Totally Hot Cardio

Christi Taylor
Year Released: 2002

Categories: Floor Aerobics/Hi-Lo/Dance


The workout is structured as follows:
An "invisible warmup" of grapevines, shoulder rolls, squat/roll-ups combined with hamstring stretches and cross marches blends nicely into the workout. The body of the workout consists of 6 combos, taught in Christis usual "add-on" or "layering" style. Some of the moves include reach the corner, a fun push-pivot-kick, and shuffle-ball change/ squat-ball change. There is also a section that reminded me of Hi-Lo Heaven (I think?) with a hip-hip and bob and weave move. I really enjoyed a two-squats with a half turn...It's all fun!
The impact of this video is easily modified both hi and low, with two backgrounders showing low, and two showing high with Christi.
I liked the music--perfect volume level: A mix--We're Havin' a Party (?), Daniel's Song, something techno-ish with lots of drums and someone chanting "oh-oh" but not in an annoying way, Prince--Baby I'm a Star, Jerimiah was a Bullfrog, another techono-ish one with some vocals (talk to me), I don't wanna work...this all works just beautifully with the choreography!
The workout ends with a cool down and something that drives me absolutely NUTS: The girl on the right (short dark hair) has her arms circling her head and waving all around while they are doing the cool down. Arghh. I know it sounds petty, and I can see that she is just having fun, but it is annoying and distracting. I may not do the cool down because of it.
I have the DVD version of this workout, and I am very satisfied with the structure, although I think there could be a few improvements with chaptering--for those who don't like to pre-program. The options availavle are:
Start Workout

Bonus Warmup into Workout (this is just basic squats and stretchy moves, just Christi)

Move Master (again, just Christi, no music, moving with her back to you, counting out the moves)

Behind the Scenes (a little too long, and if there could have been another workout instead of this I would have loved it. It is about 30 minutes long!)

Bonus Abs (Christi's voice, Julie demonstrating. Pretty basic crunches)

Bonus Cardio (I love this. All the combos put together and repeated 3 or 4 times)

Instructor Training Proram Promo (tiny little 10 second preview)

I would have liked to see each combo chaptered so I could practice any that might cause me problems--but I guess you could do that with the Move master, which IS chaptered by combo. However, it is at half time, so that might not work for everyone...
I was going to say that I'd like the warm up and cool downs to have their own chapters, as well, but I guess since these are "invisible" within the workout, they may have been hard to chapter.
I love this workout and will do it often, as I do all of Christi's stuff!

Instructor Comments:
Christi is friendly, fun, energetic and professional (as usual) in this video/DVD. Her cuing is right on (although she doesn't seem to use the "watch me" method as much, probably because of the Move Master at the end, which makes watching her to learn a move unneccesary. ) She has created new, fun choreography for those who like to dance, and cues it well enough for even those who may like more basic stuff to be able to catch on. Christi is so happy to be working out that she makes the time fly!

Wendy2

04/26/2002