Cathe High Step Circuit

[Guest guest]

Woo hoo! I CAN do Cathe cardio! (Actually, I can do a couple of her step workouts but not many, but it is nice to add something else to the list.) This is a circuit workout intended for beginners & intermediates, however, I cannot fathom how a fitness beginner would get through this one! It is definitely intermediate level! There's a lot of propulsion on and off the step for the cardio portions and the weights are either compound exercises or done with tubing and the pace is quick. Cathe does emphasize go at your own pace, etc. and Cede (spelling?) shows beginner modifications sometimes but most of the time she's doing the high impact moves too. The cardio is VERY simple but Cathe cues on the move a lot so there were a few times I had to stop and watch and then jump in but because it is so simple and repeats, it was easy to catch onto. My only other criticism is that the music was barely audible at times and otherwise wasn't at all great but it didn't seem to bother me too much.

Here's a description from her website about the setup of the workout: Upon completing the warm up, you will go into 6 fitness cycles. Each fitness cycle consists of the following: 1) A one fun and easy step aerobic combination (that repeats itself 4 times) totaling one minute. 2) A leg exercise on the high step. 3) A compound exercise that consists of legs and upper body using 3 pound handweights. 4) An upper body exercise using resistance tubing (working the same body part that was used with the weights just before it) 5) A core exercise, a stretch completes this workout.

I liked this format a lot. I used my fanny lifter for this because I don't have a high step and it worked great. It is 2" higher than the high step but I'm used to doing leg presses on it from FIRM workouts so it was fine for this workout. I was concerned 3 pounds for the compound exercises wouldn't be enough and for some things it wasn't but mostly it was fine because you do a lot reps. I used bands instead of tubing (I hate the handles on tubing) and that worked out great too. Some of the core exercises are done using the high step too and all of them were good. She ended the workout (before the stretch, which was not great) with three sets of pushups too (though the 3rd is a "bonus"! She did them on her toes, others on their knees, plus she showed a very beginner version too. I did the first set on my toes and the last 2 on my knees. There's also a bonus abs workout with the ball on the DVD but I didn't do that one. I'm going to try and look at it soon though to see how long it is and figure out when I can do it too.

I got this as part of a trade and really enjoyed it. I'm doing another one from the trade tomorrow too (The FIRM Ultimate Fat Burning Workout) and then a virgin I've had for years on Friday (Yoga Fusion Strength and Sculpt). I'm trying to do new to me workouts as soon as possible right now but also want to knock off ones I've had sitting around too long too!

[Guest guest]

Where do you go to trade DVD?

Indyrose

>

> Woo hoo! I CAN do Cathe cardio! (Actually, I can do a couple of her step

workouts but not many, but it is nice to add something else to the list.) This

is a circuit workout intended for beginners & intermediates, however, I cannot

fathom how a fitness beginner would get through this one! It is definitely

intermediate level! There's a lot of propulsion on and off the step for the

cardio portions and the weights are either compound exercises or done with

tubing and the pace is quick. Cathe does emphasize go at your own pace, etc. and

Cede (spelling?) shows beginner modifications sometimes but most of the time

she's doing the high impact moves too. The cardio is VERY simple but Cathe cues

on the move a lot so there were a few times I had to stop and watch and then

jump in but because it is so simple and repeats, it was easy to catch onto. My

only other criticism is that the music was barely audible at times and otherwise

wasn't at all great but it didn't seem to bother me too much.

>

> Here's a description from her website about the setup of the workout: Upon

completing the warm up, you will go into 6 fitness cycles. Each fitness cycle

consists of the following: 1) A one fun and easy step aerobic combination (that

repeats itself 4 times) totaling one minute. 2) A leg exercise on the high step.

3) A compound exercise that consists of legs and upper body using 3 pound

handweights. 4) An upper body exercise using resistance tubing (working the same

body part that was used with the weights just before it) 5) A core exercise, a

stretch completes this workout.

>

> I liked this format a lot. I used my fanny lifter for this because I don't

have a high step and it worked great. It is 2 " higher than the high step but I'm

used to doing leg presses on it from FIRM workouts so it was fine for this

workout. I was concerned 3 pounds for the compound exercises wouldn't be enough

and for some things it wasn't but mostly it was fine because you do a lot reps.

I used bands instead of tubing (I hate the handles on tubing) and that worked

out great too. Some of the core exercises are done using the high step too and

all of them were good. She ended the workout (before the stretch, which was not

great) with three sets of pushups too (though the 3rd is a " bonus " ! She did them

on her toes, others on their knees, plus she showed a very beginner version too.

I did the first set on my toes and the last 2 on my knees. There's also a bonus

abs workout with the ball on the DVD but I didn't do that one. I'm going to try

and look at it soon though to see how long it is and figure out when I can do it

too.

>

> I got this as part of a trade and really enjoyed it. I'm doing another one

from the trade tomorrow too (The FIRM Ultimate Fat Burning Workout) and then a

virgin I've had for years on Friday (Yoga Fusion Strength and Sculpt). I'm

trying to do new to me workouts as soon as possible right now but also want to

knock off ones I've had sitting around too long too!

>

>

>