Step Gone Wild

I'm reviewing this workout after doing it once.

General workout breakdown: Stacie has already described and broken down this workout very well. I'll just flesh out a few more details:

- Times: The warm-up lasts about 12 min., the main body of the workout is 65 min. (combo 1 is 17 min., combo 2 is just under 13 min., combo 3 and the weaving together of all three combos into a big combo 1 are 12.5 min., combo 4 and the preparation for the final run-through are just over 20 min., and all together lasts 3.5 min.), and the cool-down / stretch is just under 8 min. So the total running time of the workout is almost 85 min.

- The warm-up: Rob teaches three short parts to this combo, does some dynamic stretches for the lower and upper body, and then adds in the final layer to the warm-up combo, which never reappears, although Rob reuses the name for one of the warm-up moves for a slightly different one in the workout itself.

- All 4 combos together: Rob does do a final cut / weave / slice & dice with "Combo 1" (aka the first three combos worked in together) followed immediately by Combo 2 (aka Combo 4). Like everything else, this is TIFTed 2-3x.

- The cool-down: As Stacie says, this starts with a very basic combo just to get your heartrate down (taps on the step, alternating knees), then moves into shoulder rolls, a few yoga-inspired stretches (a side angle-type pose, a runner's lunge), before moving into more athletic stretches for the hamstrings, quadriceps, and calves.

- Rob's teaching style: Rob teaches symmetrical, tapless (although expect lots of knees to change sides) blocks, alternating between sides. Rob layers up the complexity from basic steps. When a combo has more than one part, Rob will condense the parts when he adds them together, often only taking one pass through and then cutting out the part that transitioned to the other side - this is where the funky counts come in, because Rob actually teaches 8- and 16-counts, but he'll rearrange them when they're all together so that one might be 7 and the next 9, for example.

- Impact, etc.: This isn't entirely low impact; both feet will leave the ground together from time to time, but it's certainly not high impact like Cathe Friedrich, Mindy Mylrea, etc. You can keep it a little lower or add a little oomph, but this will never be one thatgets a lot of intensity from the impact. There are a number of full and partial pivots plus some twists, so be careful if your knees really don't like torque.

Level: I'd also recommend this to intermediate / advanced steppers experienced with complex choreography, although more intermediate level steppers who love complex choreo could make it through this, too, tackling the first three blocks and working up to all four. I consider myself an int. / adv. exerciser who gets complex choreography easily, assuming it's taught well and makes sense, which is true here. I felt confident in the choreography after one runthrough, although I could stand to clean up one or two spots. The trickiest part about this choreography is the many directional changes; not only are you moving all over the step, even within each little section, but you're also using only part of what was originally taught and/or performing it on a different side of the step. I agree that this isn't going to be one you turn to for intensity, but if you're wlling to work your heart a little less and your brain a little more you will be rewarded.

Class: For the warm-up and workout, 1 woman and 1 man join Rob, who instructs live; Rob is alone for the cool-down, however. Considering at least one back-up exerciser appears to have just met Rob before filming (and may not speak English as a first language), they keep up well, but there are some mistakes. In general I had better luck following the woman when Rob was demonstrating the next layer. Oh, and they're not wearing mics, so no awkward comments from the peanut gallery or wooing here.

Music: upbeat mix of instrumentals and vocals. If you have a number of Evolutions, especially the more recent ones, you've probably heard these tunes before. (In fact, a short promo for the soundtrack appears at the bottom of the screen during the first few seconds of the workout.)

Set: the kind of bare bones warehouse setting of the past few Evolution filmings, with screens and TV monitors with the spinning E along the back wall onto which green lights shine. I can't figure out why the fog machine goes off when it does; perhaps its operator was simply amusing him/herself by setting it off at random intervals. At least the fog never obscures any of the exercisers.

Production: clear picture and sound, with Rob's voice audible over the music, which is also audible without having to crank up the volume. I loved the straight on camera angle but could have done without the alternate ones, like the one that cut off Rob's feet or showed a close-up of Rob's face or even a close-up of his feet, and one of the side angles wasn't thought clearly through, because there was a blindingly bright light that appeared right above Rob's head. The transitions between shots aren't always smooth; sometimes there's kind of a slow mo effect for a few seconds before the next shot cuts in. The revolving E screen pops up between some parts but not others, and Rob's practically cut off at the end of the intro and the last stretch. And, yes, Evolution (not IDEA) tends to keep going through oopsies and doesn't go back and splice in another take (unless something really goes wrong). If you like a polished, slick product where you don't notice the production because it's so smooth, they may not be the company for you. This is kind of on the low side of what's normal for Evolution, though, and it's too bad the production isn't superb here because of this video's relatively wide release in the U.S., as it could have increased the market for Evolution videos on this soil.

Equipment: step (Rob & company use a full-sized club step with 1 set of risers) and sneakers that can pivot on your platform and flooring.

Space Requirements: You'll be moving all around your step, so make sure you have room to work comfortably on all sides and corners, but this isn't quite the space hog it could be (especially in comparison to some of Rob's own videos - I needed a little bit less space for this than I did for Amazing Step Styles).

DVD Notes: After a brief Evolution introduction, the main menu options are Play All, Introduction, Warm Up, Combination 1, Combination 2, Combination 3, Combination 4, Let's Go! All Together, and Special Features (Interview with Rob Glick, How to make an Evolution video?, Bonus blocks - here Rob's Good to Go Hi/Lo, Marcus Irwin's Step Tools, Steve Boedt's Step Power, John Shehan's The Step Challenge, and Robert Steinbacher's Step Sensations, Credits, Evolution video previews, and Free2Be previews). Note that the cool-down is not chaptered separately; you have to go to the Let's Go! All Together chapter and fast forward through about 3.5 min. to get to it. This is a bit unfortunate as it would be nice to stop after the first three combos and then hit the cool-down on days when you only have about an hour for the workout.

Stacie writes that she has a plain white case, but mine is a standard Evolution cover, black DVD case with artwork, including photos and text, on a black background. I got my copy from someone who normally deals in Evolutions, so maybe copies at venues that don't normally carry Evolution titles, like Collage, are the ones arriving in alternate covers.

Comments: While many Evolution videos are made primarily for instructors, this one seems to be designed to be used as a workout, both with the inclusion of the warm-up and cool-down and the fairly high amount of run-throughs of individual parts and whole combos. Rob has a few short asides to instructors, however.

I wasn't expecting to like this for some reason (I think I've read too many comments say Rob's teaching style makes it hard to pick things up and/or this one is too complicated or filmed too weirdly), but I do, so it's off my trade pile and on my shelves, where it belongs.

This has more turns and direction changes - and probably TIFTing - than the only other Rob step workout I've tried so far, Amazing Step Styles, but it's just within my realm of tolerance. (Rob's companion Evolution floor aerobics video, Good to Go Hi/Lo, was just a bit too spin-intensive for me.)

I'm finding it hard to make a good comparison for Rob's style here. Amazing Step Styles reminded me a lot of Christi Taylor, but this one, well, not so much. I definitely see that Rob's been hanging out with Evolution instructors, although this doesn't quite compare with Marcus Irwin or Rebecca Small's stuff, maybe more with some of the others. With the playing with counts I was kind of reminded of Kim Miller's CIA 2702 Aerobic Euphoria, but that one often ends on the 7th count and starts a new combo on the 8th (which trips up folks who want to be on the music); Rob stays on the music, so they aren't quite the same.

If I were a low-impact person, I think I'd probably really like this. Rob does a lot of fun moves, and he's an excellent teacher, but my legs crave impact.

This workout is intermediate/advanced for intensity, with most of it being intermediate. Toward the end, after you're done learning everything, you can get your heart rate up higher.

During the first half or so, Rob seems to be having a bad day. He messes up several times. He jokes about it, and it doesn't set you back too much, but I really think the video should have been re-done. If it was just once or twice, it would be no big deal. But I don't know why they just didn't re-shoot it. And I think if I were Rob, I would have insisted!

Despite that, I still give the tape a B+. The reasons it's not an A are (1) the goof-ups described above and (2) a plain white cover. For $24.95, I think we're entitled to better!