Step By Design

Carole Paradise
Year Released: 2005

Categories: Step Aerobics


Service: Excellent! I ordered Tues & received my dvd on Friday. You can pay via paypal. She also included a printed breakdown of the routine in the dvd.

Production: Really good. It seems like Carole spared no expense to make sure this dvd came out great. The routine was filmed in a studio with brick walls and large windows in the background. Seemed nice and airy!

Music: The music was all right, but a little loud (for me). There were a few times I had trouble hearing Carole cue. But, it did not impede me from getting the moves down. The music is typical of a CIA blend.

Me: I am an advanced exerciser and have been stepping for 10+ years. I can catch on to choreography pretty well. Cathe and Christi are my favorites.

Choreography: Not fancy. If you are looking for someone like Christi, or Cathe for that matter, you will not find it in this routine. To me, she almost seemed a cross between Gay Gasper and Charlene Prickett. A little flair like Gay but solid & more athletic like Charlene. You will find a few twists and turns, but not enough to spin your brain!

Carole teaches layered style, so you will learn the more basic move before the advanced version. She breaks down the moves really, really well. I caught all the choreography the first time through. Typically I always get Cathe the first time through but Christi might take a couple times. If you pick up step choreography pretty easy this one will be a breeze.

Carole has a man and woman do the routine with her. The man performs the advanced moves with Carole and the woman performs the basic (and she is very easy to follow if you chose to follow her lead).

She teaches 3 combos in total. After you complete a combo she has you take it all from the top a couple of times through. So, to me, there was not a lot of TIFT. The last time you do the entire routine she splits it so you do one side with all 3 combos before you do the other. I enjoyed this the most.

When I initially previewed the routine (which probably helped tremendously with my catching everything the first time) it seemed somewhat fast paced and a little tricky. After doing it, that turned out not to be the case: the pace was about medium and the moves are broken down so thoroughly that it is not hard to catch onto.

Intensity wise, as shown doing the advanced movements, the workout is probably a solid intermediate. However, the next time I will up the intensity since I will be more familiar with the workout and will know which moves I can add a little propulsion to. I think you can go about anywhere, intensity wise, with this workout.

Overall, I think this will be nice addition to my step workouts as a medium paced and fun styled workout. I think people that have a difficult time with more advanced step choreography will find this workout easier to catch on to.

Instructor Comments:
Great instructor. Very personable. You can tell she has a great time while teaching. I would love to take one of her live classes.

Kim

09/10/2005