Choreography 2 Go: Xtra Flow Hi/Lo

On cardio work, I am an intermediate to advanced exerciser, depending on my mood and energy level for the day. I enjoy complex choreography and my favorite instructors are Christi Taylor, Kari Anderson, and Marcus Irwin.

Since this is one of Marcus Irwin’s tapes, you might guess that I like this workout. This is my favorite hi/lo workout and I just have a great time while doing it. It is the hi/lo companion or equivalent to Marcus"step workout, Step XPress - same set, same background exercisers, same feel, etc.

The set is fairly simple. It looks like a workout studio - a plain wood floor in front of a wall. There are two background exercisers, one man and one woman. They stay with Marcus pretty much throughout the workout, but mess up once in awhile. When they do, it makes me feel better! I really like the exchange, or interplay, between them and Marcus. The music is pretty good and does help the enjoyment of the workout for me. It takes a fairly large amount of space, both side to side and back to front.

There are three sections to this workout, each one supposedly building on the complexity of the choreography from the previous section. I say “supposedly” because the combinations I have the most trouble with are in the first section. I have done the first two sections and will start working on the third in the future. The first section is 25 minutes and has eight combinations. The second section also has eight combinations and takes 27 minutes. Since these total 52 minutes, I don’t know how often I will go on to the third section - only when I have lots of time to work out. Of the 16 combinations I’ve done so far, one is high impact; the rest are low impact.

The tape was made for instructors as a way to give them ideas for choreography, so there is no warm up or cool down. Marcus does each combination and moves on, never to do it again. The only exception is when he does a combination then moves on to the next one and then goes back and shows how to combine those two together.

Marcus starts each combination simply and then adds to the complexity of the moves and then adds turns or further complexity. With each combination, he encourages you to take the combination at the complexity that’s right for you or that would be right for your class (if you are an instructor). Throughout it, he shows an endearing sense of humor and makes me laugh every time I do the workout.

Overall, I really suggest this workout if you are looking for a tape that makes complex choreography simpler than it seems it should be. I got it in a trade, but I have seen it for sale at www.homeworkout.com.