Yoga Booty Ballet: The Rundown

DVD/Set- Yoga Booty Ballet (Complete Workout System)
Instructor- Gillian Marloth and Teigh McDonough
Released by- Beachbody
Style- Fusion of yoga, ballet and choreographed dance

Although I bought each DVD separately, I ended up with what is sold on amazon as the Yoga Booty Ballet Complete Workout System. This set is different than the one that is sold directly from Beachbody (that set is a compilation of a bunch of YBB Live workouts). The Complete set includes The Rehearsal and Guided Meditation, Total Toning Basic, Advanced Fat Burning, Cardio Cabaret, and Hip Hop Abs. Since I bought the DVDs individually instead of as a set, I didn't get the nutrition plan or the workout guide, and for some reason, I can't find the workout schedule anywhere on the web...yet.

The Rehearsal and Guided Meditation-- YBB is actually pretty big on the meditations, kriyas, mantras, and mudras. This is just an intro into that as well as some common YBB moves.

Total Toning Basic-- For this workout you need a set of light weights (they use 2#s, I use 4#s, but they say you can do without weights), a "squeezy" ball or pillow, and a mat or towel if you prefer to use one for yoga and ab work. This workout starts with meditation then moves to a quick warm up. After the warmup, it cuts directly into the ballet leg lifts. From there you cut into sculpting/cardio. You use light weights to tone the arms and back, but you're moving fast enough to get your heart rate up a bit. Next it's onto yoga with a few simple, basic poses performed vinyasa style. Then it's onto ab work using the ball before you cool down and finish with more meditation.

Advanced Abs and Booty-- No weights or ball are needed for this workout. It consists mostly of longer than usual dancing and ballet sections. The initial mudras and intention setting segment of the video are a bit longer than the other workouts and are followed by a more intense warm up that leads straight into the dance routine. Teigh and Gillian lead you through a long chunk of choreography before starting from the top. That chunk then leads straight into a second set of choreography that they repeat only once making this dance segment more difficult than the others where they start from the top after adding only a couple new moves. The long dance segment leads into a long ballet segment with a bit more variation than any of the other workouts. Next comes a yoga segment with some pretty intense stretches. If you're not particularly flexible, be ready to use the variations they suggest and have a towel or pillow on hand to assist you in the stretches that may be a bit too deep. Finally, after all that, comes the relaxing cooldown followed by some ending meditation.

Cardio Cabaret-- This dancy workout is labeled as "Burlesque Style", but, really, there are only a couple racey moves in the routine. If you can't tell by the name, this is a choreographed dance cardio workout. This is about a medium intensity routine that'll get the blood and sweat pumping, but it might not get you out of breath. The moves are pretty simple and easy to follow. After the cardio you do a bit of ballet leg lifting before some yoga cooldown and stretching.

Hip Hop Abs-- This is the second choreographed dance cardio in the set, and it's more intense than the Cabaret workout. Though the title is Hip Hop Abs, it would be better described as hip hop AND abs. You start off with cardio with a challenging sort-of-but-not-really hip hop routine before moving on to ab work with the squishy ball. There's no ballet in this one.

Every workout (even the cardios) starts and ends with the kriyas, mudras, meditations and intention setting. If you don't like it, you can always skip it. Their ab work calls for what they call a squishy ball. If you look online, they sell a blue YBB/ Beachbody squishy ball. They use that ball in Hip Hop Abs. However, in the Basic video, the ball they use looks more like a 7in dodgeball ball. If those are cheaper, I'd recommend getting one because using a pillow doesn't add enough resistance to really feel useful. I'm using a $3 dog toy ball. :-)