Step My Way

I am reviewing this workout after spending 3 days learning it. It's not a terrible workout but I have a few quite major gripes with it.

The first is that, as the previous reviewer mentioned, Patrick spends a lot of time step-tapping in place while he tells you what he's going to do next. It might go something like this: "Oh my gosh, that was tough! How are you guys doing? (Looks at background exercisers) You know me, and you know I'm going to add another turn. So what we're going to do is after the blah blah blah blah blah blah blah." Then you have to do another 2 sets of step-tapping to get back on beat. Instead of all that, all he really needs to say is "Let's add another turn", then demonstrate while you do the original version.

All of this talking has the effect of reducing the number of repetitions of certain sections before making them more complicated. This is one of the reasons why this workout is difficult to learn.

The other problem is that sometimes things just aren't broken down very well. Somehow instructors like Christi (and her students!) find a way to make complexity much easier to learn. Her combo's make sense, and Patrick's often don't in this workout. Sometimes I had to stop the workout and breakdown and practice a section on my own before rejoining the exercisers. Often he'll start a section with a whole lot of marching in place, then turn it into something completely different without any intermediary steps.

A third problem that contributes to this is that sometimes the view switches to a side camera angle which does not help at all in visualizing what Patrick is doing.

I'm not sure if I'm going to keep this or not. I'll probably give it another try in a few weeks and see what I think now that I've learned all the choreography. The previous reviewer's suggestion to use the tap-up's to add intensity is a good one. I also sometimes use parts like this to repeat sections of the choreography again (there might even be enough time to go over the whole combo again!).

Instructor Comments:
Patrick is kind of annoying in this workout. He acts goofy with a lot of "you guys" and "oh my goodness". He also laughs a lot, which seems odd because there's nothing really funny going on. It's like when people LOL when there's nothing to LOL about. It kind of seems like he's acting.

These mannerisms would fit better if it was more in keeping with the rest of the workout. For example, if there was a bigger cast or if the cast was more involved in what was going on. The two background exercisers here really fade into the background. Partly because of the lighting (they are in the shadows), and partly because they are both a lot shorter than Patrick and have less physical presence.

Megan

I'm surprised there's no review for this - so I'm doing a quickie.

I love complex step, don't find Cathe Freidrich complex, and can 'get' Christie Taylor's by the end of the workout first time through. This is FAR more complex! I paused a few times to sit and watch some moves in slow-motion! To make this a real workout, rather than just some fun, I needed to increase the intensity throughout. During the pauses doing alternate 'up taps' (too many for my taste), I changed them all to up-jumps so they became mini-blasts. I also used a 10" step and was tired but not wasted after an hour. I put myself at int/adv fitness level, not seriously advanced by any means.

It didn't require a ton of space - I managed easily for that. I don't think about music much unless it's very good or very bad, but Patrick's comments on it made me notice. It mostly had a good 'feel' and there were different styles, eg African & Latin. None of it was recognisable songs, all instrumental but NOT techno/electronic muzak, which I find boring.

For those who don't like 'taking it from the top' you probably wouldn't be happy, but complexity fiends will probably enjoy going through the whole routine once mastered as it's a busy one! I think there were 3 combinations for the main workout with a bonus at the end.

Fitness level (if done as intended) - intermediate.
Complexity - seriously advanced!

Instructor Comments:
He's obviously in a good mood and having a good time, nothing untoward about him at all. Cueing is rather good, not atrocious or late.

Helen