It is hard to classify this book as anything other than about dance and about life and as they merge into one. Sari has woven a tapestry that blends with reality and had me wondering what parts of this book were truly fictitious. The raw emotion and passion of the young girl can be felt through t the pages, just as the loss of self can be felt in the woman.
There are events that you can feel unfolding, and yet they still shock you in a way you were perhaps not prepared for. Beautifully written, and well presented.
For any lovers of coming of age, of finding and losing yourself, of soul searching, of dance, of new York, of teaching and of looking outside yourself to find fulfillment in something more. It was painful at times and yet hard to put down. 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 for it's raw emotion bursting through the pages.
I have actually had this workout "game" since Christmas and I was so in love with World Party that this one has been collecting dust. Tonight my World Party was acting up on me and so I decided to get some use of out Rush. Let me start by saying that if I thought World Party was a step up in the
workout game, it is nothing compared to it's predecessor Rush when it comes to an intense cardio workout.
After being used to Zumba Core & World Party which both came after this one (which was released in 2012), the graphics are definitely not as advanced and the kinect tracker isn't as finely tuned, but the workout I did had the tempo upped so much I was feeling it the whole time. I have been wanting to get my money's worth of cardio in between working out my Jillian Michaels and I wanted a more intense cardio workout, I was tailoring world party but it's not as easy to get a good cardio workout with the shorter song lengths on world tour (in my opinion) so now I seem to have found my solution.
After being used to the music diversity of World Tour, I can definitely say that there is a much stronger Brazilian/Spanish flair to the music on Rush. It was aptly named though as you do definitely get a "rush" from the workout. I highly recommend Zumba Rush for anyone looking to get an intense cardio within a limited amount of time. It does unfortunately feature the Brazilian woman back that I swear counts in 6 count instead of 8 count, but some of her moves/techniques are similar to Core so I had an easier time picking up her workout. I also noticed some great Hip Hop Ab moves thrown in on one of the songs. Luckily the re-packaged versions of ZUmba Rush do include the Bollywood and Hip Hop pack add-ons built in to the game to give you more choices and more dance styles.
Zumba Rush does allow for tracking of up to two people at a time if you want to have a workout partner. As with previously reviewed ZUmba workouts, this one does allow you to create a custom workout. It features the standard three-tiered workout choices with a Short/Easy Medium and Long/Hard options for your choices. Typically a short workout runs 20-25 minutes with a Medium workout in the 30-40 minute range and the long workouts are 40+ minutes. Zumba Rush does also have the move queue indicator to let you know what is coming next, it doesn't come on as often as it does on Core, but seems to give you better lead time than World Tour. You do still get the track your workout features, with achievements and calorie tracking if you want to utilize them. as with any other ZUmba games you can always take the time to learn the steps if you aren't stubborn like I am and just want to learn as you go haha.
Overall I give this workout game 4.5 Stars. The overall workout receives 5 stars, but the older graphics slightly slower tracking takes away half a star. Once you get into it you don't notice. If you like workout out at home and/or without shoes like I do than this is a wonderful option. I have been having such a hard time finding good intense cardio workouts at home without any equipment (treadmill, eliptical, etc) and now I am so pleased to have this wonderful option that had been hiding out the whole time.
*Note I did read that this is also available on the Wii but that it did not have a lot of the same great features and did not work as well as it was designed specially for Kinect
For the official website of this and all other Majesco Zumba games go to: zumbafitnessgame.com
If you are interested in taking a look at my other workout reviews check them out there:
As I am very new to the whole XBox-Kinect thing and also very new to the whole Zumba thing (I know WAAAY behind the times on both). I know I know I am a PC gamer through and through and haven't played on a game console since the original Nintendo and then the original Sega. Since then it has been strictly PC for me. I was always interested in the workout games when Wii first came out for playstation and I remember hearing that Kinect had expounded upon Wii when it came out. Overall it just looked like quite a bit of fun. I also was always interested in Zumba class, but even after a one year membership at the gym I found that the classes that were offered did not fit into my single mommy, bedtime for Liam schedule and so I was never able to get into it. Also I felt like Zumba was something that I really wanted to do WITH someone. I thought it would be a great class to take with a friend. Alas as with everything else in San Angelo, at the time I found it quit difficult to try to get anyone to do anything outside of going out or drinking so I stuck with myself again.
Back to the topic at hand, when my boyfriend told me that he had a Kinect with his XBOX I was SO excited to try some of the workout "games" that were available. I immediately started my search for which ones were the best and what I could find used and for cheap and also in my facebook shopping
groups. Within a few days I was able to find someone selling a couple of Zumba Kinect "games" so I negotiated a fair price and was able to gleefully take them home. Immediately I tried it out having no idea what I was doing.
Let me just say that I SUCK at using the kinect controls. I am getting better at it, but I think that the placement of certain things was not the greatest in ease of use. If you have something in the bottom right corner that you need to get your hand on (using the Kinect sensor) and then hold for a few second, it should NOT be in the bottom right corner next to something else to the right that will swipe the screen to the right, it should have been placed at the very least at the bottom center or just the center as a whole. That is my main complaint, other than that I am slowly getting more accustomed to the way it works and getting more familiar with it.
