Moderate Workout
I have a tremendous amount of goodwill towards Desi Bartlett based on her beginner yoga DVD that was so useful to me.
It was this goodwill that led me to try this DVD a second time after being very underwhelmed on a first attempt.
Ms. Bartlett is a skilled fitness instructor, but, bless her, she is not a dancer. Her lower body seems to be doing everything correctly, but she sort of throws her upper body around in a jerky manner that actually makes it hard to follow her moves, so I ended up watching Kimberly Miguel Mullen (the brunette in the back, stage left) for most of the workout.
That said, this is a moderate workout that actually got me to sweat when I fully committed to the movements. It's very low impact, which is nice; there are very few jumps or deep bends in the knees.
There are four sections to the workout;
1) a very effective warm-up
2) workout 1 "Merengue Mix",
3) workout 2 "Spicy Salsa"
4) a thorough cooldown
The first time I tried the workout, I found it repetitive, but I guess I was in a different mood the second time around, and this aspect didn't bother me so much.
One criticism is that there is no introduction to some of the basic steps. I have never attempted the merengue or salsa; I picked up the merengue step based on previous experience with bellydance and hula, but for some reason the salsa step eluded me. I could tell that there was something going on with the hips, but whether it was a figure 8, or a circle, or something else, I just couldn't tell, and there was absolutely no breakdown or explanation. In this instance, therefore, I didn't even try to get the step right, and I turned my attention to the blonde dancer at stage right, since she seemed to be fill the "skilled amateur" niche, and she didn't seem to be doing the more advanced hipwork. It's great to have different levels of dancers onstage, but if there is no instruction, I'll probably always have to follow the "regular gal" instead of being able to work up to Kimberly Miguel Mullen's true salsa step. So, that was a little frustrating.
But, overall, this workout was very effective for a day that I just wasn't up to my more vigorous cardio DVDs. It got my heart-rate up and I broke a sweat without having to stop for a rest between the sections.
I think that this is probably best for people who are a little out of shape but who are reasonably coordinated, or who are like me and are reasonably in shape but every once in awhile want a lower key workout.
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