If you're looking for short cardio workouts to pop in the VCR when you're pressed for time, don't have much floor space, don't want to think too hard, but want to get in your minimum daily requirement of aerobics, Charlene's Cardio Crosstraining will fit the bill. You can work up a satisfying sweat with 25 minutes of floor cardio or 26 minutes of stepping. A three minute stretch of hams, calves and quads follows each workout. Fast forward through that first stretch and you'll have yourself a 51-minute fat burner.

In her typical style, Charlene moves quickly from one short pattern to the next during the low-impact floor aerobics, with minimal marching-in-place for transitions. She keeps the footwork simple, melding one pattern smoothly into the next, but keeps the intensity high with a brisk walking pace of 144 bpm and moves like big knees, scoop squats, step-leaps, and pendulums, but no pivots or turns. She even includes a short pattern with balance work. Charlene talks less than usual because she's cueing some sort of whisker change every 20 to 30 seconds--and she never misses a cue. This section is filmed outdoors in bright sunshine with the Canadian Rockies in the background. It's almost like exercising outdoors!

The step section is filmed outside too -- in a fog bank that they hadn't anticipated -- so this time Charlene and her two pals wear puffy down jackets and gloves until they warm-up! They get on their steps right away and again Charlene uses meticulous cueing to move you over and around the step as she makes her trademark whisker changes every 20 to 30 seconds. There's no chance to get bored here. Do a pattern a few times and you move on...no taking it from the top over and over. The entire step workout is low impact except for one pop-turn in the midst of L-steps, v-steps, knee repeaters, u-turns, crossovers, mambos and cha-chas. The 126 bpm stepping pace means experienced steppers can use a taller step for higher intensity, like Charlene and her pals do.

If you've ever had those "I know I should get some exercise...but it's too much work...I'm not in the mood...I don't have enough time" days, Tamilee has countered all three excuses with motivating music and fun dance steps in this Fit to the Hits set of workouts. No matter which workout you choose, Motown Moves or Rock Hard Assets, in just half an hour you'll work up a sweat and lift your spirits. By the cooldown you'll seriously consider popping the other video in so you can keep the party going.

In each workout, Tamilee teaches a huge variety of fun dance steps. She spices up ordinary aerobic steps with unusual arm movements, lots of hip gyrations and shoulder shimmies. She teaches 4 or 5 moves for each song, practices each move separately, then strings them together and takes it from the top (TIFTs) a few times before moving on to the next song and a new combo. Tamilee's cueing is terrific, so every combo is easy to follow. But you know what? Even if you mess up at first, it's no big deal...you're dancing! Tamilee often encourages you to change moves you don't like and do what you want. She also urges you to get into the party spirit and give it all you've got. After all, she reminds you... "no one's watching!"

Motown Moves has six great tunes. You warm up to Signed, Sealed, Delivered, cool down to I Heard It Through the Grapevine, and in between dance your heart out to Sugar Pie, Nowhere to Run, Uptight, and This Old Heart of Mine (in that order). You'll mambo, cha cha, shuffle, slide, pony, chug, twist, and grapevine through six different combos. You'll add rhythm changes and "attitude" to ordinary marches and taps, shimmy your shoulders and hips, and spice things up with free-flowing arm movements.

If rock music is more your style, Rock Hard Assets offers five rock hits. The workout opens with Free Ride, then you'll move and groove to Your Love is Driving Me Crazy, China Grove, Rock 'n Roll Band, and The Kid is Hot Tonight. These five combos use totally different footwork than Motown Moves. You'll do pivot turns, plenty of triple steps and hip swishes, and even play air guitar and drums. You'll move around the floor quite a bit and fling your arms in all directions. At times it feels like you're dancing in a music video. Again the steps are easy to learn, fun to do, and match the music quite well. Free Ride is played again for the cool down, when you'll review all the steps from the five combos.

As in the Tighter Assets Cardio Blast, the music bpms are slower for the warm-up and cool down and pick up during the aerobic peak. Motown Moves starts at 130 bms, while Rock Hard Assets starts a bit faster at 136 bpms. Both workouts peak at 148 bpms and cool down to 136 bpms.

