Hi/Lo Fusion

I’m reviewing this workout after doing it at least half a dozen times in the year and a half or so that I’ve had it.

General workout breakdown: This workout fusing traditional hi/lo aerobics with Latin dance has an approximately 8 min. warm-up (with a short combo and both dynamic and static stretches), 38 min. main workout (taught in combos and combined into one big routine, so there’s TIFTing), and 5 min. cool down and stretch. As other reviewers have pointed out, there’s not much impact or pivoting here.

Level: I’d recommend this to someone who’s an intermediate in terms of cardiovascular activity and who feels comfortable with complex choreography. I consider myself at least at a high intermediate level in terms of cardio; this video just barely gets my heartrate up. I can pick up any Christi Taylor, Marcus Irwin, etc. hi/lo choreography within a couple of times, and the same was true with this.

Class: four young women join Rob. At times one will show modifications. One of them designed the outfits (which look surprisingly just like your average bikini tops and low cut pants).

Music: typical upbeat CIA-type stuff (some repeated from Cardio, Core & Calm or some of Christi Taylor’s earlier stuff).

Set: bright interior set with all sorts of Joan Miro posters and knickknacks. It’s hard to describe, but if you’ve seen Janis Saffell’s Hardcore Kickbox Circuit it’s similar.

Production: This is a Greg Twombly production (despite the fact that Rob wears a Crunch shirt), so the picture and sound quality are good with helpful camera angles.

Equipment: sneakers (make sure you can pivot).

Space Requirements: You’ll need a lot of space: at least enough to take three good-sized steps in every direction.

DVD Notes: The main menu lets you pick the intro to the workout, customize your workout, and read Rob’s bio and program, contact info, or credits.

Conclusion: This is a nice video, but I don’t seem to reach for it much mainly because it’s not so intense and I’m still in the mindset of when I had a slightly smaller workout space. I do prefer this to Rob’s Cardio, Core & Calm, mainly because this set is brighter, the music is a little better, and this doesn’t have times when your back’s to the TV. If you want a hi/lo video with more a dance-like feel, definitely check this one out. It’s not as complex or intense as and is more traditional in its hi/lo than Patrick Goudeau’s floor aerobics videos.

This is a fun lighter-day high/low workout. The choreography is complex and the intensity is intermediate overall, maybe beginner in some places. Rob’s cueing could be better, but I wouldn’t call it poor. I would, however, call the music poor, which is such a shame - this would be one of those party-in-a-box workouts with the right music. Despite its drawbacks, I still have to give it an A.

This hi-lo workout is a bit of a space hog when done as Rob and the "ladies" do it, but if you take out the turns and direction changes it doesn't require more room than your average cardio workout. It is a series of 4 combinations, which are taught relatively quickly. (It seems from the few times I've done this one so far that certain combinations and moves have more time spent on them than others.) I like the quickness of the teaching--I don't think I'll be bored too soon...

There are 4 background exercisers, all women, dressed pretty scantilly in low cut pants and teeny tops. They don't mess up much, and seem to be having a fun time dancing around. And this is a pretty dancy routine, I think. Lots of mambos, cha-chas, chasses (or is it sashays??). In between the chorographed moves are marches in place and hamstring curls, but these are not done for long and usually become part of the routine. I believe the first three combos are taught in the first 30 minutes, along with the dancy warm-up, and then after the heart rate check you do the first three together again, learn combo #4, and then put it all together. The DVD version has a chapter where all 4 combos are strung together, but I don't even think it lasts more than a couple of minutes--so its not like Cathe's Rhythmic Step Challenge or even Christi's Totallies Bonus Cardios.

It's fun. I like Rob well enough. But there is something about this workout that makes me think I won't do it all that often.

Finally, a hi/lo workout I really love. It has been a while since I've loved a new hi/lo workout. It is my kind of hi/lo. It is dancy (but not funky dancy) and flows very well, and is pretty low impact. (Actually very low impact. I would say each combo had only about one move in it with any impact.) Intensity is going to come from what you put into it and having room to move. For me, this workout was definitely more intense than a Marcus hi/lo (although their styles are very similar) but less intense than a Christi hi/lo, which has more impact.

This workout is a bit of a space hog. I do have a lot of room to move sideways, but only 8 feet forward and back. I used every inch of my space. I think you can still have fun with this workout while modifying for space, but it might be hard to get the intensity you want without the ability to spread out.

The workout is 45 minutes long. It has a separate and decent warmup, 4 32-count combos and very short cooldown. He TIFTs after teaching combos 1,2,3 (2 times each), and then he splices all 3 combos and TIFTs 2 more times. Then he teaches the 4th combo and adds that to the spliced first 3 combos (but doesn't splice the 4th.) Normally, that much TIFTing puts me over the edge, but after doing this workout 2 times, it still doesn't bother me.

I didn't like the cool-down but it was short, I just walked around. It was mostly just hip-shaking, and his background girls were in real close to him and looked like his harem.

I think Rob's choreography is really excellent. Sometimes it is hard to believe he is the same person from some of the earlier G-Force tapes. It flows so well and is very creative.

The one place I can't give him kudos though is his cueing. I know he gets a lot of praise for this, but I don't get it. I think he teaches the moves pretty well, but once the combo is complete, don't expect many cues. He often just gives a few words of cues during an entire 32 count combo and you are expected to remember how everything goes. It isn't a real problem for me once I know the moves, but if you are not good at remembering choreography it might be a problem.

The music is OK. Not my very favorite, but not bad. Some of it seemed new, and some seemed old.

If you like hi/lo, I do recommend this workout. If you need super-high intensity every day and don't have a large workout area, however, you might be disappointed. In terms of fun, though, this is a real winner.