But, the more I read information from Mr. Aponte, the more I became impressed with what he had to say. So impressed, that I decided to give his Ultimate Stair Exercises For Fitness and Weight Loss a fair shot. Good decision on my part.

First, let me tell you that Virgil is far more than your average, ordinary gym teacher. He has also worked as a personal trainer in New York City for over 12 years and a high school physical educator for over 10 years. During these years he has helped hundreds of people from all walks of life reach their strength, fitness and health related goals.

Not only that, but in 2001 Virgil served as a baseball/conditioning coach with the New York Mets Summer Instructional Baseball Academy in Queens New York. Here he got the opportunity to work along side major league baseball coaches and players like Mookie Wilson, Howard Johnson, Bobby Ojeda and Cookie Rojas teaching baseball skills and concepts to kids ranging from 7 to 15 year olds.

Plus, in 2002 Virgil served as an assistant with the WNBA New York Liberty's strength and conditioning staff? the same year the Liberty won the Eastern Conference Finals and played the Los Angeles Sparks in the WNBA finals. This background and experience come across in Virgil's stair training product.

Here are the top 3 reasons that I recommend it.

1. I was very happy to find out that Mr. Aponte is a believer in using "real stairs" whenever possible ? not jump on the latest and greatest stair climbing machine at the gym. Like me, Virgil says that these machines are O.K., but won't give you the same results as actually moving your body weight up a real flight of steps. The experience just doesn't compare ? and neither do the results. For weight loss, muscle building, cardiovascular fitness, functional strength (or all of the above) these workouts will get you where you want to go.

2. The progressions demonstrated on Mr. Aponte's DVD's also impressed me. This makes the exercises powerful for you no matter what your current state of fitness. Whether you're trying to get into shape or already performing at a high level, there are stair exercises to take you that next step. Young and old, man or woman, the progressions can move you safely from beginner to advanced ? continuing to challenge you as you reach new levels of success.

3. Finally, there is enough variety in the Ultimate Stair Exercises For Fitness and Weight Loss program to keep your workouts motivational and fun for a very long time. Runs, hops, jumps, lunges in a huge number of variations and difficulty levels are presented in easy to follow demonstrations by Mr. Aponte himself. (He even includes one of my all-time favorite exercises ? the stage jump - not to be confused with the stage dive?). The detail is at just the right level ? giving you information on why you should use proper techniques without getting too bogged down in boring, scientific details?

All in all, I believe the Virgil Aponte has succeeded with this product to fulfill his mission of giving and sharing knowledge of strength and health with people anywhere and everywhere. If you're looking for "real world" exercises that work (and can be done in just a few minutes just about any place you've got a couple of stairs), then I highly recommend you give the Ultimate Stair Exercises For Fitness and Weight Loss program a try.