cathe: upper/lower/abs

[Guest guest]

this morning i did the upper/lower and abs workouts on cathe's

beg/intermediate disc.

first though, i did the warmup from 'basic step'... then i proceeded to the

20 min upper body workout (which has no warmup of its own).

cathe uses resistance tubing for some of the sets, then picks up light

dumbells and does some more work of the same body parts.

this was actually my first time using tubing! and it was harder than i

thought it was going to be. cathe also adds some pulsing to really up the

burn factor. she included most of the basic strength training moves for the

upper body. before i knew it, this workout was over! short and sweet.

cathe also allows for some recovery time between exercises and also throws

in a few quick stretches. she uses 3 pound dumbells... i started with 8's

but after using the tubing so much i had to go down to 5 pound dumbells

after a while. so i would say that this is a high rep/low resistance

workout -- but of course, it is easy to make the workout harder by using

heavier weights and choking up on the tubing. i had to play around with my

tubing for a while before i could get the best amount of resistance out of

it. there is a learning curve for everything! this workout is perfect for

the beginner... and fine for the intermediate who wants to get in and get it

done fast!

next i did the 20 min lower body workout. again cathe uses the tubing

quite a bit but then picks up light dumbells for some additional reps. she

also does some lower body exercises without weight... and uses the step at

the end of the workout for some butt work (which i can really feel now

tonight!). again cathe adds some pulsing moves and the workout was short

and sweet. cathe does a few quick stretches during the workout.

after that i did the 10 min abs workout on the ball. i need to experiment

with positioning on top the ball to get the most out of my crunches.

overall i really liked this quick ball workout -- i especially liked the

reverse crunches done by squeezing and lifting the ball with your calves and

feet.

for a cooldown, i turned to 'basic step' again for a short 3 min stretch.

again, these are great workouts for beginners to strength training. also

good to do because they are quick -- although by the time i put them

together and added a warmup/cooldown, i had done an hour workout.

im looking forward to doing these workouts again.

*~*~*~*~*

Carolyn

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