The setting is on a patio with a lovely garden in the background. The day was overcast but not gloomy. The music is pleasant, but low keyed.
Madeleine is joined by Amy on your left, showing the low/no impact moves, but using dumbells in the toning segments! On your right, is Robin, who demonstrates higher impact and uses a body bar in the toning segments. Madeleine uses no weights, but in the cardio she's somewhere in the middle.
The first thing that struck me as we came to the end of the warm-up is that I don't recall any stretching...we went straight from the warm-up right into the workout...which I liked. As I'm recovering from a knee injury, I was following Amy(and wearing my 1# wrist weights) I was concerned with keeping my heart rate up; no problem there and I worked up a nice sweat!
Madeleine cues clearly so I had no problem following. You are barely into the foot pattern when you can see Robin (had a clearer view of her) doing the advanced arm movements, which was nice. If you're familiar with Kathy Smith's cardio workouts, you will recognize a lot of the routines here! Madeleine choreographed a lot of her best stuff.
Each of the three segments ends with some light, lower body toning. Madeleine stresses quality not quantity and balance.
The cooldown and stretch are thorough, done in bare feet on mats.
I can see myself reaching for this one often. With the three (rather ambiguous) levels, you could go easy when not feeling very energetic, going all out when you're ready to rock and roll.

Instructor Comments:
Madeleine is livelier than any Gaiam instructor I've seen so far. Some places she reminded me a little of Denise Austin! But she's much more comfortable to workout with. Make no mistake though, she's no nonsense and she wants you to work! She keeps chatter to a minimum, but cues beautifully. I had no problems following her and her two background exercisers.

Lydia Jasper