This set makes a great gift for a sister, mother, aunt, daughter, or good friend wants to start exercising but worries it will be too hard...or too boring. Fit to the Hits could change her whole attitude about exercising. If you're a Baby Boomer who hasn't danced or exercised in years, these dance parties could be just the incentive you need to revisit and recapture your youth. If you're going to a holiday party, here's your chance to learn some moves that you can put to good use on the dance floor. If you're stressed out during the holidays, a half-hour dance break with Tamilee will have you singing along with her, and ready to face your "to do" list with renewed energy.

Using very basic low-impact aerobic steps and an intermediate pace of 144 bpm, Gilad leads his crew of 4 women and 2 men through a straightforward, easy-to-follow floor aerobic workout on a sunny Hawaiian beach. Counting in sets of 8, Gilad first teaches a classic aerobic step: V-step, step-touch, grapevine, hop-step, ham curl, knee lift, mambo. He then adds an arm move (biceps curls, swimming arms, big circles, elbow strikes) then slightly changes either the arms or feet. After putting five of these patterns together for the first block, he then repeats each pattern in sets of 4, and then 2 for about 11 minutes. He uses this same formula to teach 4 more patterns in block 2, then adds the two blocks together and TIFTs both for another 6 minutes. This steady-state cardio is followed by 5.5 minutes of short sprints of easy steps for a cardio interval effect. The workout ends with a short cardio cooldown and stretch.

Gilad and his crew are standing on circular mats on the sand that look to be about 6 feet in diameter. They never move outside of it, so you can do this tightly choreographed workout in a small space at home. However if you want to bump the aerobic intensity higher you'll want to cover as much ground forward-and-back and side-to-side as you have available. Carpet shouldn't be a problem with this workout as there are no pivots or turns.

Roll up your rug! Join Kathy, Keith Cooke and Keli Roberts for this fast-paced, high energy, well-designed Kickboxing Workout. After a thorough 10-minute warm-up that previews all the kicks and punches, you learn eleven short kickboxing combos. For 25 minutes, you kick and punch in patterns that vary in length and complexity, at a 144 bpm jogging tempo. For each combo Kathy teaches one move (often in slow-motion), adds another, then intensifies by increasing either the speed or the range of motion of the moves. Every segment includes either punching or kicking, but most incorporate both. In between kicks and knee lifts your feet stay low to the ground, but are always moving, either doing a boxer's shuffle or tapping in and out. Carpet is not the best surface for this workout unless you have slick soles on your shoes. There's a lots of twisting of the feet. Whether you manage to stay in your aerobic training zone depends on how fit you are to start. When a combo involves punching only, with minimal foot movement, the workout feels more like interval training (your heart rate may drop until you start kicking again). After the workout, but before the final stretch, there are five minutes of kicking drills. Following Kathy's precise instructions, you hold onto a chair to practice a rear lunge/knee-lift/kick combo as well as side and rear kicks. The bonus ab workout comes after the seated stretch. I suspect that many will skip it, because although it's only a few reps each of four exercises, it's very tough.

Kickboxing workouts can be tough on the knees, hips, and back. Pivoting your lower body into the punches and balancing on one leg for the kicks requires leg strength and joint flexibility. Fast torso rotations during punches can stress your back. If you're an intermediate or advanced exerciser who's new to kickboxing this workout is a great way to learn the basics safely. Before the workout begins Kathy and Keith explain and demonstrate the basic kickboxing moves. Throughout the workout form and technique pointers are provided through voice-overs and inset screens. (Occasional slo-mo camera work can be distracting and may throw you out of rhythm until you've done the workout a few times.) However, beginners to exercise should strengthen their legs and abs and improve their flexibility before upping their aerobic intensity to this level.

As stand-alone "timesavers" these workouts are mislabeled. The tempo of each workout starts fast, gets faster, and stays that way until the end. While the workouts do keep you in a fat-burning training zone for 20 minutes, you should gradually warm up to that pace and cool down from it. Kathy may have saved herself some time by not including a warm-up or cool-down on tape, but it will take you more than 20 minutes to do a safe workout. Be sure to keep moving and let your heart rate lower out of your training zone before you start the final stretch. Better yet, use these as add-ons to another workout...after you've warmed up.

