10 Minute Solution: Dance Off Belly Fat!

This one has similar moves to Petra's Just Dance and 3 2 1 Dance. It's good to see what her workouts are like, or if you have the longer workouts but just want a little "taste" of Petra. She likes to add moves to the middle of a combo, instead of at the end (or it feels that way to me, anyway), and this can kind of show you what that's like before you pay more money for another Petra workout.

All segements are low impact and lots of fun!

I'm reviewing this workout after doing all segments 3-4 times each.

General workout breakdown: As with all 10 Minute Solution DVDs, this contains five 10-min. segments, each slightly different, but all more dance-inspired or dance aerobics than straight up dance. This is more for those who want to feel like they're dancing even if they lack the dancer / funk gene.

In all of the segments you'll do two or so blocks that become one big combo that you'll TIFT (take it from the top) once or twice before quick moves to cool down. Petra starts off with a few basic steps, then layers and adds on until she has the full block. She'll do several TIFTs of the full first block, then move onto the next block. One thing that steepens the learning curve here is that she never TIFTs just the second block before adding the first back in; you'll learn several pieces, and then suddenly you're doing the full shebang from the very beginning without knowing exactly how those final pieces fit together. Fortunately Petra cues well enough this isn't a huge problem, but it made things a little trickier for me the first time or two through. Note that unlike with most dance routines - but as is normal for Petra - she teaches almost all of the moves at the tempo they'll be done in the workout; she rarely teaches something at half tempo first, and when she does it's usually only one or two steps rather than a full block. The blocks are all symmetrical, meaning they're done both on the right and the left. Arm movements are often key elements of the routine here, but Petra's arms make sense, and she introduces them after she's practiced the feet a few times.

Not all segments have a warm-up, but that's not a big deal for me because the ones that don't start with a few simple or basic steps (plus I don't really need or want warm-ups or even cool-downs with these).

All segments are low impact. Many have partial or even full pivots as well as some twist-type movements, so be careful with your foot placement if you work out on carpet or have sensitive knees. You can leave the pivots, as Petra mentions a few times, but Petra won't remind you or demonstrate the non-turny option.

Here's a little more about each individual segment:

- Latin Flavor Waist Sizzler: This is the second most distinct segment. This is definitely Latin flavored hip shakin', with mambos, cha chas, merengue walk, tango, flamenco arms, and of course hip action galore. There's no warm-up, but there's a cool-down of reaching up, releasing the low back, and 2 hip circles, done 4 total times.

- Dancer's Silhouette: This segment is the most distinct out of the five. I like using this for a warm-up when doing multiple segments together or choosing something to do before another workout because it turns on the core and loosens up the upper body and torso nicely. It's hard to describe the style of dance here, as it has a few ballet-inspired moves plus some swaying and mamboing. This isn't as cardio-intensive as the other segments, but instead you'll get a few small balance challenges and some dynamic stretches. There's no warm-up, and there's only a few quick shoulder rolls at the end.

- Fat Burning Beat: This may be the most intense of the segments, but it's not significantly more challenging than the others. Be prepared to walk sassily, raise the roof, hip swings, throw down, mambo, chasse, rock back, box step, etc. This seems to me pretty standard dance-inspired / dance aerobics-ish stuff, similar to some of Petra's other dance videos (like PK Grooves). Again there's no warm-up, and the cool-down is just a quick static hamstring stretch.

- Attitude & Energy: This has many of the same moves as Fat Burning Beat, but there's more walking around and you'll do an Elvis knee. The style is ever so slightly different from the previous segment, too, as I kind of expected Petra to throw in jazz hands, a Fame reference, or tell you no one puts Baby in a corner here. Here there is a quick warm-up of reaching, rolling up through the low back, and learning the Elvis; for the cool-down you'll do a low back roll again, shoulder roll, and hip rock.

- Belly Blaster: Petra must have intended this to be the first segment on the DVD, as she breaks down some of the moves, namely box step and mambo. This draws from the same repertoire as Fat Burning Beat and Attitude & Energy, but Petra includes the snake, throw down, and wash your hair. The brief warm-up has low back rolls, hip rocks, and tap ins, while the even quicker cool-down has a deep breath into a low back roll.

All five segments start with many of the same basic moves (marching in place, wide step, mambo, etc.), but in the last three especially the same moves (walk with attitude / sass / style, mambo, cha cha or triple step, chasse, rock back, box step, hip rock) appear again and again. I find it's a bit boring to do the last three segments in a row because of that, so I recommend breaking them up with the first two if you intend to do multiple segments or the whole shebang at once.

