Dance Fitness Expose: 'Cize!

If you've been reading for a while, you know I love trying new dance fitness formats. As a reminder, I've tried Bokwa, Doonya, and Piloxing.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to try 'Cize, the new dance fitness format developed by Shaun T's company. 'Cize is a series of choreographed routines designed to make you sweat. You learn 8 counts at a time (repeating each new series of moves 4 times) until you've learned a complete routine.

According to the man himself, people can expect that "Your cardio will skyrocket if you actually really work it out and push yourself. With dancing, you can, like anything else, be lazy or you can go for it. So if you go for it, you’ll lose weight and get toned." He also says that everybody can dance, whether they think the can or not.

 Billed as the first 'Cize class in Long Island, Susan LoPicolo was the instructor. She was involved with the year-long development of the program, and she was great! Her dance skills and teaching skills made the class fun and pretty easy to follow.

Here's what I really liked about the class:

• Great music: 'Cize uses recognizable hip hop and pop hits, which makes for a good time if you like to sing along under your breath like I do.
• Good workout: You'll definitely get a good sweat (if you dance full out like Shaun T suggests)... I even had some sore muscles the next day!
• Well-paced: Because the class is founded on learning a choreographed dance, there are natural breaks in between 8 counts to march in place and take a deep breath. Nothing longer than a few seconds, but I liked where my heart rate was throughout the class.
• Awesome instructor: Susan was terrific, and something tells me that most of the original 'Cize crew is pretty awesome.

Here are some things to consider before deciding if 'Cize is for you:

• Memorizing choreography: I have mixed feelings about this format. I absolutely love learning new routines, but I also think it can be daunting for non-dancers. The moves don't repeat like they do in Zumba, so you really have to pay attention.
• Verbal cues: To help you memorize the choreo, the instructor gives verbal cues (again, unlike Zumba where we use mostly visual cues). This just means there's more talking over the music than some of us may be used to (and those verbal cues were VERY helpful!).
• Asymmetrical moves: This is my own weird pet peeve, but I like to evenly work both sides of my body during every workout. I don't leave "evening out" to chance. So when you're doing a choreographed routine, you may do certain lunges or arm moves in one direction but not the other. Makes for a slammin' routine, but you might want to do some moves on the other side to balance out how you use your muscles. Or, maybe this is just my Type A coming out. :)

Overall, I really enjoyed the class and encourage you to check it out!