Yoga Booty Ballet Advanced

I bought this video after getting several YBB Live DVDs and really enjoying them. I really enjoy this one, as well. It's 60 minutes, so it's noticeably longer than the Lives. The intention setting, warm-up, and cardio/dance section is about 30 minutes; a bit over 20 minutes of that is cardio work. The sculpting section lasts about 15 minutes, and the final yoga section is about 15 minutes.

The dance section is a lot of fun. There's less TIFTing than in the Lives. You learn one block of choreography, with Gillian and Teigh alternating adding on the next move. Then you repeat that block twice. Then you learn a second block of choreography and repeat it once, and that's the whole dance section. There's a lot of hip movement and fun arm patterns in the choreography, and many of their moves have funny names. This section does make me warm, but it's not very tough aerobically. I've been exercising for many years and usually do pretty intense cardio workouts, so this is a light workout for me. These workouts are so fun, though, that it makes me wish I was just starting out, so I could do them all the time! As it is, I use the dance section from this workout (or the Lives) as a short, lower intensity cardio section before doing weights or yoga. Sometimes I combine the dance section from several YBBs to make a longer, lower intensity cardio workout.

The sculpting section is all standing leg work. There are front, side, and back leg lifts with several variations, and some plies in between. I like this section because it makes me feel long and graceful, but it's not particularly hard sculpting work compared to Kari Anderson's Angles, Lines, and Curves or Reach, for instance.

The yoga section at the end is really nice and significantly longer than the ending stretches on the YBB Lives. They do pigeon on each side and then a seated twist and double pigeon on each side, so it's a really nice section to stretch out the hips. There's a good relaxation at the end.

Teigh and Gillian teach together really well and clearly enjoy themselves. The workout is very pretty to look at - nice colors and lovely scenery. It's not brightly colored like the Lives, but it's quite beautiful and well produced. Ravi is there on the drums with the usual YBB-style music. There are 4 or 5 background exercisers during the dance and yoga sections, but it's just Teigh, Gillian, and one background exerciser during the sculpting section. Teigh and Gillian are alone at the beginning next to a Koi pond (with some *huge* fish in it!) for the intention setting. I'd say the atmosphere is a bit calmer or more subdued than the Lives, in terms of the colors of the set and clothing, the number of background exercisers, and the level of enthusiasm/noise from the background exercisers. So if those are things you love about the Lives, you may not like this one as well.

I really enjoy Advanced and the Lives, mostly because the dance sections are very fun in all of them. I also really like the longer section of yoga stretches at the end of this one. This workout leaves me feeling energized and happy. It's probably not for you, though, if you (1) hate moving your hips, or (2) are looking for a high intensity cardio workout. [However, if you like the idea of moving your hips but don't think you're that good at it, give YBB a try - they make you feel like however you're doing it is just fine, and they teach the dance section so that non-dancers can still catch on and have fun.]

I've had the original YBB workout (called Basic in the Beach Body set) for a long time and like it a lot, though I tend to save it for recovery and easy days because it doesn't feel like enough of any one type of workout. But I love the funky, "don't take it so seriously" attitude, and it's the workout I grab when I'm feeling unmotivated. I was pleased to see that attitude is alive and well in the new workouts. The Advanced video is about 60 min total, beginning with Kundalini yoga krias and intention setting (no need to use the separate segment on the DVD), then moving into cardio, then ballet toning, with a short hatha segment to finish.

The 30 min of cardio takes place in the familiar pink grecian theater set with the billowy white drapes where the cardio section of the original was shot. Gillian and Teigh are joined by 4 others: Andy and 3 new exercisers. No weights are used, and the cardio is mostly low impact or easily modifiable. I usually hate this kind of thing, preferring athletic moves or kickboxing, but this was totally fun. I didn't get frustrated if I screwed up because it just didn't matter. (By comparison, I was hopelessly lost about 30 seconds into the QF Cardio Hip Hop video.) Gillian and Teigh are extremely goofy and fun.

The 15 min ballet section is similar to the original YBB, with several side, front and back leg lifts followed by one-legged squats, stretches, balance poses and releves. Definitely felt this the next day! One of the background exercisers (Leon?) uses a dowel for balance. The hatha yoga section consists of forward pigeon followed by one-legged pigeon (be very careful if you've never done this before!), half lord of the fishes, easy pose with forward bend, and finishes off with an extended cobblers pose and savasana. There is no ab work in this workout.

Like the original, the whole video is shot outdoors and you can do the entire thing barefoot. The drummer Ravi also returns to provide music (love him!). I appreciate that they made an effort to duplicate the look and feel of the original video, but this one is less dark that the first (a good thing).

My background: I am advanced in cardio, low-advanced in weights, and high-intermediate in yoga (favorites are Cathe, Christi, FIRM, TLP, Eoin Finn). I try to vary exercise intensity so that I include both high-intensity and lower-intensity workouts in my routine.

I love, love, love this workout! It's everything I liked best about the YBB Basic workout, but longer and with even more good stuff added. I totally agree with the review Christine wrote. YBB Advanced is fun, unusual low-impact cardio, a great ballet-inspired section, and a nice yoga stretch with great hip openers at the end. The modern-dancy cardio can be as easy or intense as you make it. When I really put myself into the moves, I can work up quite a sweat.

As with YBB Basic, I think to enjoy this workout one needs to have a fairly high "woo-woo" tolerance and be comfortable with getting funky, releasing the "inner goddess" and letting one's inner "bad kitty" out to play. :)

Wow! What a fun tape! I have been looking for great dance workout that is intense and this is it. And it is all low-impact. The moves are not what you typically see with Christi or Rob - other low impact mavens. The moves are easy to get too! Amazing! I don't know how they do it but I was dripping in sweat.

This DVD comes with two workouts - the basic which is the original VHS release on DVD and this workout. If you liked the warm-up to the original, this advanced is much more of the same. This workout is 60 minutes long.

There are three sections - a warm-up with the dance section, a tough ballet sections (I felt it in my outer thighs the next day), and a yoga cool down that mostly focuses on hip stretches. The yoga stretches are nicely done and held a good long time.

Attention Anasura yoga fans: Gillian seems to have been exposed to Anasura or coincidentally uses the same language! She talks about loops (without much explanation) and "opening up to grace". There are also some affirmations at the end of workout - which I like - but if you don't, you can skip right over it.

The workout is filmed outside with terrific music and a live bongo player. There is just something about the spirit of this workout - what can I say? You can be the best technical instructor in the world but if you don't have that teaching spark….well, these ladies have that teaching spark. The yoga is taught with a voice over (I think..).

I just loved this tape and can't wait to do it again. I felt like I was in a dance club again!