Stepping Up

I think of Seasun Zieger as the Queen of Complex Step. I have her first four step workouts, and this is, by far, my favorite. The music and choreography make this DVD super fun! It took me a long time to learn the choreography, but now that I have it (almost) down, the workout just flies for me. There are a few negatives (see below), but overall I think this workout is a winner.

Because of the choreography, I'd rate this DVD as advanced, and maybe even high advanced. I wouldn't recommend this to beginners or even low intermediates unless they are super persistent and willing to watch while they learn. I also wouldn't recommend this to people with knee issues because of all of the twisty, torque-y moves which aren't cued in advance – if they are cued at all.

To do this workout, you'll need a step, a mat, and a couple of dumbbells (for the core section).

The Workout

The workout consists of a 7.25 minute warm up; three stand alone combos totaling just over 32 minutes, including a couple of minutes of TIFTTing at the end of the second combo; a 9 minute section where she puts all of the combos together, first doing a combo on each side, then doing two "slice and dice" run throughs (all three combos on one side and then all three on the other); and a 4.75 minute cool down. The workout ends with a 13.5 minute core section, consisting of 11.5 minutes of plank variations and 2 minutes of crunch variations, and a 4.25 minute stretch.

The DVD also contains 4 premixes. These are:

Quick Stepping One (52 min) – warm up, combos 1 & 2, cool down, core, and stretch

Quick Stepping Two (51 min) – warm up, combos 2 & 3, cool down, core, and stretch

All Stepping All Combo Mix (48 min) – warm up, all combos no breakdowns 2x, cool down, core, and stretch

Core Mix (31 min) – core exercises repeated twice, and stretch

What I Liked

1. I liked so many things about this workout. It has lots of whirls and twirls, the music is good, and the energy level is high. The choreography is complex but that gives it staying power – there are no simple "step ups" or drill-based moves here!

2. Also, this is steady state step at its best. There are no intervals, no burpees randomly thrown into the middle, nothing but great, complex choreography. I love the way some of the choreography blocks fit together – there are some old friends – like "Elvis," mambos, and cha chas – as well as some moves I've never seen before.

3. Seasun does a number of steps with her back to the screen. However, there is a modifier that keeps everything turned to the front. As a general rule, I don't follow the modifier, but here it's nice to have that option.

What I Didn't Like / Things to Consider

1. Although I really like this workout overall, it's not without its flaws. The foremost among these is the cueing. I know some people think Seasun cues well, but I'm not one of them. In fact, in some places her cueing is non-existent, and in others she only cues every second or third step. If you don't believe me, wait until you get to "wonderland." Her cue is "wonderland – now watch us." To be fair, she does cue the very first iteration through, but after that, you're on your own. Put on your big girl (or big boy) pants, because she won't baby you! (As far as I can tell, she never cues "quick and box" or "hustle" but just expects you to pick them up by watching/rewinding/rewinding/rewinding/etc.)

2. Seasun has her own names for some of the steps, and she doesn't explain what they are. Rather, she just cues her name (like "quick and box" or "wonderland") and then expects you to know what that means. You almost need a decoder program to get through it. sigh

3. The BPMs in this workout are fast. That's ok when the choreography is simple, but here it is not. This compounds the cueing problem. Can you tell I had a problem with the cueing? It took me several months to learn the workout . . .

4. The core workout is mainly planks. I hate planks. I'll do a minute or two of them because I know they are good for me but 11 + minutes? That's overkill – totally unnecessary, in my view. And you can't easily avoid them in this workout because they are in every premix. On the good side, there aren't a lot of crunches – which can be a plus for some people.

5. The stretch section is only 4.5 minutes. That's pretty standard for a step workout. However, Seasun only holds each stretch for a few seconds each, so it feels rushed. I predict most people won't have a problem with this – but it would have been nice to have fewer stretches each held a little longer.

6. The workout is long -- just over 70 minutes. But if you skip the core section / plank fest, it's about an hour, and the premixes are less than that. I find that very doable.

In summary, this a great workout with marginal cueing. In my opinion, it's worth the time to learn it because it's really fun once you "get" it.