that these workouts can be done in a range of intensities and impact.

Instructor Comments:
She is relaxed and instructive in these workouts. She passionate about them.

Laura S.