Video Fitness

Shaped 2 Fit - San Francisco Step

This very fast-paced video features a wide variety of insructors and moves. Because it is a *homemade* video, the production quality is not superior. The video setting is an actual class in a club with lots of participants facing a mirror. The viewer actually sees the instructor's (and participant's) front and back. It can be a bit confusing sometimes, but the video is still okay for in-home use.

Because there are so many instructors on this tape (10) it never gets boring. As mentioned in instructor comments, each instructor presents about 15 minutes of his or her choreography. The moves are not broken down as much as a "mass-produced" video and they move very quickly through the patterns. The intensity level is also pretty high. The choreography is advanced.

One complaint I have about this video is that the music tempo is very fast...sometimes I found myself not being able to complete the moves as well because it was so fast. Also, even though I consider myself an advanced exerciser, I found some of the choreography difficult to follow.

Music is generic aerobic music. The entire video runs 2 hours (of stepping only...no floorwork)

Of all the Shaped 2 Fit videos that I own, this is my least favorite because of the fast tempo, full-class setting (which can be a bit disconcerting sometimes to the viewer) and the difficult-to-follow moves.

Instructor comments: As an instructor training video for the Shaped 2 Fit company, San Francisco Step features 10 different instructors who each teach approximately 15 minutes of their choreography. There is a slight transistion between instructors, but it is not really bothersome (some are a little more awkward than others) and I just use it to get a drink or take a heartrate check. The instructor's use a variety of moves...anything from dancy choreography to power moves (involving lots of jumps and plyo moves).

This video is very fast paced and sometimes I feel the instructor's do not show good form or give safety modifcations. If you are looking for complex choreography and are a very advanced stepper, you may enjoy the variety this video offers.

Sallie
9/16/97

Watching San Francisco Step is much harder than *doing* it. I watched it when I first got it on the exchange, and thought: Wow! A real aerobics class, with no canned music, and phony people. Yes, the production values are very cheap. It almost looks black and white, even. When I finally got around to trying to do the workout (after watching it all the way through), I was completely baffled. The moves aren't hard, but the videocamera guy switches from mirror image where the camera faces the instructor (i.e. the "regular" way of taping videos) to filming the instructor from behind. Can I begin to tell you what this does to my equilibrium and sense of spatial relationships? It's just too hard for me to remember whether THEIR going back means ME going forward, or if I should move forward with them. I didn't get beyond the 2nd instructor (and there are nine altogether). I shut it off, and decided that my time would be better spent with a CIA. If I'm that desparate for a real class in San Francisco, I'm only a 35 minute drive away, luckily.

Eulonda Skyles
2/18/98



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