Product: Donna-Mite Aerobic Workout [VHS] (1995)
Rating: 3.0
Looks fun but hard to learn
I've done a lot of workout videos over time, and with very few exceptions I've been able to learn them within just a few tries. Not this one. I've gone through it about five times, and I still get so frustrated I want to kick the TV (which might burn off some calories, come to think of it). The problems:-- The camera work is awful. It focuses on faces, not feet, far too often. Moves change, and I have no idea what I should be doing because I'm watching someone's happy, singing face.-- Donna does a move once or twice -- and then moves on to another move. Later she'll come back to the first move, but I never did it often enough to remember it. This is typical for dance, especially when you've got a while to get a routine down. But it's frustrating when you just want a good workout in the morning before you go to work.-- Donna uses the same terminology for different moves. This adds to the confusion.On the bright side:-- Great music. You can't beat the Motown hits for inspiration.-- Donna's very perky, very supportive. Not irritating. I enjoyed her personality and found her motivating.-- She provides a low-impact alternative to almost all the high-impact moves (although the woman doing the low-impact moves can't help herself at one point and does jump off the floor).-- I would imagine that once you got the moves down, this would be a fun workout and one you could do often. It remains to be seen whether I'll have the patience to keep tripping over myself long enough to finally learn the routines.-- If you never do learn to do the steps on this tape, I suppose you can still boogie down to great music and get a good workout doing your own thing.