Each 20-minute advanced workout has a different format. The first workout quickly accelerates to a jogging intensity (150 bpm) and stays there. The second one starts at that 150 bpm pace and gets even higher during short "calorie bursts" for an interval training effect. In the first workout four short routines are taught in an add-on style. Three steps are taught, practiced a few times, then added together. As each routine is introduced it's added to the others and "taken from the top" a couple of times before new moves are taught. Two levels of impact are shown, but the intensity of both levels comes more from the fast tempo and the quick steps than the jumping or impact moves. In the second workout four routines are taught and practiced separately in 5-minute blocks. Each routine consists of three or four moves which are practiced singly, strung together, then performed at "calorie burst" speed. Higher-impact options are shown but not taught, you have to pick up that footwork on your own. Watch carefully! The thorough eight minute floor stretch starts cross-legged for upper body stretches and moves into lying leg stretches.

Long time Kathy Smith fans will be surprised by Kathy's teaching style in this workout. Her enthusiasm is unbridled (and at times feels forced) as she whoops and hollers into her headphone. Throughout each workout the 12 cast members take turns standing on either side of Kathy to lead a routine. They all wear microphones too and whoop and yell along with her. This gung-ho enthusiasm takes Kathy's attention away from on-time cuing, so she's not at her best in this workout. And the flashy camera work can throw off your rhythm. Occasionally a slow-motion or out-of-focus shot, or a sloppy edit puts your steps out of of sync with the music. Kathy's "hyper" style, the pulsing music, the fast pace of the aerobic footwork, the busy set, flashy camera work and editing, and the frequent position changes of the cast can create a sensory overload which may not appeal to exercisers who need to concentrate in order to follow along. But if you need high energy and enthusiasm to get you moving... you've got it here.

If you're getting bored with aerobic workouts that are based on "athletic" or "toning" moves and you're ready to try more dance-oriented footwork, this well-taught Method workout is a great place to start. The feel of a dance rehearsal makes the time fly by as you learn three separate dance routines. You can combine all three segments for 45 minutes of cardio or work up to that gradually.

After a low-keyed warm-up the workout is divided into 3 segments or "Intensities" that get progressively longer and faster. The First Intensity is 10.5 minutes long and has the slowest-paced tempo of 120 bpm. This strolling pace is a great break-in for beginners and the choreographically-challenged (like myself). Even if you can't do this routine flawlessly the first few times through, the combination is so much fun that you'll want to work to perfect it. The Second Intensity speeds up to 132 bpm. You cover more ground and learn new steps in this 15-minute combo. The Third Intensity is the longest at 18.5 minutes and the fastest at 138 bpm -- a brisk walking pace. During each Intensity Lisa teaches five different short patterns that are practiced one at a time, added together, and taken from the top a few times. Basic aerobic steps are embellished with jazz or ballet type arms moves and what Lisa calls "accents" for the footwork. She shows you how to add pizzazz and style to basic steps like cha chas, grapevines, mambos, and the Charleston and teaches you how to turn a forward march into a "swing step" and a double side step into a "leg over the top."

Lisa does a great job of breaking down each long combination into short do-able steps. She doesn't belabor the teaching either, the new steps come at you pretty fast. But you get plenty of time to practice them again when she takes it from the top. Lisa uses dance terminology quite casually. Don't let that throw you though. Just follow what she does, don't worry about what she calls it. You may not master the footwork for each combination perfectly the first few times through, but there is something to be said for trying a cardio workout that gives you something to work toward. Take it from someone who considers herself to have two left feet, this dancy footwork takes some brain power, but is quite doable and best of all, it's fun. Once you learn the steps you can make your transitions smoother and put more intensity into each "rehearsal." By your final "performance" you'll feel like you're really dancing!

Influenced by principles of Tai Chi, yoga, Reebok Flexible Strength and dance, Petra has designed this unique aerobic workout to challenge and improve your balance, coordination, strength and mind/body connection. Twelve graceful, circular moves are joined together one by one into a graceful flowing dance, at a moderate pace of 128-130 bpms. The moves are very easy to follow and surprisingly aerobic -- the cardio intensity is kept up by using large circular arm movements and many squatting movements. The workout is energizing yet leaves you relaxed. Petra does a great job of cueing and instructing in a low-keyed, mellow style. All levels can benefit from the mind/body aspects of the workout.