Get pumped up for Zumba Core!
As far as the Zumba Core disc in and of itself, I have to say that I definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in cardo, Core , Dance or Zumba workouts. It is very fun and definitely effective. You have many options to customize your workout to yourself. I have tried the pre-set workouts and they are really great, I have tried going through by a song at a time to get a feel for what was available. This evening I tried the playlist option where you get to create your own playlist and then workout to it. I did 5 songs for tonight. There is everything from bollywood, to hip hop to salsa to warm up types of songs, so that you can change it up or stick to one kind. The sensors are pretty accurate in being able to distinguish your whole body and if you are doing the entire move correctly. You get to track your progress and at the end of the workout it shows you how many calories you burned and the accuracy percentage for your technique. You can track your progress and even have it suggest workouts based on your progress. Definitely something worth a try that is both fun and effective :).
For a great preview of what the Zumba actually looks like on the console
*As an added bonus and for the "game" part, as your progress is tracked you get to unlock different added bonuses to the game such as videos from the real life trainers, more songs, etc.
Tonight I wanted to do a lighter workout, so I brought out an old hilarious workout DVD that I had gotten a few years ago. Trying to get Mychal to do it with me was pretty hilarious. About halfway through the second workout he completely quit on me and said that it was just too girly for him to do haha. This is a part of a line of 10 minute solution workout videos.
The best way that I can describe this workout is: White girl Cheerleader Hip Hop Aerobics.
This DVD features 5 10 minute workouts.
Hip Hop Basics: This was designed to focus on your core, but the moves are more simplistic than the rest of the DVD, she throws you into the entire workout fairly quickly.
Fat Burning Funk: This uses "stylized and funky" dance move to amplify fat burning.
Edgy Grooves: Designed to slim your body. There are a lot more complicated moves in this workout and you may want to have at least a little bit of coordination to do this one.
Body Re-Mix: Hot moves to help you dance your way to a better body. I think this one is pretty fun
Cardio Street Heat: Uses more "beat boy" inspired moves and ups the difficulty of the coordination in tying together all of the moves. It will leave you laughing and having a good time though.
The workouts are done by Kristen Jacobs who is a National Exercise and Strength Training Association Certified person trainer. She has spent more than 20 years in dance. She has a perky Cheerleader vibe in her directions and precise movements.
My overall recommendation on this workout is that each 10 minute segment feels like you are trying to cram a lot into the time. The 10 minutes really do rush by however and you don't feel like you have worked out for that long. It does leave you feeling like you could have had more time to workout. Overall the moves can be effective but I feel like you need to be doing them for longer. It is very dancing but definitely has a Cheerleader feel in a lot of the arm movements and especially on Cardio Street Heat. I was dying laughing at the "Jiggy Jiggy" move when she has an arm throw movement that was reminiscent of Popeye the Sailor Man. I always ended up laughing so hard at the though that I had to catch back up to where we were. I felt that although time flies by while having fun, you definitely don't get an intense workout targeting any specific body parts. It IS an effective cardio workout however, and if you are wanting to workout for a lighter day it is a great pick. My favorite thing about this workout is the ability to Create a custom workout for yourself by selecting any or all of the workouts in whatever order you prefer and even multiple times. I wish that more videos would do this, because you can change it up and set it for 10 minute increments to fit in to whatever time schedule you are dealing with. Don't discount this one, it still has it's uses.
I bought the DVD Belly Pilates with Rania a few years ago. I have done it many times in the past but I am always in so much pain from sore muscles afterwards that I am no good at sticking with it. Let me give you some background on the video: Belly Pilates is a workout designed by revered Belly Dance fitness instructor Rania Bossonis and created in 2008. In it she combines Belly Dancing & Pilates to do a lot of flowy and isometric moves. Rania has many other Belly Dance inspired workouts that I will check out in the future to include Belly Abs, Belly Yoga, Belly Dance Fitness, & Belly Dance Fat Burning. You can buy it on Amazon new for about $7 or used for less than $2. It is a great workout to get many muscles in the legs, shoulders and abs. I would suggest a lot of stretching afterwards.
Mychal and I have been working out in the evenings at home and we take turns deciding what we do. So I challenged him to my belly pilates DVD. Let's just say that I don't think he was expecting it to be as hard core as it was, and I spent more time giggling at his groans of movements than working out. He claims to already be sore and is dreading how he will feel when he wakes up in the morning.
If you want to check out any samples of these video just look up Rania & Belly and all kinds of workout videos associated with her come up int he results. I perused through a few but couldn't find one from Belly Pilates, it seems to be one of her first videos created and she seems to have gotten better production and helpers in the background since she first started. I would definitely recommend Belly Pilates, as it is only about a half hour workout and then you are done. It looks like the rest of her videos would be great as well. Enjoy toning those abs, and feeling the burn in the morning :)
Girl Through Glass by Sari Wilson
