Taking It From The Top

This tape was made in 1991 shortly after Step 'N Motion I, II & III. I have never seen it advertised or mentioned anywhere, and actually got it through the video exchange. The lace leotards and goofy blue sky backgrounds are back, along with the whooping and hollering that was prevalent on most of Cathe's earlier tapes. Unlike all of her other tapes however, this tape is geared for the beginning stepper.

The entire tape is 60 minutes long and begins with an easy to follow warm up with the disco version of "Baby I Love Your Way" playing in the background. In the step section she begins with a basic step on the right leg, a V step on the right and then you repeat with the left leg leading. She then moves on to knee ups, step kicks, turn steps with lunges, side steps, across the top, side leg lifts, straddle steps and side lunges. She does each move slowly for several repetitions and then picks up the pace and repeats the step long enough so that beginners will have time to learn it and not just get frustrated.

After the step section she does a heart rate check and then moves into a strength section using dumbbells. The weight work consists of the basics: overhead presses, lat rows, tricep kickbacks, bicep curls, tricep dips, french presses and push ups. She ends with an abdominal workout and some basic floor stretches.

There are a few annoying things I noticed on this tape. They use the picture in a picture camera effect which was intended to give you a close up of the footwork, but a lot of times shows the upper body instead (which is not much use when trying to learn footwork). Also the pink Step 'N Motion logo keeps popping up in the lower right hand corner throughout the tape.

Despite this, this is a good solid tape for the beginning exerciser… If you can find it!!