Crunch: Killer Legs

Tyla Reich
Year Released: 1998

Categories: Lower Body Strength


As the other reviewers said, this is 30-minute leg workout of reasonable quality. Level is roughly intermediate; that is, this tape wouldn't be suitable either for sedentary beginners or real- ly advanced people, but it would be fine for just about everyone else.

Killer Legs has a short warmup, a cooldown, and four toning sec- tions. The first two sections feature fast, choreographed stand- ing leg work (e.g., dip down in front, down in back, to the side, squat, etc.). The third section is chair work, and the fourth is on the floor.

The reason I wrote this review is that the tape has some unusual advantages and disadvantages. While I'm not sure I'm going to keep it, it may be very useful to others.

The biggest general disadvantage is the presentation. The set, with its jarring colors, is perhaps the most disconcerting I've ever seen. Let me put it this way: If Cthulhu, the Lovecraftian creature from the depths, were going to do an exercise video, this is the set it would use.

Tyla Reich, the instructor, is also somewhat annoying. She's overly perky and has a voice like Carol Channing. Like many Crunch instructors, she doesn't appear to be so much a physical education teacher as an actress who plays one on tape.

The final annoyance is the inset between sections that says, "Cookies, chocolate and chips are the enemy." While most of us would be better off eating less junk food, not everyone gets in- spired by seeing food as the enemy.

On the other hand, many of these problems disappear when you ac- tually put the tape in your VCR and start working out. Be- cause there's such a wide variety of exercises, and so much of the video is lightly choreographed routines, it proceeds unusual- ly quickly and enjoyably for a strength tape. Also, I got Killer Legs from a trade, but I understand it's available from places like Target very inexpensively.

Bottom line, though, is that I'm probably going to trade this tape. Why? Well, because I'm large and don't have very good bal- ance, I go easy on myself with the fast standing work. I don't move very deeply in these sections, and don't give myself much of a burn. By the time I'm advanced enough to be comfortable doing these exercises with really good form, I'll probably be advanced enough for a much more effective tape.

Do you like fast standing work? Get Killer Legs. When you actual- ly do the tape, the other disadvantages won't really matter very much.

Lenore Levine

07/18/2001