Athletic Power and Potential

Andre Houle
Year Released: 1999

Categories: Circuit Training (cardio and weights) , Floor Aerobics/Hi-Lo/Dance


This is a Sara's City sleeper. Yes, the production sucks, but if you can get past it or it doesn't bother you, the workout is excellent. This is a circuit workout consisting of four step segments and four resistance segments using tubing and handweights. Each combination only has four to five moves and the emphasis is on keeping your heartrate up.
The first segment uses power, the second is speed (my hr was soaring during this one; I think it was the longest), the third is boxing and the fourth is athletic moves. All are very effective.
The first resistance segment uses tubing to work the lats, the second uses tubing to add resistance to punches, the third is stabilization work similar to Christi's SBF and the fourth is part cooldown and bicep work.
There is some nice ab work that follows, and a short stretch.
A few minutes into this tape, I thought it would immediately be going up for trade, but in the second segment, I decided this is a good workout and a must have for the Andre completist.

Instructor Comments:
Charming, as always. At the end, he warns you not to fall off your step as you stretch (and I already had!), then laughs and says, "I know you're laughing but I have fallen off my step!"
He does do some odd cueing things in this tape, though, but once I got used to it, it wasn't a big deal. Sometimes, he comes around to the same side of the step that you're on, so it's like a live class. But at first, I thought I was supposed to be on that side, too, and couldn't figure out why he was teaching with his back to me. Once I realized that he was switching back and forth, it made more sense, but most of us are not used to that.

Donna Kahwaty

01/22/2002