All Rise...

Judge David Johnson loves blasting fat to his Latin rhythms. Yes, that's a euphemism for something disgusting.

The Charge

Clear the floor and let the fat burning fiesta begin.

The Case

The latest from the popular Crunch series of workouts will take you and your junk in the trunk and blast out some righteous aerobic exercise, set to generic Latin music and led by an enthusiastic woman with abs made of Kevlar.

Built to be accessible to all potential fat-blasters (so says the Crunch philosophy: "The Crunch fitness program welcomes people from all walks of life regardless of shape, size or ability"), Latin Rhythms Fat Blasting Dance offers a crisp, easy-to-follow set-up featuring moves that don't strike me as terribly complicated.

The routine is a mélange of Latin dances, featuring steps that were "inspired" from the mambo, cha cha, merengue and samba. It all comes together in a 35-plus minute workout of active dancing, focusing on all parts of the body, from the upper torso to the midriff to the legs—chances are very good that you'll be sweating like a pig if you pour yourself into this workout.

Your leader is Jennifer Galardi, a professional dancer and a certified group fitness instructor. And did you know her favorite splurge food is peanut M&Ms? So if you find yourself involved in a Secret Santa with Jennifer some day, you know what to get her.

She's surrounded by a large group of back-up dancers (all women except for the requisite emasculated male), gyrating, twisting, turning and smiling as they feel the @#$%#$%#@$% burn.

Risk of Me Pulling a Ligament or Worse: moderate to high.

My big complaint: there's no chapter selection. Hit the skip forward button and you're bounced back to the main menu, which contains only the Play button. So you're either in all or nothing, dude, so let's see some fat blasting. Also, subtitles are absent, and those are typically useful on these fitness DVDs.

The program runs in full frame and 2.0 stereo, both of which work fine; you can see the people clearly move their pelvises and hear that non-descript Latin music. No extras.

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