Christi Taylor and Cathe Freidrich are my two favorite instructors, and as such, I am tougher on them than anyone else, which is why some things about this video kind of grated on me.

Hi-Lo: This is a great hi-lo routine ... which is why it drives me crazy that Christi uses the warm-up throughout the whole workout! Why does she do this?? I don't mind her putting it in the routine at the beginning, but about halfway through the workout, I'm sick of going through it again. There is one point in the tape where she says, "Let's take it from the top again. I don't know why!" and I always want to scream at her! I love everything else about this routine, and think I would do it more often if it didn't repeat the warm-up over and over and over.

Step: This is another great routine, and a little different from anything I've ever seen before. But what grates me here is how difficult this was to learn. I am an instructor and consider myself above-average in catching on to choreography,but the only way I could learn this was by breaking the tape down in sections and trying my best to walk through the routines. I couldn't do this section as a work-out because there was so much I couldn't catch that I wasn't getting a work-out at all. At this point, I have down about 3-4 sections of "walk-throughs" and then done the whole workout twice, and there are still some things I don't get. There are a lot of times where I think she could have explained *what* she was doing better, or *which* leg comes up first, or *which* direction you're going in. For a normal routine, that might work, but this stuff is so complex and different, and she adds to it so quickly, that I found it irritating when she would giggle and add a new move without explaining it.I guess there is a feeling of accomplishment now that I have mostly learned it, but I'm sure some people would not think it was worth the time and effort. Why bother when Cathe's tapes are also complex but so much easier to catch onto? (Of course, I have my own complaints about Cathe.)

I know I must sound like a grump. I guess I wouldn't care except that this is such a great tape, I hate for these two things to irritate me. I guess now that I've learned the step routine, that isn't even a true complaint anymore. But I would recommend people keep these two things in mind if they're considering this tape. And yes, I will be first in line to buy Christi's next tapes.

Instructor Comments:
Very very likeable, although the cuing in the step portion could be more specific. I also really like background exerciser Michelle DeNinno ... when is she going to make her own video?

Jen Blaske