CIA 2K06: Cardio Step Attack plus Body Strength

Donna Read
Year Released: 2000

Categories: Step Aerobics , Total Body Workouts


I am a big Donna Read fan, so I knew I'd love this video before it even arrived. It's the most intense Donna video that I've used (versus 9701 and 9903) both in terms of choreography & intensity. Donna is a perfect match for those of us who like low impact--she does the moves low impact herself. The occasional high impact moves, I've found, are easily modified down.

The first thing I noticed about this video is that the background exercisers look different from any other CIA I've used. They're very realistic looking women, a little older than I'm used to seeing in videos (except Susan Powter videos). The exerciser on the left has a body much like mine--weight is carried in the legs. The exerciser on the left I'm guessing is the eldest of the three women, and she's working at a level of intensity that I can only hope to achieve! Donna points out that they're CIA "virgins", participating in their first CIA video. I noticed that both women make slight modifications to the moves if they so desire--something I do quite often!

The music was the typical stuff, but updated. Ally McBeal fans will recognize "Searching My Soul" and fellow VFers who were teens in the 80's like me will no doubt remember Madonna's "Get Into The Groove".

The perceived exertion scale is gone in this video. There is one heart rate check, done for 6 seconds, with bpm chart shown after. That seems about halfway to me.

The first half was good choreography; there are enough pieces of moves I recognize from Donna's other videos to keep up. The second half is much more intense featuring what she calls "fast feet" that will get your heart rate way up there! The combo beginning with an "L" step is particularly intense. There is no going from the top in this video--you might go a combo back or two, but the combos are never done straight thru from the top to the end. There is a LOT less breaking down of the moves; it's more like Christi's "watch me" style. Once you learn it all though, I think that makes the workout more fun, because you can get right into it. Donna herself is red faced throughout the 2nd half of the workout. All exercisers are sweaty as well. Let me tell ya, that makes me feel a lot better when I'm working out--to be able to see the workout is tough for the instructor too. I did recognize Donna's shorts as similar to or the same as 9701, and yup, she hiked up them up once or twice. :-)

I didn't do the second half of the video--Body Conditioning. I buy Donna's videos for her step choreography and have plenty of toning/strength stuff I love using. I did notice Brittany Spears "Crazy" is included in the soundtrack during this portion.

Instructor Comments:
Donna is my all time favorite step instructor. She's comes across as very sweet. She's never irritating, and she seems to have just as much fun teaching her choreography as I do learning it. Donna will always have you twisting and turning around on the step, so some combos take longer to learn, but I find those combos to be the most fun later on!

Lisa Greenwood

07/27/2000