Review-- Balocity

Today is a review for the exercise video, Balocity. This is a fifty-minute video featuring an ex-New York City ballet dancer. The back says that she developed this video to stay in shape between her times on stage. Let's see if it's good for that. 

I really liked the instructor. She does a great job of being optimistic, but not summer rainbow sunshine sparkle happy. She speaks very clearly and very eloquently, which helps during the exercises. She has her moments of quiet, but when she does offer tips on form, they are really helpful, though I did notice that she didn’t explain the proper form for the pliés.

No butts should stick out!

 They have some really good stretches. There's a section for the inner thighs that really helps. Usually the inner thighs are ignored in workouts, so I liked how they put extra emphasis on this region of the body. The instructors are really flexible, but sometimes I swear they performed the ballet moves wrong during the exercise. They let their butt stick out in the pliés. It's hard to tell, but I think they are just slightly.

I did feel as if we could have used more time on some of the exercises. We sort of seemed to fly through them without taking an extra couple of seconds to feel the muscles fully lengthen. I can just pause, though, if I want to continue an exercise and then play the video again once I'm ready. 

One of the great exercises they do to reach the inner thigh.

 The fast pace of the exercise does make it interesting. I don't lose interest as quickly as I do in other exercise videos. The floor barre is only about nine minutes and the standing workout makes up the rest of the video. I would recommend stretching every once in awhile to avoid pulling muscles. Also, don’t try to go full out since they move so fast during the standing exercises that you could pull something during the kicks.

They do make an effort to offer variations. They have low-impact variations, too, for the cardio sections. This is great if you're tired, have bad knees/legs/whatever, and need a less jarring motion.

During floorwork, she doesn't tell you which foot goes forward. One the second side she reminds you, but I had already started switching sides the first time. It would have been nice for clarification, though I can sort of see how she probably thought we'd infer this through the nature of the pattern itself. She remembers to do this later during the cool-down stretches, so I forgave her for the slight lapse.

 

The final part of the exercise is the abdominal work. Usually exercise videos start with ab work right after the warm-ups, but this video saves them for near the very end. They are pretty easy--nowhere near as hard as previous exercises, but it was a relief after a long workout to not worry too much about the abs. 

The exercise, overall, was easier than most. It is more for beginners or people looking for a lower impact exercise. The floorwork is definitely higher impact, but you can lower your legs on the kicks. The ballet is also there, but this video is not for people looking for ballet form corrections. This is a ballet-inspired workout, more than anything.

The location is actually really nice. I liked how they changed the color scheme every once in awhile for a nice change. It looked polished and professional.

The camera would only occasionally miss important areas of their body, but overall, it rarely failed.  Whoever directed the video had a good sense of proportion and what viewers need to see as they worked out along with the video.

The tips section will go over the proper form for the moves.

The video when you first pop it in will go over the tips section. This is where she gives you information on the proper forms. Though this is nice, I often forget some of the advice they offer. Luckily, the instructor often reminds us to correct our posture, tucking our abs, or whatever is needed to fix our form.

Another portion of the video is the behind the scenes and shots of them shooting the workout video. It's rather interesting if you're interested in film and how movies are shot, but that's about it.

Final Thoughts:

 Workout: 8/10

Instructor: 9/10

Setting: 10/10

Camera: 9/10

Level: Beginner-Advanced

Is it actually ballet? Yes

Overall: 8/10

This may be revised because I haven't had time to review this video and workout along with it for a second time. I usually like to use a video at least twice before finalizing my review, but since I've just been exhausted lately, I'm throwing this review up here early.