I really enjoy the "G-Force Ultimate
Funk" workout. This is a floor aerobics tape about
an hour long led by three fun, attractive young (or
young-acting!) men with great choreography, good
instruction and excellent cueing. I’ve been doing
dance aerobic videos, especially funk/hip-hop style
videos, for almost 10 years and would rate this at the
intermediate level for choreographic complexity and
low-intermediate for intensity. Much of the reason for
the lower intensity rating is the common characteristic
of fairly complex dancy videos of slowing down the
movement while a new move is being presented. However,
this is not done to an annoying extreme in this video; I
think this just goes with the territory (although I wish
sometimes producers would do TWO versions of the same
workout—one mainly instructional & one the
continuous, repeating routine for the time when
you’ve learned it all! Anyone listening?)
I find that an aerobics tape lead by three guys is a
nice change and these fellows have a different sort of
playful rapport with a bit of the
"guy-bantering" and some of the hip-hoppy
trendy encouragement you might expect—e.g.,
"Let’s get busy, let’s work it!" but
I find none of this annoying at least not after doing the
workout six times or so. Most of the moves are fun to
watch and to do and flow well from one to the other. The
tape has a fairly long warm-up which is OK and a much
shorter (and somewhat more interesting) cooldown which
should include a bit more stretching , but I feel that
way about every one of the 30-40+ exercise tapes of all
types I’ve tried.
In short, if you like funk and don’t mind the
typical lowered intensity that goes with teaching all the
cool moves, you might agree with my A+ rating of this
tape!
Annie O.
8/26/97
This is a complex tough funk tape. Rob warms you up and stretches you out before the workout. Then Darrin starts off with some complex funk moves. Patrick and Rob are in the background funking out to the music. You can tell right away that Patrick is more of a "dancer" then Rob. Anyway, they show you the move at a fast pace and then break down the move at a slow pace at least twice to help you get the move. I found myself lost at times because they do put in alot of turns. The music beat in this video is a lot slower then step so it is more low impact but very complex and dancy. It's like going dancing at a club with 3 great instructors. After Darrin's section comes Patrick (which is my favorite part) He is just having so much fun that it makes the workout fly. He wants you to work it! He tells you, " You are auditioning in front of us and we're the judges, so you have to work us!!". Patrick also does some funny moves like, smooth criminal and thriller. Patrick even growls into the camera on a closeup of a thriller move that had me laughing for a long time. I was working up a small sweat when Rob comes along to teach you just a little bit (two, 8 count moves) He throws in a lot of power moves like slapping the ground and hopping so it does start to get the heartrate up. He obviously is not a dancer like Darrin and Patrick so he puts more nondancy moves to the workout. Then comes Patrick to show you another 8 count move and then Darrin ends the workout with some very tricky funky moves with your feet. They always keep going back to the beginning of what they taught you so you really have to remember alot! They also do a lot of marching too which is one drawback but you can always jump in place like Patrick does sometimes to keep your heartrate up. Darrin cools you down with some grapevines that turn and a nice stretch to a really neat song. It was a nice workout but not to high in intensity.It is really like going to a club and dancing. I was sweating but not wiped out like I feel with a step workout. The G-Force team were very sweaty but I think it's because they were wearing 3 layers of clothes. Baggy pants and long sleeved shirts with a sports jersey shirt over the shirt. The video has the same background as the CIA 9000 series. The music is super fun and funky.
You can actually take some of these moves to the dance club.
Instructor comments: Patricks teaching style is excellent. The moves are very complex so it takes a great instructor to get them across and Patrick is perfect. He dances so well and talks to you as if you are his good friend.
Darrin's teaching style is good too. He is really quite handsome without his beard. Oh, those eyes!!He wears a hankerchief on his head. I was glad he did the cool down.
Rob doesn't do much in the video except warm you up and then a small part of the funk. It's mostly Patrick and Darrin that lead this video. He does have to tie his shoe a couple times which makes it more like a real class. He has a really nice smile.
Mandy Lee
1/7/98
This video has convinced me that if I ever had a "funky" bone in my body, I shattered it beyond mending at a very young age! This video has already been broken down very well by other reviewers, so I'll stick with what this video did for me. I love the rapport these guys have in this video. I love the fact that they have fun and don't take themselves too seriously. In fact, they looked like they could have been just hanging out and goofing around together (I mean that in a good way!). I WANTED to be able to do this video. The music makes you want to move. But I just could not make my body move the way it had to to do these routines. It was pretty hard to get into my target heart rate zone when I spent all my time looking dumbfounded at the TV going, "How did you do that?" Even when the combo was broken down and run through slowly, I just couldn't get it. It was very frustrating for me. The flavor and "attitude" reminded me of DonnaMite, but the routines are much faster and more complex. If you have a "groove thing" you'll probably love this tape. If you have an extra that you aren't using, PLEASE send it to me so I can do fun videos like this one! :-)
Erin F.
01-12-99
This video has been out for awhile, but I just wanted to write about how much fun I think it is. I have a lot of aerobics videos and I get bored of them pretty easily. This one is a good one to do if you aren't feeling super energetic, because the pace does slow down as the moves are taught. But the moves are a blast to do. It takes a few viewings to get them down, but I found myself really enjoying the video even the first time. The G-Force seem to be having a great time and there's kind of an informal atmosphere in the video. Just a lot of fun.
Instructor comments: I love the G-Force videos. Darrin, Patrick, and Rob always seem to be enjoying themselves and they make the workouts a lot of fun. Their style may be a little too fun and not serious enough for some.
Cathy Mark
01/15/99
