Bellydance Fitness for Weight Loss featuring Rania: Too Hip

Comments

1. V. Fadrowski says:

   August 4, 2010 at 11:44 am

   This was the first of Rania’s DVDs I’ve tried and thanks to all who have reviewed her other workouts, I’ve picked the best. Not only did I get a great cardio workout, I feel as though I’ve learned a dance. Rania builds each move giving you plenty of time to get it down right, before moving on to another and with the repetition of the previous moves, you get the hang of it quick enough. Of course you need to be familiar with bellydance moves already, but you dont need to be an expert. She does cue you when to change and what’s coming up. All in all, its one of my favorites. The music on this workout is much better than that on the trailers of Rania’s other workouts, they definitely have a canned cheezy sound. This produce is great if you’re looking for a good bellydance workout, as opposed to just instruction or drills, Also try Ultimate Bellydance with Jehan. Neena and Veena’s fat burning workout is great too. But Rania’s ‘Too Hip’ will remains my favorite.
   Rating: 5 / 5
2. L. Hawkins says:

   August 4, 2010 at 2:34 pm

   If you’re not familiar with the Bellydancer Rania and her “Bellydance Fitness for Weight Loss” series, she is an AFAA certified Fitness Instructor and award winning professional bellydancer. Her “Bellydance Fitness for Weight Loss” Videos are fun, and award winning, workouts and a great way to interject life into a dull and stale workout routine.

   There is absolutely no bellydance instruction on “Too Hip. ” This workout was designed for someone who already knows bellydance and wants to be lead through a great workout; it’s difficulty would be considered at the Intermediate level. In the pre-workout warmup alone, Rania uses both horizontal and vertical figure 8s as well as camels. If you don’t know how to do these then choose one of her other four “BFF&WL” workouts instead. If you know what these bellydance moves are and can perform them well, then this is the workout for you. There’s lots and lots of hip work featured here and you’ll feel the workout primarily in your hips, buns, and thighs. Your abs, waist, and calves will get auxiliary work as well. Because Rania doesn’t take any time at all to explain the moves, not even at half time pace, this workout has a much higher intensity level than the other four. You may have no complaints that the entire workout from warmup to cool down is only 35 minutes in length because you hit the ground running . . . or hip dropping, so to speak.

   Before beginning this workout it’s important to keep in mind what it is — a workout. Although you will practice bellydance, as all of the routines are completely comprised of bellydance moves, don’t expect to buy this Video and have it be your one-stop shopping for instruction and workout. They haven’t made anything like that yet. The pacing required for instruction is way too slow to get your heart rate up for a cardiovascular or fat burning workout. Rania does a very good job of creating routines with moves using similar muscle groups, this time using moves that require good hip work, and building a routine one fun section at a time. In this workout, all moves are done at full speed, no half time learning paces here, and constant repetition will give your muscles a good workout as you get plenty of great bellydance practice. I found each of the mini-sections to be quite fun as Rania exhibits some of her most enjoyable workout choreography to date.

   Rania knows how to structure a good workout so just like in her others, “Too Hip” gives you a great warmup and stretch, followed by an intense workout, and finishing with a cool down and deeper stretch. Unlike her previous four “BFF&WL” videos, famous as much for their fun workouts as they were infamous for their terrible soundtrack, Rania got rid of the `Disney-esque” synthesized music in favor of the arabic techno song “Sitt Akull” from the album “Alwan Min Alsharq” by Studio Ayoub Music. The steady, techno beat helps you reach and keep a target heart rate suitable for burning calories and fat. She has four backup dancers, two of whom you’ll recognize from her other videos, and they’ve definitely been practicing. Louchia — the dancer with the never-ending smile from “Bellydance Divas” is on Rania’s right and on her left is a new face named Samira — Arabic for `doesn’t smile much. ‘ Almost all of them look like they’re having a good time and are all fluid and graceful. Yeah, Rania is still a bit stiff and her look a bit vapid but we can all get over that because the workout is so amazing and so much fun.

   Immediately following the workout cool down is a drum solo by Rania which is my least favorite performance of her I’ve seen to date — forgivable because she made me so exhausted from a killer workout. There is also a second bonus performance by Rania. Did I mention the workout was great? The sound was laid incorrectly here so you’ll notice Rania emphasizing beats of the music that happened two beats ago. It’s a shame. Just skip this one. The bonus workout is not one from the “Bellydance Quickies” Video, hooray! It’s entirely new but Rania’s cueing voice over as well as the music don’t always fit what she’s doing so I recommend after watching it the first time, just trying the bonus workout with the volume off. Overall, this workout is so good and so much fun that even with these few problems I still highly recommend this disc to all intermediate level bellydancers who want a great workout.
   Rating: 5 / 5