When I got this video, long ago, I was neither exercise savvy and nor did I have any other exercise videos. So I was quite delighted with it and at finding it was doable. I hate those high-velocity aerobics videos with their flat-everything bimbette instructors whooping their way through a workout. I’ve just never ever been able to work with those.

Tanna’s video, in which she instructs you through a workout designed by fitness expert Andy Troy, seemed quite an antidote to the category of aerobics videos I hate. It’s smoothly and comfortably paced with not one instance of “yeah, yeah, you can do it!” etc.

But first off let me say that many buyers have felt that this video has been “misnamed”. It isn’t all abs, but 4 10-minute workouts covering stretches, upper body, lower body and abs. So it’s really one-fourth abs. Of course, one does need a full body workout but what if you buy it to work on in addition to other instructional videos you have or to add a big component of abs exercises to a routine you already do?

I wish all exercise and dance videos would include a five-minute segment that warms you up and gets the blood flowing enough for you to start stretching. But they just tell you to go run around the block or play with the kids or climb the stairs. In that time, most people will go off and do something else.

The four 10-minute workouts on this video are supposed to be able to be done in any order. But it doesn’t work that way. You can’t really really skip the stretches and go straight into lower body squats and kick backs. It will be too abrupt. So most people will start with and not avoid the stretches, which is the first 10-minute segment of this video. Here, you go through 10 or 12 standard stretches going from arms to quads to back, etc. To me these are not totally tame. After so much yoga and intense dance conditioning, they’re so light I can do them in my sleep. But they’d be good for exercise-beginners. I did, in fact, try to teach the stretches to an exercise-averse friend of mine and she didn’t find them easy at first try. Later, yes.

The lower body workout comes right after the stretches and includes bridges, lunges, kick backs, squats and leg lifts. Of these, it’s the lunges and squats that are the most challenging, specially if you have knee problems. In fact, that’s the only reason I find them challenging and go easy on them. It’s a much more active session than the stretches and the section that follows it.

For the upper body workout, you have to use weights. Now, I just never manage to do any exercise that relates to props, so I only do parts of this segment, bringing in other exercises that I now know to fill in for those I don’t want to do. The push ups are the most challenging part of this segment. Tanna herself gets tired doing them. After a while, I wasn’t getting out of breath and it felt good to be able to do these.

The actual abs section is the last segment. You begin with 5 planks and go on to do a series of regular crunches and obliques with variation. The most challenging part of this section is probably the planks and reverse crunches, which are difficult to get right in the first place.

Tanna does give you posture tips that I’ve absorbed enough to carry over into other exercise and dance prep work. It’s from this video that I learnt how you have to maintain good form and keep the rest of the body still and in the correct posture while executing a move. My ex yoga instructor, who threw in crunches into the routine, would ignore the posture and just go, more more more, faster faster faster - which is not the way to ever do it.

The abs segment works rather well for the upper abs. I have strong upper abs and it helps a lot with upper body moves in belly dancing. But there isn’t that much work for the lower abs, which is my big (sigh) problem. All in all, along with so much other stuff I’ve worked with, this workout has helped me. I just can’t tell exactly how much because of the irregularity and the multiple things I do to exercise. I know though that I’ve gone from struggling with the programme to finding it dead easy - so I guess it has done something. Now, all I need is that pot belly to go, preferably taking my backside with it!