Video Fitness

CIA 7003: Philadelphia Workout IV plus Two

This is just a "quick and dirty" review for the people who have been asking me about this tape. It contains two complete (warm-up through cooldown plus abs) one-hour workouts. The first one is a hi-lo workout with Greg Twombly. He's all right as an instructor, as far as cueing, but somehow I can't get into his choreography. To me he seems more like an "instructor's instructor". The steps are mostly pretty basic and simple - grapevines, step touches, etc. The second hour, taught by Louise Boland and Ann Marie Saldi, is a step workout that combines floor moves with step, like Reebok's Aerostep, but they use a six-inch step and the music is slightly faster than usual. Some health clubs call this "Super Step" or "Dance Step". I would prefer one that uses slower music for the stepping part and faster music for the hi-lo intervals. This tape isn't bad, especially if you want a fast, intense workout, but it just isn't my style. I'm putting it on the Exchange mainly because I have so many other CIA tapes (plus I just received the four 9700 tapes) and need to free up some valuable space in my video drawers! Grade: B+

Sue Bryant
9/10/97

This is a very nice tape for those intermediate exercisers who are intimidated by CIA or other advanced videos. The choreography is simple enough to learn very quickly, but alot of fun. The tape is divided into 2 complete workouts; each with their own warm-up and cooldown. Greg's is first with lo-impact(20 min.) and Hi/lo(20 min). The low impact can easily be modified to high. The moves are easy to follow but are not boring. Jacks, turns, squats and lunges. You can really get your heartrate going. Greg's no slouch on intensity. Then the second workout is with Louise and Ann Marie, doing Cardio-step. This is alittle misleading. I thought it was a step segment, but to me, it's a hi/lo routine that uses a step as a prop. It starts out slow with Louise, with some mambas and over the top of the step, but gets more intense when Ann Marie is the lead. She uses step-kicks,jacks,hops and scissors on, around and over the step. It's easy to follow and you can make the intensity as high as you want. I find it a very nice tape and would rate it a B+.

Instructor comments: All of the instructors are very likeable. Greg is incouraging and high energy that transfers to you. Louise is a little low-keyed but still very nice. Ann Marie is charming-she smiles and it is because she's having fun (unlike a few, who smile, but only because they are told to smile)

Germaine
10/12/97

Two complete workouts. The first section is with Greg Twomby, who I love on CIA 3004, and who I love now on this tape. He does easy to follow moves that are a lot of fun, and get more intense as the 43 minutes go by. After 18 minutes, the intensity rises for 25 minutes of very high impact that only advanced exercisers should do. Kristin does a segment on this portion and this girl is great - lots of high jumps, grapevines, high kicks. Your heartrate will soar. The step segment was really good also. The step is turned to the TV, there are many moves off the step which I really enjoy. It's different than any other step workout because the step is more of a prop, but don't get me wrong, they do lots of high impact like the "curtsy" (something like a Cathe move), lots of moves on and off the step. You do need some room to do some of the grapevines, running forward and back. I found it to be different and lots of fun, and very high intensity. Both segments have an ab workout, which is too short (2-4 minutes)to even review. All in all, a great tape and I highly recommend it. I love Greg Twombly and any tape he is on, I am going to buy.

Maryann Parker
10/26/97

This starts with an hour of high/low by Greg Twombly. A class participant, Kirsten ___, teaches a portion of the class as well. This is fun and the time goes by fast. Greg is the "star," but Kirsten is pretty good, too. I think her cueing is slightly late sometimes, but I didn't get frustrated trying to learn the routine or anything.

Next Ann Marie Saldi and Louise Boland co-teach "high/low with step." I like these ladies! They're friendly, fun, and excellent at cueing and teaching. This class is a combination of floor and step. They start off by telling you you'll use the step only 25% of the time, and the other 75% is high/low. While I enjoy this workout, I found the step to be almost a nuisance. It seemed to be in the way a lot when doing the floor routines. I probably won't do this routine much in the future, but I would be delighted to see the two instructors again on another video.

Grade B+.

Instructor comments:

Annie S.
2-7-98


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