Step Reebok: Intense Moves

Gin Miller
Year Released: 1997

Categories: Step Aerobics



This is an interval training workout made up of what Reebok calls "Repeated Work Efforts" (RPEs) where you work very hard, followed by recovery intervals where you work less intensely. Those familiar with Karen Voight's ENERGY SPRINT will know these RPEs as "sprints." After a pretty vigorous warm-up with some stretching, Gin begins to set you up for the first sprint. She shows three versions of the sprint move: Hard, Harder and Hardest. Then you perform the sprint for 1 minute, choosing the intensity you want. After the sprint, you recover for two minutes before you begin the next sprint. There are ten sprint/recovery cycles in all. The workout ends with a cooldown and stretch. It's about 48 minutes long, with 32 aerobic minutes.

I'd rate this as an Advanced/Killer work out, with very basic choreography. The base moves are things like jacks on the floor, lunges on the step and lateral over-the-tops. The moves are made harder by adding more plyo power and more height to the leaps. So a jack on the floor becomes a "flying jack" — you jump up high in the air, spreading your arms and legs apart, bringing them together on the landing. Other moves include karate kicks, deep lunges, and an athletic leap that former ballet students might call an entrechat deux. I was able to do this tape after only one viewing and still get a great workout. That's pretty amazing because it usually takes me a while to get familiar with choreography, often needing to breakdown combinations to get comfortable with them. Not here. Gin cued perfectly, and I followed right along. Though I've learned to enjoy complex choreography, I really appreciated the basic choreography here because it allows you to go full out during the sprint without needing to think. I think this tape will appeal to men as well as women.

Intense Moves is a high impact workout. You'll want to take extra care on those leaps to land with soft knees. There's definitely room to grow with this tape because once you've mastered all the "Hardest" moves, you can always jump higher or add more range of motion to intensify the moves. I thought the cooldown and stretch could be a little longer. But all-in-all, this is one fine short, intense workout.

Production Notes: The production is, IMO, a vast improvement over STEP REEBOK: THE VIDEO (the only other Gin Miller tape I've tried). Gone is the 1984 set and "big brother" Gin. Instead she wears a mic on a head set and cues while doing the workout. And does she cue! She leads a class of 2 women and 3 men who smile occasionally but don't whoop. Gin doesn't whoop either but she does say "hah" sometimes during the sprints on moves like karate kicks. This does not bother me in the way whooping does. The lighting and set are fairly dramatic with high ceilings, a black background and some tall, brown, exaggerated pyramid-like objects in the back. The floor is painted in an attractive, multi-colored, circular pattern in warm colors. The music uses heavy percussion/drum machine sounds with a synth overlay. I find it functional — it keeps the rhythm going, but I probably won't hum it in the street. The overall sound quality is very good, though you do get some "plosive" sounds from the extremely close micing. The outfits are mostly bike shorts and tee-shirts. Gin uses a Reebok heart rate monitor which she recommends at the top of the workout, but is definitely optional. There are 4 energy exertion checks spaced throughout the workout — no heart rate checks. There's a Reebok equivalent to the ENERGY SPRINT visual monitor that lets you know how much time remains in the sprint. It counts down instead of up and is harder to read because they use a very pale color.

I'm extremely impressed by Gin's performance on this tape. She shows more personality than on STEP REEBOK, smiling occasionally and cracking a couple of jokes. But she never gets goofy. Mostly she's no-nonsense, concentrating on cues and form pointers, and cheering you on through the sprints. Yet she still seems to be having fun and I really enjoy working out with her (I'm ready to sign up for a class!). She does all the "hardest" variations of the moves to the max — high leaps, deep squats, full range of motion — while still managing to cue perfectly. How does she do that?

Karen P.

11/19/1997