Kenya Moore’s Booty Boot Camp DVD – My Review

Kenya Moore Releases Booty Boot Camp DVD

 Kenya Moore, former Miss USA and one of the cast of Bravo TV’s Real Housewives of Atlanta has released Booty Boot Camp, her debut exercise DVD aimed at shaping, lifting and rounding exercisers’ butts.

As a Housewife fan and something of a butt exercise expert – due to the fact that I possess a ridiculously round and proportionally oversized butt and that I grew up in the years before JLo, Beyonce and KK made round butts things of beauty – I got excited when Kenya Moore’s people contacted my people asking if I wanted to review her new Booty Boot Camp DVD. I received my complimentary review copy several days ago. Here are my thoughts, but first a little background …

Kenya Moore is RHOA’s most contentious cast member, having tussled with most, if not all, of the other Atlanta ladies. Initially, Kenya was going to collaborate with Phaedra Parks on Phaedra’s production of her “donkey booty” DVD. The deal didn’t work out and the once-friendly Housewives parted ways. And then Kenya announced that she was putting out her own DVD on how to get a stallion booty (versus a donkey booty. I leave it to you to figure out the distinction.)

During one of this season’s RHOA reunion shows, Housewife franchise creator and producer Andy Cohen brought up the donkey booty versus stallion booty contretemps and no one could remember how the term donkey booty came to be. As a student of language and a fan of Housewives, I think I know. Housewives are busy people. They have little time to say complete words and, instead, speak in Housewife shorthand. So, the word jealous becomes “jelly” in the mouth of Kyle Richards from RHO Beverly Hills; “champagne” becomes “shamps” when spoken by Heather Dubrow of RHO Orange County and “badonkadonk” – a bounteous, round and high booty – becomes a “donkey booty” to the RHOA, in my etymological perspective, at least. If you have another opinion, please share.

Back to the DVD – Kenya Moore fans who hope to be led in an exercise class by Miss Gone with the Wind Fabulous herself will be disappointed. Kenya looks gorgeous, but she doesn’t say much. She leaves most of the instructing to personal trainer Nikki Veal, leading the session for only a few “signature moves,” including a booty pop that is impressive, indeed. More on that in a sec …

Booty Boot Camp consists of a serviceable warmup and three 20-minute workouts devoted to sculpting your glutes, abs and legs. Each workout employs lots of repetitions of specific moves that are mostly based on isolation, squats, buttocks tucks and, sorry Kenya, donkey kicks. (I’ve been doing them for more years than I care to count.) Call them what you will, but a donkey kick by any other name …

While the workouts are effective, I quibble with the fact that neither Kenya nor Nikki tell you how to execute the moves safely and properly. Squats are powerful moves that are the go-to butt-sculpting exercise but, you’ve got to do them properly to get maximum benefits and avoid injury. Throughout all of the workouts, Nikki repeats “good form. You’re doing it with great form.” I’m not sure if she’s talking to Kenya or bolstering the people watching and doing the DVD, but, because she never fully explains what good form is, it annoyed me each time.

The warmup section of Booty Boot Camp provides a good start that will get your muscles ready for the more challenging workout to come.

Workout 1 includes lots of squats, donkey kicks and Kenya’s signature booty pop, an isolation exercise that sort of defies explanation. Oddly, the camera lingers on Kenya’s butt for an uncomfortably long time as she’s popping each cheek. While I question the efficacy of this particular move, it is a pretty cool party trick, in the right company, of course.

The rest of the DVD is a matter of repeating tried and true lower body exercises with the exception of some of the leg lifts Nikki performs from a prone position on her stomach. I’m not certain if doing the exercises this way is any better than doing them from a position on all fours. I found that, doing leg lifts when lying on my stomach put a strain on my back which was alleviated when I was up on all fours. (Again, I don’t recall either Kenya or Nikki discussing how to execute any of the moves to protect your back.)

Workouts two and three are pretty much more of the same exercises as in workout one with the addition of one or two new variations. Again, repetition is key and it helps to have Nikki lead you through the motions.

The final workout is an effective 7-minute ab routine and cool down.

During the RHOA reunion, Andy Cohen said that, referring once again to the war of donkey versus stallion, Kenya’s DVD wasn’t that much fun according to people who bought it. I’ve done tons of lower body workouts and they’re generally not that much fun.  But I think I get what he meant. The music is boring and not terribly motivating. I imagine that many who bought the DVD may have an issue with the repetitiveness of it. I don’t and would rather do an effective exercise repetitively than constantly changing it up with ineffective moves. But what is perhaps most disappointing about Kenya Moore’s Booty Boot Camp DVD, especially for fans, is that she isn’t the star.

Here’s a teaser …

Kenya Moore’s Booty Boot Camp DVD is currently available online and will be coming to a store near you in May. It retails for $16.99 but is currently discounted at Amazon.com.

Buy Kenya Moore’s Booty Boot Camp here: