Customer Reviews

Jane Fonda's Step Aerobic and Abdominal Workout [VHS]

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This workout video is divided into two parts. First there is
a 45-minute step aerobic section which includes a warm-up,
several different step combination featuring a rotation of
three instructors, a cool-down, and a short lower body stretching
segment. The second part is a ten-minute ab workout hosted by
Jane Fonda herself. The step workout is not difficult, in fact
it may be aimed more for beginners as the instructors often ask
the viewer to pay attention to their breathing and lessen their
movements if need be. I consider myself at a strong intermediate
level and work out with step videos 4-7 days a week. When adding
my own propulsion, I still feel I get a good workout with this
video. I like the rotating instructors (especially the cute guy,
I get tired of only watching women instructors on aerobics tapes).
I feel different instructors bring variety to the workout. The music also
changes with each rotation. Not the most hip music (this is
probably not a tape aimed at the young), but oh well.

The ab workout makes this video well worth seeking out. Fonda
does an excellent job explaining the moves, especially how to
breath during the crunches. I used to be confused on the correct
breathing procedure during abdominal crunches. Often, I would
unconsciously hold my breath. After using this video, I know
the correct breathing plus correct arm placement for all my
ab workouts!

Don't listen to those detractors of this exercise video. I consider myself an intermediate, and I find it a great routine. I have been doing this tape on and off for years now, and I am not bored with it. In fact after you really get to know the routine and steps, it's a lot of fun, and there are certainly enough ways in which you can challenge yourself. Beginners can start on the floor before advancing to the step. And once you are using the step you can increase the height as you get fitter. Plus there are different levels of intensity that you can follow, for example, bigger arm movements or higher knee or leg lifts, plus you can do high impact moves as opposed to lower impact. The instructors are friendly and helpful, and each movement is easy enough to follow so you're not falling over your feet all the time (which can lead to injury) like some exercise tapes I've done. The final 10 minutes you get a one-on-one with Jane for a great ab workout that really works. This is a workout that will make you feel and look wonderful. Recommended.

I agree with another reviewer... this is not an exciting workout, but I have been coming back to this workout time and again for over 10 years. This routine goes by so quickly and doesn't kill you, yet you get fit so soon! Start off by using "no step" a few times and before you know it, you are putting everything you have into it with the step.

I rarely did the abs part of the workout because I am always crunched for time. Also, this workout NEVER hurt my back. I quit this out of sheer boredom and tried the firm for 9 months and really killed my back. I've just gone back to Jane and will probably never leave her again!

The ab work after the main step/cardio workout is absolutely fabulous. As always Jane Fonda is great at instructing and the ab work is really hard but really worth it, as you almost can feel your abs shaping and toning up during this section.
But the step workout could be a lot better. The coreography is way too simple if you have been stepping for years. And I found that the stepping section was just way too easy for an advanced excerciser like me.
Try the other Jane Fonda video, step and stretch, for a better and more challenging step workout!

I bought my aeorbic step about a month ago. This was the first step video I tried. I chose this workout video because I wanted to try step aeorbics, and Jane Fonda is the leader in workout videos.

This workout is fun and effective! I consider myself to be in pretty good shape and this workout makes me sweat buckets! The step portion of the video lasts for 45 minutes. Jane is not in the step class, but it feels as if she's there. The 45 minutes of stepping goes by really fast. The moves are fairly simple to learn. I'm very uncoordinated, so it did take me about 5 or 6 times of doing this video to catch on to the choreography. However, if you are the least bit coordinated, it shouldn't take you as long as it did me to catch on.

The workout starts with a five-minute warmup. Then the stepping is taught by three instructors who take turns leading: Laurel, Jeannie, and Mark. I like all three instructors, although I must say that I think Mark could have been a little better with his cueing during one particularly difficult (for me) sequence. Otherwise, I think they all did a fine job. After the step aerobics, Jeannie leads a cool down.

Jane is alone while she leads the 10-minute abdominal class at the end of the tape. These ab exercises are quite challenging without being extremely difficult. I love the way Jane teaches. She's very encouraging without being phony.

I enjoy this tape much more that the Step Reebok video that came with my step! At least the people in Jane's video look as if they're having fun and want to be there. I think this video would be good for beginners through advanced, and especially good for intermediates. If you are advanced, you'll probably have to raise your step up to the highest level, and then it would be perfect.

I have always loved Jane Fonda's series of workout videos. This is one of her best! Even though Jane is not even in the step routine, her presence is. This workout if safe, upbeat, and fat-burning with three wonderful instructors that take you through 45 minutes of all kinds of routines and music. The last 10 minutes of the workout is with Jane and is focused on your abs. She does a wonderful job of crunching all of your ab muscles the right way with some stretching afterwards. If you want to start step aerobics or are bored with your current routine, THIS is the one for you!

I never comment on my experiences as a consumer but I can't resist this one. After having my first child in 1993 I was devastated by my new shape. Obviously, the person who negatively commented on this video in June 2002 made 3 grave errors; 1)She believes one must "sweat" to burn calories, hence develop a fabulous figure, 2) she didn't finish the video so how in the world could she sweat, and 3) a positive attitude is 1/2 the battle, because if you have a negative attitude, you'll never stick it out long enough to experience the greater things in life. I liked the change up of instructors because I believe exercise should be fun, otherwise you won't keep doing it. The music is upbeat (not trendy), therefore, you never get tired of it. You name it, I've tried it and this is the only thing that really works for me! I didn't buy the tape to see Jane, I bought it because of the life changing benefits I would reap by including proper diet and exercise, which means you must progress beyond the fastforward button on the remote. Let's face it, Jane is the guru of aerobics and she is viewed as such by her peers. She understands what it takes to produce positive results. That is why she is a household name, and we are NOT. Thanks Jane, you changed my life, body and attitude.

I used this VHS tape safely for years. I would love to buy it on DVD.

I've owned this video for almost ten years, and in that time I've gone through periods where I was doing this workout every day (for two years) and periods where I switched to other forms of exercise (other videos, walking, Tae-Bo, yoga). Although the other forms of exercise were more interesting -- appealing to the secret MTV viewer in me -- the real proof of this tape's success is the fact that I keep coming back to it.

When I first bought this tape, I weighed around 165 pounds. After doing this tape every day for a year, eating whatever I wanted (no dieting at all), I was down to 125 pounds. If I had altered my diet in addition to doing this tape, I would obviously have lost the weight more quickly. I won't kid you -- there were many days in that one-year period when the last thing I wanted to hear was the sound of these instructors' voices, but I stuck with it and saw the results I was looking for. The length is perfect -- just under 45 minutes not counting the abdominal workout, which I never used -- so I could easily fit it in before or after work. If you're looking for something simple and basic that produces results -- and if you don't care about music or "hip" photography -- this tape will work for you.

I taught aerobics for a few years and when I'm not in the gym, I step back to Jane Fonda's Step and Abs tape. If you paid attention in any step class, you know how to make a class more challenging for yourself. This tape considers the beginner through intermediate - you can augment the movements here to make it an advanced workout: highest height step, and arms above the heart, and hopping.
The instructors are interesting - even the students add to the interest - its the closest to feeling like I'm in a gym class of any tape I've used.
Also, its 1992 vintage makes it closer to the origins of the step craze - before the instructors tried to make step aerobics into a complex dance class.