I enjoy Karen Voight as an instructor, but I didn't enjoy this video. First of all, I found her choreography to be extremely difficult to follow, particularly during the warm-up and aerobic segments. Although Karen does give excellent instructions on form (using very down-to-earth language), her cuing is less precise: she sometimes fails to indiciate whether to start on the right or left, and she is often late in indicating new movements. During the low-impact aerobic segment--which lasts about 25 minutes--I frequently found myself marching in place because I was unable to keep up with Karen's complicated movements, and I eventually fast-forwarded through this section. However, those who engage in regular aerobic workouts and who are looking for a change might appreciate Karen's more complex choreography.

Following the aerobic segment, Karen moves on to strength work. She uses a 12-lb. body bar, but several of her students show modifications using hand weights (plus a chair for support). The toning section begins with approximately 13 minutes of standing work for arms and legs. Karen demostrates traditional moves such as bicep curls and lunges (although she frequently adds a unique twist), and she places a strong emphasis on form rather than repetitions. Karen transitions from the standing workout by doing one exercise for the back before moving on to floor work. She starts with several abdominal crunches, still using the body bar, but then she mixes it up a bit by including some additional leg work inbetween exercises for the obliques. Finally, Karen concludes the toning section with several arms exercises performed while lying on the back, for a total of approximately 12 minutes of floor work. At the end of the workout, Karen leads a simple, 5-minute cool-down segment during which she briefly stretches each of the major muscle groups included in the workout.

The music for this workout is jazzy and pleasant without being distracting. The lighting is low, utilizing spotlights and colored lights to give an appearance more akin to a disco than to a gym. I would recommend Karen's "Streamline Fitness" tape instead of this one--it provides a similar toning workout, but instead of aerobics, she includes an excellent, Pilates-like abs workout combined with simple yoga stretches.

Instructor Comments:
Overall, Karen is a very good, no-nonsense instructor who does a nice job with strength moves, but I find her to be less effective when it comes to aerobics--this may be just me, since I prefer strength training.

Beth C (aka toaster)