The nine-minute warm-up introduces 5 moves; Gather the Chi, Open the Door, Beat the Drum, Travel with Circle Arms, and Push-Pull Arms with Plies. Over the next 26 minutes seven more moves are introduced: Cloud Hands, Circle the Belt, Gathering Stars, Sunrise/Sunset, Bow & Arrow, Throwing the Pearl, and Soaring Eagle. For each move footwork and arms are taught separately, first in slow motion, then up-to-tempo. Each new move is practiced separately, then combined to the others and this new combo is TIFTed -- sometimes a few times -- before the next move is introduced. The entire sequence of 12 moves is TIFTed twice at the end. The four-minute cooldown consists of three yoga-influenced balancing poses, followed by Open the Door, Hug the Moon and one final Gathering of the Chi. Petra does this workout alone and barefoot on a wood floor. There are no pivots and only one twirl. You don't need a lot of room -- most of the steps go side-to-side, two go forward and back but you've never taking big steps.

Expanding on the concepts that she introduced in BREATHE 1, Petra has created another unique low-impact aerobic workout that's designed to increase body awareness by connecting movement and breath, and to improve balance and coordination by focusing on one side at a time with slow-paced, flowing choreography. Alone on stage again, this time against a mellower background of white columns and soft pastel lighting, Petra links twelve Tai Chi and yoga inspired movements together into a relaxing yet energizing 42-minute dance that's suitable for every fitness level. Only one move, Beating the Drum, is repeated from BREATHE 1. The rest of the moves are new, although similar in feel to BREATHE 1.

The Tai Chi principle of using smooth, continuous circular moves -- never stopping once your body is set in motion-- is the foundation of this workout. Once you begin -- by sweeping your arms out to the side then overhead to Gather the Chi -- either your arms or your legs are constantly in motion. Even so, the aerobic aspect of BREATHE 2 seems less intense than BREATHE 1, because new moves are introduced in slow motion, and even when they are later practiced up to tempo, they are performed at half the speed of the music. So while the background music sounds fast at 132 bpms, you're really moving at half that speed. Also, half of the moves involve no leg movement at all. You're either balancing on one leg, or standing with both feet planted, moving only your arms.

Petra does an excellent job of teaching and cueing. She's upbeat yet mellow; encouraging yet relaxed. She is working out barefoot which is not a problem, as there's no impact and lots of balancing, which is often easier when you're barefoot. You don't need a lot of space for this workout, but you do need enough space to walk forward four steps and side-to-side four steps.

Filmed outdoors in Arizona, in front of a huge rock waterfall on a gloriously sunny day, this cardio workout of sports drills is designed to improve your agility, coordination and stamina by using moves from basketball, baseball and football in an interval training format. This athletic workout offers an easy-to-follow alternative to dancy, complicated hi-lo choreography and should also appeal to men (there are three in the cast, and three women) and to weekend warriors who want to get in shape for or stay sharp for pick-up games of baseball, softball and basketball.

You'll improve your coordination by practicing throwing with both arms, your leg strength by practicing the sports stance (mini-squat), your agility by doing many side-to-side shuffles and your stamina by repeating the moves 16 to 32 times and sometimes more. An intermediate level 136-138 bpms pace is maintained throughout, although during two cardio drills you're encouraged to set your own pace and go faster as you can. You don't need much floor space as most of the drills move you from side to side. Adding impact is optional -- one woman always shows a low-impact and lower intensity option for every drill.

After a thorough 10-minute warm-up and dynamic stretch of the leg muscles Kassandra opens with a cardio drill of Jump Rope & Jumping Jacks. From here on each sports drill is followed by a short recovery interval of marching in place, step-touches, and occasionally squats. Kassandra is an energetic, encouraging teacher. She carefully teaches each new drill, often introducing it in slow-motion before picking up the pace. You'll start with a basketball Defensive Shuffle drill and later on do two more: Bother the Shooter and Dribble, Dribble, Bounce, Pass. You'll do three football drills: Three-point Stance & Run, Quarterback Throw, and Hut, Hut Drop Back & Pass. For baseball drills you'll do Scuff & Pitch, First Base Lunge & Catch, Shuffle & Throw and Batting drill. The second cardio drill is called Quick Hands, Quick Feet and Quick Hands, High Knees. After a short aerobic cooldown and a few standing stretches, you target the upper and oblique abs for four minutes with crunches, and finish with a thorough leg stretch on the floor.

