I love variety in my workouts and I love trying new things. If I can’t have fun while burning fat, then it is way too much like work and I won’t do it.

Because I enjoy the Zumba workout tapes and have been pulling out some of my old Richard Simmons dance videos, I thought a great idea would be to pick up a copy of Crunch Fat Burning Dance Party. After all, it says there are three types of dancing in one workout – salsa, funk, and retro. Variety, right?

Well … not really.

The Set

This is set in a Crunch studio on a hard wood floored area with a big “Crunch” sign in the background. It’s a very simple indoor set.

The Instructor

The instructor for this workout is Jennifer Galardi who, according to the video box, is an instructor at CRUNCH Los Angeles and a certified dance instructor and performer for hip hop and jazz. She is in great shape, almost too thin, which for me to say means she is pretty darn thin. She definitively does a lot more than dance to be so bony. Behind her are seven funky looking people – six girls and a guy. They are dressed in more funky style clothes than usual background dancers to add to the “party atmosphere” I suppose. They vary in shapes and sizes and all are a lot bigger than little Jennifer in front of them.

The Workout

The workout starts with a quick warm up to medium-paced percussive music.

Salsa Party

The Salsa Party begins and the music speeds up but doesn’t really sound Latin. It sounds like the usual generic, no words, rhythmic music that so many aerobic workouts use. Jennifer breaks down the steps in a super fast paced way and then puts them all together for a very fast paced dance. You’re moving all the time, but if you can follow what she wants you do to, you are a much better dancer than I. Then again, I am not a dancer. I just like to have fun to fun music. Unfortunately, the music wasn’t fun and I was already starting to get bored. There are some variations of the mambo and the salsa but if you like Latin dancing, try Zumba. It’s much more fun and the music is much better.

The Funk Party

I didn’t even know the party or music changed until I was told. The same percussive music played, only to a slightly different beat. Jennifer obviously excels in this style of dance and throws a lot of “Uh’s” around as she boogies. Following her instructions is tricky. I couldn’t really keep up. I finally just sort of kept moving to keep my heart rate up and tried to follow along. She constantly tells you what to do but, unless you are schooled in dance or are a super fast learner, you’ll stumble around a lot.

The Retro Party

This music didn’t sound much different than the music before it. Although at one point we did do John Travolta in “Saturday Night Fever” disco step, the rest of the moves were not familiar to me even though Jennifer claimed that we were going to go “old school” and do some familiar moves. Again, the steps are quite hard to follow and the pace is fast. In every segment, you will be taught a series of moves and then put them all together in one fast breakdown. By the third breakdown, I was ready for one. I was bored and didn’t feel that party atmosphere that I thought I was supposed to feel.

The cool down is a series of traditional stretches and lunges and is quite short. The entire workout is 45 minutes long.

The Bottom Line

I can’t pinpoint exact why this workout wasn’t fun for me. I am not sure if it was the fast paced moves that were really hard to follow or the terrible generic music. Jennifer certainly knows her stuff and can really move and the dancers behind her keep up well. Everyone but me seemed to have fun doing this workout.

If you do the whole workout, you will break a sweat and burn fat, no question about that. There are some moves that may be tough on the knees so do not hesitate to modify or skip anything that is too “bouncy” or hurts.

This could be a nice addition to someone’s workout collection if you like dancing and are experienced in it or can easily follow choreographed moves. If you don’t mind the generic, bland music, you may enjoy the three styles of dance presented. I can’t however, recommend this workout because if I find myself bored with a workout, I can’t say that someone else should go out and get it. Still, there is nothing actually wrong with this video. The fat burning potential is there, the attitude is there, the dancers are high energy, and the instructor is friendly and seems to know her stuff. It just doesn’t come together as a fun dance party.

This is only an average workout and could be quite confusing to those who aren’t schooled in dance and complicated moves. If the music was better, those who didn’t get it the first few times around could just groove to the music and do their own thing, but because the music is so bland, it feels a lot like a instruction class – on speed.

This will be one of those workouts I may pull out now and then but won’t use often. If you like to dance, you could try Jamaica Me’Swet which is set on a great beach with really good reggae music or the above mentioned Zumba, which has original vocal music. Or go for a Richards Simmons workout that has songs you know and loads of things to keep your mind occupied as you sweat. Dance Your Pants Off is just one of many that is quite fun to do.

Crunch Fat Burning Dance Party is a notch below the ones I mentioned and really isn’t worth picking up unless you have a fondness for in the instructor or you get it for a really low price. It could be fun for those who really enjoy tough, very fast-paced dance steps and like a little attitude with their workouts.

Contact and Buying Info

I got my copy of the Dance Party at www.buy.com for $6.00. It is available on both VHS video (which is what I got) and DVD. Many websites sell this 2004 release and it is quite inexpensive.

You can check out all the Crunch videos at www.crunch.com.

You can also write to Fitness@anchorbayentertainment.com if you have any questions about this workout.


Recommended: No

Viewing Format: VHS