I pulled out this dust bunny after several months and was pleasantly surprised. After doing months of CIA and Christi step, Kathy's style is much more basic, but I still got a great workout. I don't know how to classify this - it's kind of a variation of interval training where you do 3 zones of increasing intensity and then let your heart rate recover. The cardio portion is not super long - 25-30 minutes total - but I felt like I got a good workout. Kathy's cuing is not perfect, but the choreography is basic and easy to learn. I liked that the zones are fairly short so you learn the routine and then move on. For the most part impact is low and you have the choice of adding propulsion to increase intensity, but in zone three during the lunges it's probably difficult to keep up the speed without adding some impact. The weight segments after each wave are short and not very thorough - you could probably go very heavy. I just went through the motions to try to keep my heart rate elevated. The ab section consists of 100 reps of various exercises, then there is a nice stretch. Although it's not the most advanced tape and Kathy has her quirks (like the dubbed voice-overs), this tape is still a keeper for me - good for those days when I don't want to think too hard about choreography and am short on time.

Caroline Kim