G-Force Ultimate Step

I"ve just done this tape for the first time this morning. It is Fun, Fun, Fun. The music is great and the choreography really goes along with the beat. All the instructors do good work in cueing and breaking the routine, so I get almost of it the first time through, but I still don’t do all the propulsion moves. I think that the intensity is intermediate/low advance which is the appropriate level for me. The choreography is not too difficult to learn and fun to do and it really flows from one instructor to the others. The most difficult part for me is Patrick section. Not that it is too complex. But I always have a hard time to do any move that cross the leg over the step (my legs are short). There are some tricky switching legs in his section, but I can get it down in a few tries. I really like when Patrick says something sort of "You know me, I never keep anything too basic" before he shows a variation of some moves. I even rewind and do all the combos twice. It is true that in the beginning this workout seems to be a little sluggish and Patrick warm-up is somewhat repetitious (it hurts me to say so), but after a few minutes, everything will go by quickly and you will have a very good time. I would recommend this tape to any intermediate steppers who like some tricky choreography.

I'm here to defend this tape, though I have to preface this review by saying I am two months pregnant and am easily winded so I can't accurately judge the intensity though I'd guess high intermeidate/low advanced. One of the reason that I really like it right now is that unlike CF tapes, it's very easily modified to low impact, which is all I am doing right now. That said, I have to say I really, really like this tape. With three instructors each teaching a segment, it goes very quickly. After the second segment, the first two are combined and after Patrick's third section, all three are done a couple of times through. The choreography is not as tough as in Patrick's 9001 but there are a few tricky parts, including a some kind of change lunge repeater that I didn't pick up the first time through and some steps that I actually have not seen before, like Patrick's step back and down on an on-the-step sidestep.. I thought it flowed well and didn't contain any really dull moves, and there were a lot of power options. If I have any complaint, it's that the first guy (don't remember if it's Rob or Darrin) repeats his intial move a few too many times, but once you're through that, it moves pretty quickly. Also, there is basically no cooldown; instead they move right into a stretch to Michael Jackson's Heal the World. All in all, a keeper for me. The tape is worth it just for Patrick, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked the whole package.

I was looking for a new step video, as the only ones I have are Reebok's The Video, and Karen Voight's Energy Sprint. Those are good videos, though I thought the Reebok video didn't get interesting until the middle. This video seemed interesting because of the three different male instructors. I like a lot of variety in my workouts. I was not sure what to expect because of the largely negative reviews on this site. The first time I did it, I was pretty lost, though it was still a good workout. I have done the video 5 times now, and I have finally got it down. I think it is a blast. I get my heart-rate up pretty high doing this one. So I would recommend it to intermediate steppers, since that is what I consider myself. It does take some time to master everything, but it really gave me a feeling of accomplishment. I look forward to doing this one again!

This is great fun, but not *as* fun as their Ultimate Cardio or Ultimate High/Low. So I'll have to give it an A-.

There are three segments, and each instructor teaches one segment. You combine #1 and #2, and then at the end, you combine all 3 and do it a couple of times.

There are lots of power and impact moves, but they always start off showing the easiest version of the move, and then showing the more advanced options.

I have raved about Patrick Goudeau more than once in the past -- and it pains me to say this, but -- are you ready -- his routine is not my favorite on this tape! (Ouch, that hurt!) Although his routine is my 2nd favorite, and very, very good, I think Rob's routine does outshine Patrick's. And Darrin's comes in a very close third.

I recommend this workout to anyone looking for a fun, challenging step tape. I hope the G-Force makes a million more videos.

Long live the G-Force. I love these guys!

I bought this tape to add to my advanced collection of Step aerobics tapes. I love Cathe Friedrich tapes and thought this would add a little variety - plus the opportunity to watch three good looking guys teaching aerobics. Since there were no reviews on this site, I decided that since it is a “staff favorite” in the Collage catalog, it couldn’t be that bad. Well, it is. The biggest criticism I have of this tape is that it is repetitive. The tape consists of a warm up, 40 minutes of aerobics and a cool down. The warm up consists of one combination done over and over and over and over. The aerobics section consists of three different combinations. It seems to take forever for them to teach the first combination. By the time it is taught, I am tired of it. But they are not through at that point: once the basic combination is taught, it is varied (power moves added) and repeated over and over and over and over. I didn’t particularly care for the first segment. I always seemed to end up in the wrong spot or on the wrong leg. To be honest, after the first segment, I was so bored, I turned the tape off and gave up. In order to submit a fair review, I watched the rest of the tape (to see if it gets any more exciting - it doesn’t).

I think there is a big difference between taking a live aerobics class and doing a video. The G-Force guys are probably good at giving live classes because they are spontaneous (playing air guitar, making little comments back and forth, etc.) and take a lot of time to teach the steps. This really isn’t appropriate for a video. Since a tape is done numerous times, it is really not necessary to go into such detail in teaching steps. I can imagine these three guys would get very annoying if I bothered to do this video regularly.

This tape is somewhat hard to follow. I was looking for an advanced tape as an alternative to Cathe Frederich. I found the cueing was hard to follow. The music and choreography are good, but the tape needs to be done more than a few times to be able to follow it at their pace.

Not a video I will do regularly. It takes a lot of concentration to do properly.

This video would be perfect for anyone seeking out challenging choreography. Its moves are complex and take a while to get the hang of. I often got very frustrated and found myself rewinding the tape what seemed like every five seconds. To add to my frustration, these guys are enough to put you over the edge. The tape is broken down into three segments, each taught by a different instructor. The second segment is the only one that didn't get on my nerves. To be honest, this video gives the impression of three college kids making a video for gym class. Although they do offer variations of the moves, they do not provide safe stepping techniques or tips. This video will not see the inside of my VCR again.