It seems that more and more women are taking to the pole these days. No, I’m not talking about that women who lost their day jobs and resorted to stripping at night to make (probably much better) money in the mean time. I’m talking about the growing fitness craze that involves donning those high spiked heels (or none at all sometimes), and dancing on the pole. It’s the exotic dance workout, and you may have seen some of these hot DVD’s online or in stores.

Carmen Electra sort of started the craze with her Fit to Strip line of DVD workouts, which I’ve actually tried and like fine, but it just wasn’t for me. I felt like a total cheeseball, and just not convincingly sexy enough because I was trying too hard or something .I guess you gotta be a full on sex pot who lives and breathes this stuff to actually not look like a stiff robot trying to look sexy, but it just wasn’t for me.

I personally think you have to have a bit more of a theatrical personality to do it and do it well. It’s great exercise though – have you seen what some of the girls can do on those poles? They can put themselves in an inverted position, and slide down them, that’s pretty talented!

What these types of exotic dance workouts tend to emphasize is growing more confident in yourself while also working your core, your butt and your thighs and stretching the muscles simultaneously as well. It’s similar to other more erotic sorts of workouts like the salsa or shimmy dance workouts, or the latin mamba types of dance workouts that really emphasize sexuality and having fun a lot more than actually targeting specific areas.

I think you can tell that my opinion of these types of workouts is that they are fun, and they are usually a fad. But do they actually provide meaningful workouts? I do believe so, however, I think you should just sprinkle them in with your other workouts that actually give you a full body workout or target specific areas for muscle definition, since these types of exotic dancing ones usually are just a bunch of un=targeted cardio types of moves.

As if the ripping exercises he puts you through aren’t enough! I know a few people who have done this program, and let me tell you, if they have been doing it for a few weeks, and consistently, then there are significant improvements in their physique that are amazing to watch occur.

People literally peel off the fat and add solid, lean muscle mass. If you are a woman who doesn’t want to get too ripped, you may actually want to scale it back a bit because some of the pics of women who are on the program are almost too ripped looking, but that’s just my own personal taste. I saw an infomercial on for these DVD’s again the other day when my sister was in town from California.

My sister happens to be quite a fitness buff herself, and she seemed interested in them too. The commercial slashed the price down to something like $140 I want to say, which is cheaper than the original P90X price of about $200 if I remember correctly. From what I’ve seen it’s well worth it. I believe the workouts are a little over an hour.

You do them almost every day, except you do take one day off, probably just to give your body a little R&R before you start tearing your muscle tissue and building it up again. There is even a lot of yoga and stretching. The guy who does the videos is older, and he still looks like he’s in his twenties, if that’s any testament to what these exercises might be able to do for you.

The Bollywood belly dance style workout has three women in indian belly dance gear to follow. The music is filled with sitars and other ethnic sounds from the east, and the theme of the workout is to really let go, and shake things loose, but also to work up just a little bit of a sweat and help work out those tummy muscles. I thought this would be a very ab intensive workout (since the commercials for this workout say that it will give you envious abs), but it wasn’t really, I felt it more in my legs and my thighs, which I’m not complaining about since that’s where I happen to need most of my improvement.

The workout starts with a warmup that’s very unchallenging. You actually work on relaxing your jaw and your mouth as well. It was different, yes, but I just could tell that this workout wasn’t going to be challenging enough for me. The instructor has you going through a series of sensual, belly dancing types of moves, where you are shaking your butt and your legs a lot, and loosening up your neck muscles quite a bit as well, with head shakes that make you look like you are having a seizure – unless of course you are one of the undoubtedly professionally trained instructors, who happen to look elegant, and dare I say a bit sexy and wild when they do it.

My sister and I could not get through the first ten minutes of the workout without almost falling on the floor laughing at how ridiculous we looked, but we ended up getting through the half hour belly dancing bollywood workout, and I felt a little bit better when we were done, like my body was unwound. I’d compare it to the way my body feels after doing a fairly unchallenging yoga workout, relaxed, but not really “worked”, like I didn’t really burn many calories or seriously tone any muscles.

I’d say this workout is good to mix it up and throw in here and there, but to make it challenging enough as a routine part of your fitness regimen, you’d have to add more weight work and/or more aerobic activity to it.

Of course, my ears perked up, because who DOESN’T want to look that way, and I know that I can have some semblance of ambition when I really get going on a new program, especially if it gets results, even if it’s excruciatingly painful, which incidentally I’ve heard about the first few times doing this workout – but what isn’t painful that’s eventually worth it, I ask?

I’ve also seen numerous people doing the workout suddenly in the gym because there is a tv in the floor work room, so of course it’s piqued my curiosity even more. I know that it’s a multi part system that works specific muscle groups every time, and alternates a little bit of slightly aerobic activity with grueling muscle workouts that leave you feeling like a rubber band. Can’t wait to try it. I’ll let you guys know a full review and assessment once I’ve given it a shot. A few people that I work with are doing it and I’m going to jump in on some of the sessions.

Hence, we BOTH have memberships to Netflix, and we both actually get the three a month deal too. Why? Well, because our tastes differ somewhat, and rather than haggle over what we’re going to rent for the weekend, I’ll rent the ones I want to see, and he’ll rent the ones he wants to see. So, if he has any weird stuff like old Batman tv shows or something that I’m really not into, or if I have a token chick flick that I know I’ll like but he’ll hate, then we rent them and we’re not put out that we didnt’ get what we wanted to watch for our prized weekends away from work.

One of the the things I’ve really enjoyed doing with Netflix is trying out new workout DVD’s before I buy them. For instance, that is how I learned that I loved the Jillian Michaels Biggest Loser DVD’s, so I went out and bought it after trying it out on Netflix. Also, Netflix has a lot of their workout DVD’s on demand, so you can watch them and try them out right at your computer without putting out the extra money to buy something that might just collect dust if you hate it.

I’ve wasted plenty of money of exercise DVD’s that were a total bust and that I hated and would rather run on a treadmill for an hour than do, so I can definitely appreciate the fact that their service allows me to shake it up and try new stuff all the time, at no extra cost other than the cost of the initial membership fees of course. It’s kind of like having your cake and eating it too – only it’s taking inches off your thighs – not putting them on

The 10 Minute Solution Rapid Results Pilates DVD is one that has five optional segments of intense pilates that are pretty rushed along so that you get maximum impact for minimum time suckage. Yes, I just said suckage – so what! Anyways, this is what I love. I love workout DVDs that really stick it to me, but that are shorter in duration. I’m the type of gal who will work my butt off and feel like I’m going to pass out for a half hour, rather than do a half butt workout that takes over an hour, if you know what I mean.

I for one feel that time is almost more precious than money except in a few rare cases, so anything that can give me similar results without taking up so much of my time, count me in. I’m sold. That’s exactly what the 10 Minute Solution pilates DVD promises, and it does deliver. I tried a few of the segments, and they really did make me feel like I got a superior elongating muscle workout that would make me more long and lithe in just a short period of time, plus you can pick whatever your target problem areas are each time you work out with this system, which I really like.

It’s got one segment for your arms and shoulder, which will leave your arms on fire but is great for toning and sculpting and elongating the muscle, one for your butt and thighs, which I love because it makes me feel like I actually got the right target spots for once, one for the belly and love handles, one for the overall body toning, and one that is designed to really stretch the body out. They are all great, and if you want a super workout for a half hour or under, I highly recommend it.