I was provided by the publisher with a pair of DVD’s to facilitate this review. As always, all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Shazzy Fitness: Best. Idea. Ever.

Well, for fitness, anyway.  See, I hate to “exercise.”  I will not go out running just to stay fit.  I will not lift weights every other day.  (At least, not for more than about 2 days.)  I get bored.  It’s a chunk of time, it’s no fun…and there’s no point.  Because there are ways to get exercise without it just being all about the “drill.”

Like, for instance, dancing.  I love to dance.  I decided a few years ago that I was going to pick one type of dance after another and use my exercise time as an excuse for learning them.  (I didn’t get very far, because of the whole adrenal fatigue thing, but I did get started.)  Well, hip hop is at the top of my “dances to learn” bucket list.

And these videos are:

• Hip hop
• For exercising
• Segmented enough that you can do a workout in just 10 minutes
• Christian

If I’d made an “exercise video wish list,” I’m pretty sure I can’t think of anything it would have on it that these videos do not have.  They’re fun.  They’re quick.  (Although you could definitely work out for longer just by doing more segments.)  They’re full of funky praise music.

So, yeah – I’m a little excited about these.

What is Shazzy Fitness Like?

I don’t have any pictures of this in use because I can’t take a picture of myself while I’m dancing.  I’m just not that coordinated.  (Not that I’d want you to see it, anyway, since I’m not super-coordinated at the dance moves yet, either, so it’s kind of awkward.)  I can tell you all about it, though.

Shazzy Fitness is, as I said, Christian hip hop dance fitness.  The line currently consists of two videos: In the Beginning and A Time to Dance.  The heart of each video is two (per video) ten-minute routines.  (A Time to Dance  has a bonus workout, too.)  These routines each consist of three songs. Well, sort of.  It’s sort of two songs.  There’s one lower-impact song, with cueing.  Then a somewhat higher-impact song with cueing.  Then that same second song without cueing, so you can just let loose and enjoy it.

There’s a separate, cool-down song on each video, as well.  You can add variety to the content of your workout, or switch up the length, by varying which parts and pieces you use.  I wouldn’t recommend skipping over the first song of a set, as it eases you into the routine.  But you can drop a later one if you need to, or rearrange or double up.

For instance, I can’t manage a whole routine yet.  I know that’s really pitiful – they’re only about 10 minutes long!  But the adrenal fatigue has been kicking my butt for so long that I am way out of shape, and this is aerobic.  So I did the first and second song, then skipped to the cool-down, and that was perfect for me.  It’s a great way to build up to a longer workout!

A Time to Dance is higher-impact than In the Beginning.  I’d say that the first songs on A Time to Dance are approximately equivalent to the second songs on In the Beginning.

Each disc has a section for learning the steps, which is definitely useful!  I forgot to watch it all first, and just muddled through, but it would have helped to learn the individual steps first!  I do like that each step is repeated for long enough that you actually have a chance to pick it up.  (It drives me crazy when aerobics videos do a given step about twice.  You sort of almost figured out what they were doing, and then they aren’t doing it anymore!)

These videos are also very clean.  I’m 100% comfortable having my kids watch these or do them with me.  There are both men and women on the discs, so either sex should be comfortable following along.  And they don’t sell sex.  You’re moving your body, obviously – it’s dance!  But there are no hip gyrations or anything like that.  And all of the dancers are covered up – there are no low-cut or high-cut pieces or “second skin”-type garments.

Also, the people look normal.  There are bodies of varying shapes and sizes, not just sculpted “gym bodies.”   There’s often a broad age range represented.  No kids – just adults of all ages – but my kids enjoy the workouts, too.  Much to my surprise, my three-year-old even followed along (as best she could) the very first time we watched it, and wanted me to replay it again and again!

We got our DVD’s at no cost, to review them, but I would definitely be willing to buy them.   Totally worth it!