Yoga Buns

I am reviewing this workout after having done it in entirety once. Denise leads with five or six background instructors. The workout is 30 minutes long and is intended to be yoga work focused on the glutes. Production quality is high and the set is open and bright. The music is a moderate paced instrumental with a beachy tribal theme that suited the workout nicely.

The workout moved quickly with about 20 minutes of standing work and the final 10 minutes of floor work. The warm up started with a vinyasa series, moving into warrior, chair pose, tree pose with glute squeezes, balancing stick pose with 4 repetitions on each side (essentially a one leg dead lift) - all of these which I thought were great yoga poses (and fusions) which worked the buns nicely. But then she started with a backwards/forwards lunge set (in a yoga video? yuck!) and combined these traditional leg moves with another vinyasa set, which felt confusing and jumbled. The floor work was excellent for the glutes (bridge variations, side leg lifts, side plank) but was more Pilates inspired, which is great for me but is not really the yoga as advertised. All in all however a quick moving yoga-pilates inspired workout with a distinct focus on the glute muscles.

All in all, this was an efficient and somewhat fun little workout. However, there was a constant stream of Denise-isms which were distracting even to a Denise fan. The entire 30 minutes was spent talking about the butt and why we are working it: "lets turn your gluteus maximus into a gluteus minimus"; "squeeze your tush (during glute squeezes in tree pose) - if you don't squeeze it, nobody else is going to"; "lets make your butt round, tight, shapely, strong, round, tight", etc. In general I do not mind the aesthetic advertising (I know many do not like it) of shrinking your arms or this will give you a 6-pack ab. However, Denise took it to the extreme and it was distracting and even a little offensive (if I don't have a cute butt, nobody else will want to touch it!) and that definitely devalued the overall workout for me. Thankfully I only rented it from Netflix and did not purchase it. Even if I found it really cheap at Marshalls I think I would pass it up…the comments were too much for me. But the exercises themselves were good and well chosen, so this is a disappointment.

I would categorize this as a yoga and pilates inspired workout with a glute focus, and would rate it as beginner-intermediate. The workout is not long enough, not enough reps of anything, nor the poses held long enough, to really get strength OR flexibility gains except as a true beginner. However, for a quickie leg workout on a light day this would have been a good choice for me…except for the constant comments. You would have to decide if that is a deal breaker for you. Overall grade for workout only: B. Overall grade for workout with Denise comments: C.

I love this work out. It's tough and I hurt the next day but it's worth it. It incorporates both yoga moves and traditional exercises targeting the buns as well as thighs and abs.

I am not a very fit gung ho person but I do find myself enjoying this workout even when the going gets tough. There are some poses I have yet to figure out let alone master but I feel it in my buns and thighs while doing it and the next day and I know it is targeting the areas I want it to.

It's a relatively fast video to get through with very few props or special effects. Just Denise and her almost whispering, calming tone which she uses with yoga type work outs.

If you want to give your buns a lift and feel it the next day, this is a good choice. Prepare for some tough poses but they are all doable with a little bit of practice.

I rate myself as intermediate and this DVD would be fine for beginners. A few poses require balance but you are always given the choice of a prop to hold onto so you don't topple over. I suggest you use the prop until you are very sure you can balance well without it!!

This was a 30 minute yoga routine with emphasis placed on toning your buns. The time moved quickly because she used a variety of moves, some that I haven't seen before. I have tried many yoga videos, but have never found one that I like enough to do consistently. I am hoping that this video changes that for me. I like the video, but I don't think that it can take the place of the exercises that I am currently doing for this area. I do think that it will be a nice compliment to my current routine. This video does not have a spiritual or relaxing feel to it.

After reading a few positive comments on this tape in VF, and seeing this for under $10 at Walmart, my curiosity got to me. I do like the tape and it is a keeper for me, but to compare to a tape with a similar title YogaFit YogaButt, this is far beneath it. It was worth the $10 spent though.

Denise does have some good exercises for the "tushy" added in, as she calls it. She'll do a tree pose then add rear leg lifts, that really isn't yoga. Some of the yoga poses she does a twist on them to make them glute exercises, like a balancing T pose she does quickly or table and does it quicker to work the glutes more.

The workout has great music in the beginning, but her voice drowns it out. I wish they had turned it up louder. The workout speeds up towards the end, as if she is in a rush to get in all of the workout within the 1/2 hour time frame. It just ends abruptly & that's it. I think it would have been better if her production company had just edited the video and not rushed her behind the scenes. Overall, despite some minor drawbacks, the bun workout is pretty good. grade B-