CIA 2K01: Two Jammin' Workouts in One

Gay Gasper
Year Released: 2000

Categories: Floor Aerobics/Hi-Lo/Dance , Step Aerobics


My first impression of this video was that it would probably be my favorite of the new series. Actually, I now find I prefer some of the other videos more, but I still feel that this is a good solid video that I would recommend. Overall this video is a little repetitious, so I can't use it too frequently, but I still enjoy it.

Hi/Lo

This workout is slightly less than 50 minutes. I consider it an intermediate workout. I usually do advanced tapes, but I found that with good form and modifying up I was able to get a decent workout. The first combo is more of a beginner completely low impact combo, the second combo is intermediate, the third is high intermediate, and the final combo is an advanced combo with mostly higher impact. The choreography was interesting enough for me, not super complex, but not boring either. The biggest problem with the routine it that there is a lot of TIFTing and it gets repetitious. I would have prefered if there was another combo to learn instead of repeating the moves that we already know so many times. I might get bored with it if I did the tape frequently, but I don't do any tapes frequently, so I hopefully this won't be a problem. Gay does a nice job of putting the workout together and teaching the moves. She balances the workout on both sides, better than many other CIA instructors. I would recommend this workouts for intermediates, and advanced exercisers who don't mind modifying up and can appreciate lower impact workouts.

Step-n-Strike

I think this is an excellent low advanced workout that can easily be modified both up and down - allowing both intermediates and advanced exercisers the ability to enjoy this tape. This workout switches between 6 minute step sections and 4 minutes kickboxing sections. This makes the workout go by pretty quickly for me.

The step choreography was fun but not overly complex. On its own, I might get bored with the choreography (or wish for more), but with the kickboxing segments I think it works well. One move seemed a little awkward at first, where you hop up backwards onto the step to get over it, but I enjoyed the move anyway. There is a pregnant woman showing modifications and she also has Jay (the lone male) doing more advanced modifications. My complaint with this is that Jay was slightly behind Gay and so it was hard to follow him at first. Now that I know the moves, it will not be so hard. In each of the 4 step sections she teaches a new combo and towards the end of the section she adds it on to what you have previously learned. The step choreography has enough plyo moves to keep the heart rate up, but she doesn't always show the plyo right away. I think it will be easy enough to put them in earlier, if I want to keep the intensity up.

The kickboxing sections are fun. I am not a big kickboxing fan, but the 4-5 minutes short sections are fine. My biggest complaint is that she really slows it down in the 1st section, because she is teaching the moves you will use later. The 2nd-4th sections are combos of kicks and punches. These sections are fun, and like most kickboxing you can get the intensity out of it that you want. She adds on the new combo to the earlier ones just like her step sections. There is less choreography to this kickboxing than you would have with Janis Saffell, but it is a lot more interesting than just repeating the same move over and over, like in PowerKicks.

I think the workout would have been even better if the kickboxing sections came before the step sections. Intensity-wise it would have flowed better since that first kickboxing section is very basic. I usually skip the first 2 minutes of the first kickboxing section which helps. I do end up feeling like the workout should be over after the final stepping section, and sometimes it is hard to do that last kickboxing section.

The music in this video is almost completely new. I liked it because it included real songs and not instrumentals which I get bored with more quickly.

Instructor Comments:
Gay is a great instructor - very professional. I would buy more tapes from her.

Lisa C

04/05/2000