Tamilee has incorporated balance, power and abs into this half-hour interval training cardio workout. While combining a variety of athletic and dance moves into short Blasts for cardio training, she adds moves that will strengthen your core stabilization muscles and improve your balance. This short but intense cardio workout is great for those days you don't have a lot of time for exercise, but want to maximize the time you have. Tamilee's instruction is not as laid back as it is in her Fit for the Hits dance-based workouts. Here she's a bit more serious because she want you to work as hard as you can to achieve those Tighter Assets!

Tamilee gets right down to business with a short 3-minute warm-up that includes very brief stretches for the hamstrings, calves and lower back. The workout is then divided into five Cardio Blasts. In each 5-minute Blast Tamilee teaches three or four moves. Some start out low-impact like step-touches, step-taps, ham curls, or knee repeaters. Others are higher impact from the start -- jogging forward with heels up, jogging backwards with knees high, shuffles side to side, ponies. Next she increases the cardio intensity by adding arm movements and changing a low-impact move to a higher impact one -- step-touches become step-leaps, marches become plyometric jumps out and in. Finally, she challenges the core muscles in each Blast by freezing a move and balancing briefly on one leg. The higher impact plyometric moves make this an intermediate workout, although beginners could certainly keep most of the steps lower impact.

Tamilee's excellent cueing and the simple steps and short combos make this workout very easy to follow. The music has a good beat that motivates you to keep moving, as does Tamilee's encouragement to "give it all you've got, this is the last time through." You don't need much space for this workout -- four steps forward-and-back and four side-to-side are as far as you travel. Then again, the bigger your steps, the higher the intensity!

Cross your heart, awaken the chi, release tension, settle the chi, capture the chi -- these moves from the warm-up set the tone for the workout and make you focus immediately on its most important aspect -- that exercise can be about much more than losing weight or building muscles. Ginette's energetic instruction and verbal cueing constantly asks you to focus on your chi (energy). She wants to help you find it and activate it to improve your life. Sounds a bit "New Age" I know -- but this is a mind/body workout, and Tai Chi is a mindful discipline -- and how can you resist Ginette when she asks you to push and pull the waves, reach to the heavens, connect with the earth, push the clouds away, and hold the sun in your hands?

For 46 minutes, Ginette (Fire) leads you and her crew of four (Water, Earth, Wood, Metal) through an interval training cardio workout, using easy-to-learn and easy-to-follow footwork and arm motions based on Tai Chi and Qigong movements. After the 11-minute warm-up Ginette teaches five different combos, introducing new moves in each one. She starts with a simple move, adds intensity by changing the arms or legs, or both, and sometimes adds impact. In the first two combos you learn a move, practice it, then learn a new one -- no taking it from the top. In the last three combos you do three or four moves on one side, then repeat the series (TIFT) leading with the other leg.

Tai Chi is based on continuity and flow, so you're cued to keep your joints soft -- elbows, knees, wrists stay slightly bent and fluid, never locked out. Your shoulders get a good workout as you make lots of big circular arm motions like dancing tiger, sunrise/sunset, dancing rainbows and rotating the golden sphere. Lower body moves like leg lifts, lunges, and squats are cued with phrases like raising the heavens, warrior lunge, warrior runs to the mountains, dan tien squats, support the heavens, and sweep kicks. In each combo you have the option of staying with the low-impact version or adding impact by hopping. In between combos you'll either march in place or connect with the earth in the wu chi position (alternating side-to-side toe taps with a mini-squat between taps) for a short recovery interval.

The 10-minute cooldown repeats some of the cardio moves at a slower pace. While keeping your arms below shoulder level and your legs in constant motion you move the clouds away, hold a ball of energy, push the waves, feel the water fall. The workout ends the same way it began -- inhaling rivers (energy that is moving) and mountains (energy that is stable)-- by sweeping your arms out to the side until they meet over head and back down again.

The workout tempo is 140 bpms. You don't need too much floor space as most of the moves are done in place or with a few steps side-to-side or forward and back. The cardio intensity come from lifting the legs high, squatting or lunging low and moving your arms vigorously, not from taking big steps and covering ground. This workout won't appeal to everyone, but Ginette's personality and energy are very motivating and the unusual moves should keep your attention focused right were it should be -- on your chi.