I heartily recommend Leslie Sansone's Walk At Home DVD's. They are terrific for someone really out of condition who wants to ease into a vigorous cardio workout.

The original dvd in the series has a 1, 2 and 3-mile workout. Basically, they're marching in place, so you don't need a lot of floor area to do this program. I've done the 1-mile in an area as small as 3 feet square.

It takes about 20 minutes to do 1 mile, so the tempo is fairly fast but not ridiculously so.

At intervals, you do kicks, knee lifts and sidesteps. All simple moves, but if there're any too difficult at first, you can just walk in place during those segments. Unlike some exercise videos that are so fast-paced it's difficult to learn the moves, Leslie's are simple enough that they're easy to learn.

There is light weightlifting using 1-2 lb. weights, but that's nothing fancy, mostly lifting the weights above your head, out front and to the side. One member of the exercise group demonstrates half moves if you don't feel you can do the full extensions. Also, one person simply does the arm movements without weights so you have someone to follow if you don't feel strong enough to use the weights. And, as Leslie says, if you want, you can simply carry the weights and not do any of the lifts.

Also, she does a gradual warmup and cool down, so there are no worries about too much intensity too suddenly.

A very good basic cardio program for older people especially since you can gauge how much you feel able to do and can gradually add more of the moves if you can't do all of them to start.

These DVD's are sold at the major chain bookstores like B&N and Borders and probably at sporting goods stores, too. Or you can order them from online sources such as Amazon. Borders has a kit with the 1-2-3 mile DVD and the ball weights used in the videos which is a good starter set and not terribly expensive.