Brazil Butt Lift Workout Reviews: ‘Cardio Axe’ Workout

I’ve done a few Brazil Butt Lift Workout Reviews now, and ‘Cardio Axe’ (pronounced Cardio ah-SHARE) is definitely up there in my top 3 for the series.

During my Brazil Butt Lift program 30-day trial, I didn’t focus much on cardio work because I was following the ‘Lift & Shape’ workout plan that doesn’t call for much cardio, but when I finally did pop this workout on I was pleasantly surprised!

Let me say first up that I usually hate cardio, but finally, I can honestly say that with ‘Cardio Axe’ I’ve finally found an enjoyable cardio program that doesn’t drag out!

 ‘Cardio Axe’ Workout Review

Time: 30 minutes

  Equipment: None

  Areas Worked: Cardiovascular system

  Difficulty: Beginner-Intermediate

  Style: Dance-style workout routine, that will have you grooving and shaking your booty all the way to weight loss. This workout is designed to be fun and burn calories.

 

Introduction

The ‘Cardio Axe’ DVD  is your go-to calorie burning workout in the Brazil Butt Lift program by Beachbody. This is a really fun dance workout that makes the half-hour session fly by.

In my opinion it is a beginner-intermediate difficulty level, depending on how quickly you can pick up new dance moves! For some who may not be as coordinated with learning dance choreography, you may struggle a bit at first when it comes to piecing it all together. This is something that can easily be learnt and improved upon with practice and familiarity with the workout, so is not really an issue in my opinion – just don’t give up!

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The Moves

You’ll be introduced to 4 different ‘combos’ throughout the workout, each being made up of a few different moves each. Think brazilian dance routine and you’ll be on the right track – most of the moves involve a lot of hip and torso rotation, but this is exactly what makes them enjoyable!

Leandro encourages you to let yourself go throughout the workout, and really feel and enjoy the moves. And with all that hip and booty action, you’ll be feeling like a sexy dance queen busting out these moves once you get the hang of them.

The combos in the Cardio Axe workout are:

Combo 1

• Hit the drums
• Touch step
• Rock N’ roll
• Wheel

Combo 2

• Sweep the sand
• Ride the wave
• Bahia samba
• Lambada

Combo 3

• International samba #1
• Turn
• International samba #2

Combo 4

• Samba tornado

Unfortunately, I found that this workout does not give you a great deal of muscle-building, but it still burns a lot of calories being a cardio based workout.

It is possible to get a decent muscle workout by being constantly aware of holding your core and butt muscles tight and focusing on activating them throughout the moves, but don’t hold your breath for feeling any muscle soreness the following day.

The Sequencing

The sequencing in this workout is great. The combos are introduced slowly enough, and with repetition so that you can pick up the moves. Some parts I got a bit lost on though, especially when they started introducing turns into the equation! However, you can easily pause the DVD and rewind or step through it yourself slowly until you catch on.

As you perform this workout more and more, I’m sure any issues with getting the hang of the moves will quickly disappear, and you’ll really be able to enjoy busting out these very cool looking dance moves.

Each combo is introduced separately and in a straightforward manner, and then you build on each one. Before you know it, towards the end of the workout, you’ll be doing all 4 combos one after the other.

It’s a great feeling when you can pull of these moves flawlessly one after the other, and great fun too.

My only issue with the sequencing in this workout is that at some points it was difficult for little old uncoordinated me to keep up with the moves and figure out what was going on with the timing, which becomes even trickier when you are turning around and unable to watch the DVD screen!

Try watching a few repetitions first to see what the move looks like before attempting it yourself, and don’t hesitate to pause and practice slowly until you can perform the move without a hitch.

The Good and the Bad

The Good

• The workout is thoroughly enjoyable. The moves are unique and downright fun to perform!
• Forget huffing and puffing your way through boring cardio – this doesn’t even feel like a workout because you’ll be having too much fun with the awesome dance moves instead!  You’ll still get an awesome cardio workout by putting all your energy in.
• Straightforward sequencing makes it easy to learn the basic moves, and will have you dancing away like a brazilian beauty in no time.

The Bad

• In my opinion you don’t get much muscle strengthening work done in this workout unless you use a lot of concentration to try and purposefully activate muscles throughout the moves.
• Initially, it can be easy to get your footing mixed up with some of the moves, especially when 360 degree turns are introduced. If you are fumbling through some of the moves, this can take away from the effectiveness of the cardio workout.
• You may not look as sexy as you think you do when performing this workout (this should be a disclaimer on the DVD!). But, just go with the music and I’m confident that you’ll still have fun with these moves no matter what you look like.

Effectiveness

The main purpose of this workout is to give you a calorie burning cardio boost, and if you really get into it and approach the dance moves with a good level of enthusiasm, you’ll get a good workout.

I found myself short of breath at times where I could really go with the feel of the moves.

The workout is not so effective at building stronger muscles, in my opinion.

Yes, a lot of the moves do involve and use muscles all over your whole body, but the tension they are placed under is not enough to really stimulate muscle growth. Hence, you’ll need to use the other workouts in the series, like Bum Bum, Sculpt or High & Tight to build muscle.

If you need to drop a little bit of weight, then Cardio Axe could be the way to go. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable cardio workout (and I’ve never said that about ANY cardio workout I’ve tried before) that gives you all the benefits without the pain.

Overall Impression

I loved this workout, and I’m not a fan of cardio! This is honestly one of the most enjoyable cardio workouts I’ve done, and there’s great potential to take these moves to any level and really make them your own.

Plus, if I ever find myself on the dance floor in my social life, now I’ll have some awesome dance moves to work with!

I hope you found this review useful, please let me know what you thought by leaving a comment below. Have you tried dance style workouts for cardio before and did you enjoy them?

If you liked what you read here, you may also want to check out my full Brazil Butt Lift Review.