Until PowerMax came out, this was my favorite of Cathe Friedrich's videos. It remains one of the toughest step video on the market. On the other hand, those who don't have a lot of experience with power stepping should probably master "Energy Sprint" (and/or Reebok's power step tape) first--Karen Voight's form pointers are much better. If you can't do "Energy Sprint" or Step Reebok's "Power Workout" without gasping for breath, you will probably not make it through this tape and you will not be able to execute all the advanced power moves (richochets, hop turns, explosions) safely and with good form. Please take this warning seriously! This tape is among the most advanced of the advanced tapes out there.

I like everything about this tape--the music is a highly motivating traditional aerobic mix, and Cathe does her best job yet of matching choreography to music beautifully. I enjoy this one so much that I can't help but smile while doing the video.

The warm up on this tape is a great one--most tapes' warm ups barely get my heart going, but this one does it with lots of traveling moves, level changes, squats, even a little bit of power. Section 1 is pretty linear (you do a move on one leg, then the other, rather than learning a long combo), but tough, with lots of power moves. Cathe includes some interesting moves like 3-count "hesitation" turn steps and over the tops (instead of completing the move you go back the other way). Some of the moves from this section are used in Section 2's long combo.

The long combo in section 2 is my favorite combination--the music and steps work perfectly together. You travel around and over the step in every possible direction, and Cathe combines a lot of different types of choreography: L-steps, A-steps, T-steps, over the tops (full length of step), power jumps and runs up onto the step, hop turns (even one turn over the long end of the step), rocking horses, alternating lunges, jacks and repeaters.

Section 3 ("Plyo Power") will make you scream and/or swear--this is where the true aerobic animals are distinguished from the "run-of-the-mill" advanced exercisers. Cathe does these "explosion steps" (8 in a row!) which are hard to describe but are a sort of "repeater power hip extension" where you leap straight up (on the step) with one leg back and your arms fan out. You must be extremely attentive to form here, or your knees will hate you. The explosions are followed by uneven squats (with hop turns to do the other side), an extra long series of alternating lunges, some plyometric moves off the end of the bench, then deep lunges (or dips? I'm not sure what they're called, technically) off the back. By this time you'll probably be gasping for air, and you'll glare at Cathe when she says, "OK now how 'bout some of those ricochets" (like in Mega Step--a type of hop turn where instead of just landing, you hop turn then reverse and hop turn back to your original position). Cathe finishes up with a recovery repeater move that's pleasant and allows your skyrocketing heart rate to come down.

The cool down is funky and enjoyable, but the stretch section is WAY too short after such a killer workout. I always spend an extra 10 min. or so stretching afterwards.

I highly recommend Step Max to any instructor or advanced exerciser who's looking for a challenge.

WWWendy