(This review refers to the ZUMBA Advanced workout only)

ZUMBA has a certain level of cheesiness that the exerciser will either love or hate. Remember Hank Azaria's character Agador in The Birdcage? Remember the scene where he dances to Miami Sound Machine with a red wig on? ("I'm like a combination of Ricky and Lucy!") I was reminded of that scene during the whole workout. It's a total hoot! "It's ZUMBA Baby!" Enjoying this workout requires you to be willing to make a complete jackass of yourself. If you can throw yourself into it with abandon it's a really good workout! If you are self-conscious, better try something else.

I did the workout for the first time with my best friend and her four year old daughter. We kept up pretty well even though there is literally no cuing. The foot patterns are all simple variations of the salsa, the cumbea, etc. The hip wiggling and arm patterns make it look harder than it is. But I’m serious. There is no cuing except for directions—apparently the steps are all taught in the ZUMBA Steps video which I didn’t buy. There aren’t real combos; you repeat a step for 32 counts or so then change to another. Each cycle of steps is repeated several times in each song. If you miss it the first time you can usually catch up and if not you can just dance around and keep your heart rate up.

I was not wearing my heart rate monitor the first time through but using perceived exertion the workout felt surprisingly intense (I'm low advanced--do advanced tapes but frequently modify if I need low impact or I'll keep my step on a lower height. Not a high intensity junky.) When I did the workout with a heart rate monitor I was able to keep my heart rate in the target throughout except for the two songs that were described as being included to bring down the heart rate. The workout uses an interval effect with 1 or 2 very intense songs, then a song that brings down the heart rate, then another intense song, then another that brings down the heart rate. This is done intentionally and is explained as the purpose behind a particular song. Some moves that look like they will make your heart rate plummet are surprisingly intense--try the move before you pass judgment.

There are non-weighted standing toning type moves at the end (with sort of a tango style to them LOL!). According to my heart rate monitor I was getting a little cardio benefit (60% of THR) during the toning. The lower body moves are pretty good for toning; the upper body moves are just silly and move too fast to use weights. For impact concerns, most of the video is low impact. One song near the end has some jumps. I have a twingy knee and had no problems with this.

RECOMMENDATION? I liked it. I'm always looking for floor tapes that are intense enough without having to do the impact. This will suit my needs well. It's the sort of tape you can do when you don't feel like working out.

However, there are real negatives to consider before purchasing. If you need cuing, this is not for you. If you need structured combinations, this is not for you. If you are at all adverse to a certain, ahem, BIRDCAGE-South Beach sensibility, this is not for you.

EXAMPLES: The last all out aerobic song has all the men up front, it features a horse riding, rear end spanking sort of step (one's own rear end, mind you, if that alarms you), and at one point three of them including Beto pull up their shirts for us. This alone was almost worth the price of the DVD

And there's more. If you are into Beto's tummy there is standing ab work where he and a lovely Brazilian woman (there is some commentary on her being from Brazil but I couldn't understand what on earth he was saying) face each other and do standing crunches. Giselle actually places her face between their tummies and cues them to imagine they are being hit in the stomach. Whether it works or not it's incredibly entertaining to watch. And warning—there are Macarena arms at one point!

But again I offer all these things as positives. It makes me laugh and the workout was pretty intense. I also like choreography, like to dance, don't mind the lack of cuing, and I like singing along with the live band who shout the word ZUMBA!. Like most Latin tapes it’s as intense as the effort you put into it, but this is the most intense Latin tape I’ve done.

I did fine without the instructional tape. I'm glad I bought the Advanced workout but I'm also glad I didn't spring for the whole set--four tapes of this--particularly at a lower intensity--would have been a waste of money. Hope this helps push all those on the fence in either one direction or another.

Micki Voelkel