Charlotte Williams: Power Dance Mix; Charlotte Williams: Step With Power; Hot Country: Buns, Abs & Arms; Hot Country: Step

"Are you ready to experience Charlotte's magic?" inquires the brochure for these videos. If you're idea of strenuous exercise is playing wastepaper basketball, the answer is probably "no": either of these workouts will tax you big time. But, for intermediate to advanced aerobicizers, Power Dance Mix and Step With Power will offer a demanding, yet fun, regimen. Charlotte Williams, an ACE, ACSM, and AFAA certified instructor guides viewers through four 10-minute high-energy workouts in Power Dance Mix (Funk, Low Impact, High/Low Impact, and Hip Hop). Step With Power maintains the same energetic pace with a brisk warm-up, followed by five sets of 7-8 minute cycles (consisting of aerobic, anaerobic, and active recovery segments), concluding with a floor session for stretches and abdominal work. Similar to Street Jam to the 2nd Power (reviewed in our February 1993 issue), but with more structure, Power Dance Mix is very good. For those looking for supplemental videos on step workouts (in addition to, say, Tim Culwell's Creative Stepp series, reviewed in our November-December 1993 issue), Step With Power is a fine choice. Two other titles by Williams are Funk It Up and Combo Jam.Ruth McGinniss, country violinist-cum-fitness guru returns with a new pair of tapes (plying less bow than in Hot Country: Aerobics, reviewed in our April 1993 issue): Hot Country: Buns, Abs & Arms and Hot Country: Step. The former features C&W star Joe Diffie in an introductory session with McGinniss, after which McGinniss leads a group through a series of free weight (light), chair-supported, and floorwork exercises set to a C&W musical background. The problem with Hot Country: Buns, Abs & Arms (the cover of which suggests more emphasis on weights than is actually in the program) is that it claims to be a "total conditioning program," although many of the exercises are way too easy to qualify as "total conditioning" exercises. Hot Country: Step on the other hand is a decent, if also somewhat simple, step exercise video aimed at beginners. Here, C&W singer Michelle Wright runs through the basics of using the step, before McGinniss leads a group through a 35-minute workout. I suppose that these programs would appeal to fans of C&W music, even though it just doesn't strike me as real exercise music. When I hear songs like "I Fall to Pieces" and "Chains" I don't want to pump iron, I want to share a brewski with my dog and swap tales about our achy breaky hearts.Charlotte Williams: Power Dance Mix and Charlotte Williams: Step With Power are both highly recommended. Hot Country: Buns, Abs, and Arms is not a necessary purchase. Hot Country: Step is recommended. (R. Pitman)