Hi/Low Cardio II

Hi Lo Cardio II is a basic floor aerobics workout led by Jenny Ford. If you are looking for a basic hi/lo workout that is kept mostly low impact, and you don't mind TIFTing, you will like this workout. I generally do not like TIFTing, and this workout bought me to my TIFTing threshold. I definitely feel tha the label Beginner/Intermediate was appropriate.

Jenny keeps the moves pretty basic throughout. You start with a very long warm up of mostly grapevines, step touches, and squats. I believe the warm up was around 7-8 minutes. There are three combos. The first combo consists of a flying leap with a step behind, grapevines, hip shakes, ponies, step touches, and shimmying around in a circle. The second combo takes it up a bit with grapevines, hamstring curls, running in place, lunges, double step touches, and fast and slow heel digs. She introduces some directional changes here. The third combo consists of mambos, cha chas, running the feet in and out, step touches, marching in place, double step touches to the front and side with a knee up, and step touches. I may have left out some moves, but as you can tell, very basic. And lots of TIFTing. There are directional changes, and different arm movements to keep it interesting. She also shows different levels to keep it low or hi impact. Jenny ends with an equally long cool down with lots of step touches, grapevines, reaches, and stretches.

I think that everyone can gain a little something from this workout. If you are a beginner wanting to take things up slowly, I think this workout would be good for you. There are not too many directional changes to confuse you and Jenny breaks the moves down slowly. As an intermediate exerciser, I feel this workout is good to layer on different moves to take up the intensity. A simple grapevine to a pony can become a shuffle to pony with a hop or the grapevine can become a flying angel. Shuffles can become football runs. As for advanced exercisers, this probably won't get your heart rate up that good without some extreme modifying, but it's good for a recovery workout.

I think of this workout as a basic vanilla cake recipe, where you can add or subtract ingredients without changing the flavor of the cake too much. By modifying, you don't feel like you're modifying so much that you wonder "why bother putting in the dvd at all." I like that feeling!

What I Liked

This would be good for a morning workout or when I am in recovery mode from a long workout hiatus. This is also good for when I feel like starting with a basic workout and adding on my own flair. Jenny explained the moves, and I enjoyed the music. I feel that this workout is a step up from a Leslie workout, because while all the basic moves are there (heel tap, walking forward, walking back, walking in place, hamstring curls) there are some directional changes for you. Options were shown to raise or lower the intensity.

What I Didn't Like

There was a bit too much TIFTing for me, even though I understand this is a beginner/intermediate workout.

What You May Want to Look Out For

Run if you hate TIFTing. Also there are some pivots and impact, although modifications are shown.