Petra Kolber leads what she says will be her last step aerobics workout. It's unfortunate because I really enjoyed this step workout and would love to see her continue making more of them.

There is no separate warm up. As seems to be the trend these days, she starts right into the first combination taking a little bit of time to do some dynamic stretching, but quickly moving into the body of the workout.

There are six combinations altogether. They start out very basic, but she very quickly layers on the complexity. She tells you that you don’t have to do the complex stuff and says you can follow Giusy, one of the background exercisers, but since she’s often not visible, that’s almost impossible to do. There are so many changes and layers of complexity that it’s very hard to stay with the basic moves while watching Petra. By the time she gets done with all of her variations, the basic moves are long forgotten and the modifier (when you can see her) doesn’t keep things all that simple. Because of this, I would not recommend this workout for someone who does not enjoy a fair amount of complexity in their step routines.

You have to like choreography to enjoy this workout. It’s a steady state cardio workout without blasts or intervals. You basically learn one combination after the other. The DVD is chaptered into workout one (the first three combinations) and workout two (the second three). There’s also a separate chapter where all combinations are done one after the other, and an ending chapter that is labeled as a cool down, but is actually a short yoga style stretch using the step as a prop.

If you do the workout uninterrupted, she teaches the first three combinations and then TIFTs (takes it from the top) them together. She also does a weave where she does all three combinations on the right and then the left. She does the same thing after the second three combinations, and then does one final TIFT of all six of them. I don’t mind this approach, but know that there are some who do. It does lengthen the workout, and I will fast forward through them when I need to finish up more quickly. You can easily just do one of the sections if you don’t have time for an hour long workout, since there’s a good chapter menu. If you do the whole thing, it's slightly over an hour.

If you like choreographed step with some impact, but not too much, I recommend this one.

Instructor Comments:
I have the greatest admiration for Petra. She is a cancer survivor who has beaten the odds and continued her fitness career. She seems sincere and genuine. She’s a creative choreographer and cues very well. My only lament is that she says she isn’t going to make any more step workouts.

Jane P