CIA 9807: A High/Low Workout Plus Conditioning

Shannon Anderson, Alison Boyd
Year Released: 1998

Categories: Floor Aerobics/Hi-Lo/Dance



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This ia a great workout. The music is fun and lively, and the the two instructors take a tag team approach. ALison's style is a bit dancy while Shannon's is athletic. The entire video may be done high or low impact and they remind you of this throughout the workout.

While none of these moves are particularly tricky, these two instructors have a nack of combining them in interesting ways. At the end of the combinations they put everything together by splicing which adds some mental interest at the very end as you're getting tired.

This is the perfect video for me, hard enough that I have room to grow, but not so hard that I have to modify everything to death. Really fun. I think intermediate/advanced is the level and the choreography is moderate.

There is a brief toning segment at the end that is pretty good and the ab work HURTS! Ouch.

This is already a favorite. Highly recommended!

Instructor Comments:
These sisters are great at cuing and creating a fun atmosphere.

Micki Voelkel

03/28/2002

This tape is 73 minutes long; includes a warm-up 42 min. of hi/lo short cool down and conditioning & stretch. I do my conditioning at the gym, so I will not review that portion of the workout. FUN! This is more of a low impact routine, but can easily modified with high impact moves. I would say the choreography is moderate(but there are a few tricky moves). But these are taught well. The moves flow together well. Lots of lunges and mambos(I think that mambos are their favorite moves). They also have a great talent for playing with rhythm of common moves; making them much more interesting. Grade: A

Instructor Comments:
These two sisters did not miss their calling in life. They have creative choreography and the great gift of cueing. They have such a good time that you have fun too.

germaine

03/18/1999

I am not a super high/low fan but this video is so much fun that I had to post a positive review to put it on it's way to the Hall of Fame. Shannon and Alison use simple moves that flow together extremely well making the workout easy to do in either high or low impact. The workout can be modified so it does not take up a lot of room. I've done this workout twice, the first time at low impact to learn the combinations and today at a higher impact. I felt like I was in my target heart range most of the time (forgot to put on my HR monitor). Not only did I get a terrific workout but I had fun, fun fun while doing it. This tape is a must have IMHO.

Instructor Comments:
These sisters work so well together and really look like they enjoy what they are doing. You can't help but have fun with one of their workouts.

Sue Jones

12/24/1998

I really enjoy this video. The tape consists of warm up, high/low (7 combos), a short cool-down, body conditioning, abs and stretch. Other than the abs, I have not done the body conditioning, and probably won't, so I can't comment on that section. With skipping the weights, the workout was still about 60 minutes from warmup to stretch.

I got this and their step tape 9806 at the same time. I like the step tape a lot also, but I think this is even more fun. It is a little less intense than the step tape and the cardio section is shorter, but still over 40 minutes. I thought their teaching style on this tape was much better than on 9806. This tape has much more low-impact moves than most CIA hi/lo. The workout starts out with lower intensity combos, but they get more intense. Also there is less spinning and turning than other hi/low (but there is some.) The only minor complaint I have is that they do the "take it from the top" thing too much. I like when all the combos are put together at the end, but I wish we did not have to go though 2 times after learning each new combo. It would bother me less, if they would just do it one time. One thing I do like though, is that at the end, they splice it and do it on each side, which gets you doing the workout in a way you are not used to.

If you prefer a really high intensity level, you may not like this tape. I think it would be possible to do a lot of their moves with more height, and jumping, to make it more intense. If you are intermediate and would like an introduction to CIA hi/lo, I think this would be a perfect tape to start with, because you could learn some choreography that is not too dancy, without getting wiped out doing some of the more intense CIA workouts. For me this is a perfect tape when I need to do something fun, but not quite as intense as my other tapes.

Instructor Comments:
Shannon and Alison are 2 of my favorite instructors. They teach pretty well on this tape, and always seem like they are having fun.

Lisa C

12/13/1998

I have a real problem finding hi/lo tapes that I really like. While I love aerobics in general I am really picky about hi/lo and I am always looking for tapes.

After reading Annie's review of this tape, I decided to buy it using CIA's holiday coupon. I am so glad I did!

This tape provides about 40 minutes of hi/lo aerobics. The combination that Shannon and Alison teach aren't too dancy, but they aren't so simple that I get bored. It's a nice mix of athletic moves (squats, lunges, etc) with some dance moves (mambos) and a few turns. Shannon and Alison show both low and high impact moves and modifications and this workout could easily be done as all high impact or all low impact. I've never seen another tape that really offers this option. It's really nice, because when I want to work really hard I can get a good workout, (although this tape is NOT at the level of Cathe's hi/lo in MIC, my other favorite hi/lo) and when I want to "relax" I can do lower impact moves and still get a good workout.

The other nice thing about this workout is its space requirements. I have a fairly small exercise area and I end up having to modify a lot of hi/lo tapes to fit my space. I didn't have to modify this tape at all-wonderful!

Shannon and Alison both cue very well and have a really nice rapport. You can tell that they really like each other and are having so much fun with the workout. That's another reason why I like this tape so much.

I highly recommend this tape to any intermediate/advanced exerciser who is looking for an athletic style hi/lo workout that offers lots of options and very personable instructors.

Instructor Comments:
I really like both instructors! They work together very well and you can tell they are really having fun. I would definitely buy another hi/lo tape by these two.

Elizabeth

12/09/1998

This really is a high/low workout that can be done by both low-impacters and high-impacters like myself. Low-impacters should be glad to hear this, because there are so few truly high-energy, fun, low-impact workouts available.

This is really a blast. The combos are so much fun, and it is very well-taught. The aerobics are a full 43 minutes, and then you do some light toning and some outstanding ab work. Shannon leads the abs, and she calls it yoga-type ab work. Very challenging!

Shannon and Alison take turns teaching the high/low combos, and it just amazes me how well these two work together. And they seem so NICE! They're like the proverbial all-American girls-next-door.

This is another winner from CIA. I hope we get lots more workouts like this! Grade A+!

Instructor Comments:
These two are such an incredible team. I want more! Besides their likeable personalities, both are excellent at cueing and instructing. I have one minor criticism of Alison, and that is that she tends to hunch her shoulders. It makes her look like she's exhausted, but you can tell from her voice that that's really not the case.

Annie S.

09/08/1998