Level: I'd recommend this to high beginner to intermediate exercisers who preferably have a little bit of dance experience under their belt, although you don't have to be a good dancer at all. Petra likes to say if you can march you can do her dance workouts, but I think this might be a bit of a stretch for those with two left feet, so I'd recommend trying out something like Petra's Cardio for Beginners first before making the leap from pure walking workouts to this. Solidly intermediate exercisers should know they'll need to put a little oomph into their moves to get a moderately challenging workout from this.

I consider myself an int./adv. exerciser. This workout is on the easy side for me; it's just a hair more intense than many of my walking workouts. But I don't mind that at all, because I happen to like having workouts like this on my shelf for all of those times I want an interesting little routine that gets me moving without threatening to wipe me out. For me Petra's dance workouts are great for lighter cardio days, active recovery days, and sick or otherwise off days.

I happen to like and consider myself pretty good at picking up choreography (although I wouldn't feel comfortable performing it in front of an audience!). That said, dance moves don't always come naturally to me, so I prefer dance-inspired routines than true dance routines; I like to feel like I'm dancing rather than flailing through an actual dance. I find this workout quite doable both in terms of its level and style of choreography, although I have to admit that Petra's choreography always has a few moments where things don't flow smoothly or intuitively to me, and as I mentioned the fact that she doesn't put the second block together before the final TIFT threw me when this was new to me.

Class: Petra is alone in all segments, instructing live as she does the workout.

Music: upbeat mostly instrumental stuff that's pretty generic exercise video tunes. It does try to match the dance style featured in the segment.

Set: interior space with "windows" onto nothing and decorative accessories neatly placed around. It's nothing too fancy but at least it's nothing too distracting.

Production: clear picture and sound, camerawork that enables you to see what's going on clearly.

Equipment: a pair of sneakers (although I've done this barefoot). If you work out on carpet make sure you can pivot, although you can leave them out.

Space Requirements: You should be able to take a couple of steps to each side and to walk up several paces. You could probably make this work in a smallish space, but if you have more room you'll be able to make the moves bigger and probably enjoy it a little more.

DVD Notes: Petra's introduction can be skipped. As with all of the 10 Minute Solutions, you can play all of the segments in the order they appear, choose one, or create a personalized workout by picking and choosing between the five segments.

I read in a review somewhere complaints that a lot of the more recent 10MS DVDs list the segments in a different order on the back of the DVD than the order in which they play on the DVD if you hit play all. This doesn't really bother me, as I generally program the segments to play in a different order than either of these lists, but it's worth noting if you have your heart set on the order in the back when you pop in the DVD.

Comments: I didn't expect this to teach me moves for the dance floor or burn tons of belly fat or flatten my abs. (Petra says in the introduction stress fat can find its way to the midsection and dancing can relieve stress - well, unless you become really frustrated with your dancing abilities and/or the routines…) I wanted a 10MS DVD with all cardio segments - this is one of the few that doesn't have a toning and/or stretch segment as one of the five options - that I could pop in as warm-ups, as add-ons, as sparks (meaning a quick workout session that you squeeze in at various points in the day, like on your lunch break or while dinner is cooking), or do as a stand alone workout on days when I felt like doing something a little more interesting than walking in place. This definitely fits the bill. Actually, this was a gift from a very kind VF Secret Santa, and it's proved to be a good gift that keeps on giving in the best sense of that phrase. :)

The other 10MS all cardio DVD I have is Cat Chiarelli's Rapid Results Fat Burner. Petra's is low intermediate while Cat's is high intermediate. Petra's is, of course, dance-based, while Cat's is more athletic, except for the one low impact routine that's similar to the ones on here. Petra's is low impact while Cat's has its share of high impact. And Petra is a better cuer and a warmer on screen presence than Cat.

I don't currently have any of 10MS's other cardio dance offerings, but I'm intrigued by them now and may keep my eye out for more that could suit my abilities (er, lack thereof).

This was my introduction to Petra's dance routines, and since then I've acquired her Cardio for Beginners (which I'd recommend as a stepping stone to this for someone who hasn't done much dance or floor aerobics), PK Grooves, and Just Dance, as well as her Bootcamp Boogie, which is only part dance. (I'm going to have to ask for 321 Dance for Christmas, because no one seems to be willing to give that one up!) The moves in the 10MS are pretty typical Petra, so it's not wildly different from her other offerings, although it's nice to have them in this format, where it's so easy to select just one or two 10-min. routines. Actually, if one does this 10MS DVD in its entirety, it's the same length as Petra's PK Grooves and Just Dance, so that's something worth considering if you're looking at this but wondering if you'll ever do just one segment at a time or if you find yourself always doing all five segments together on this one.