TURN-ONS AND TURN-OFFS IN CURRENT HOME ENTERTAINMENT RELEASES : VIDEOCASSETTES : Excellent Good Fair Poor

Times writers take a look at a new batch of exercise videos released in time for the ’86 Christmas season. Why do workout/fitness tapes keep on coming? Partly because they sell, and sell big. Beyond that, the growing emphasis on “low-impact aerobics” incorporates alternate and newly developed methods (the “body band” is one of the latest crazes) and takes into consideration safer and more efficient ways of shaping up the old bod. Above all, exercise videos make good sense and--if they’re used properly and regularly--healthier people, destroying the conception that all TV watchers are couch potatoes.

“Great Body: Total Body Tone-Up.” “Great Body: Super Stomach.” Kartes. $14.95 each. These two samples from a six-part series of 30-minute workouts sponsored by Esquire magazine come at a bargain price but are nothing special. The “Tone-Up” is serviceable but ordinary, with an instructor (Deborah Crocker) who seems to know her stuff but isn’t very inspiring. The warm-up could be slower and more thorough. Fonda and others are far better at this general approach. On the other hand, Crocker’s method in “Stomach” really gets at the hard-to-shape-up area of the Pesky Paunch, indicating that the more specialized “Great Body” tapes (including “Dynamite Legs,” “Upper Body Beautiful”) may be worth trying. Information: (800) 331-1387 or (317) 844-7403. 1/2