Video Fitness

The Body Blast (5 Day Rotation) Timesaver DVD

Cathe Friedrich

This DVD contains five workouts that combine segments from Cathe's Body Blast workouts into time efficient combinations (38-48 minutes each). Some footage in each of the five workouts is exclusive to this DVD. This page is for DVD-specific reviews, but you can also read reviews of the individual Body Blast workouts from which the timesaver workouts were created:

DVD reviews:

This DVD is a nice compilation of 5 short advanced workouts. It is modeled after the CTX series which provides cardio workouts followed by a short weight lifting routine for one or two body parts. I think it would be a great value for many, but as an owner of the other Body Blast workouts, it seems unnecessary for me to own.

All 5 workouts include a warmup and cooldown stretch and clock in between 38 and 48 minutes. The workouts you get are:

~ Step routine and Chest/Triceps (Step Jump & Pump)
~ Step and Hi/Lo routine and Back/Core (Step Blast, SJP Hi/Lo)
~ Step routine and Biceps/Core (SB)
~ Kickboxing Routine and Shoulders (Kick Punch Crunch)
~ Legs and Abs

I put the source of the cardio sections in parenthesis.

Most of the workout pieces come from the cardio tapes of Body Blast series (SB, SJP, KPC) along with Legs & Glutes. There is a tiny bit from Supersets, and nothing from Push Pull. There is some bonus footage (approximately 5 minutes per workout), which is what helped me decide to order this DVD. The bonus footage is all strength work, and mostly straightforward.

The cardio sections are taken intact from the original workout. There is not really much mixing up, like there was on the Terminator DVD. I think if you wanted to create a similar rotation it would be very easy to do a shorter cardio section from the original workouts and then just tack on some weight work and get a similar rotation.

The DVD has music options (louder, normal, lower), a Mix and Match menu, and a Workout Blender. However, the Blender (and the Mix and Match) only allows you to pick parts from that a single day's workout, which I think is a flaw. It would be more useful if you could pick from all the parts on the DVD and create your own workouts to your liking.

The one workout that looked interesting and different enough from the original was the Legs and Abs workout, but one workout alone was not enough reason for me to keep this DVD. If there had been an easy way to put together all of the strength segments into a complete upper body workout, it might have been more enticing for me to keep this.

I know there are many who bought all four DVDs who can find a use for this one because they like being able to have these short options on one DVD. It just isn't worth it for me personally. I prefer variety, and these workouts would not feel different enough from the originals.

I would still recommend this DVD to someone who didn't purchase all of her Body Blast workouts, especially if you only do Cathe cardio in small doses. I think it would be a great compliment to the Supersets/PushPull DVD. And if you can only afford one DVD this is probably the one I would recommend, because you get a bit of everything on it. There are lots of possibilities from this DVD beyond the 5 workouts, if you are willing to program your DVD player. It is a great value when standing alone, just not a great value as part of the total Body Blast Package, IMO.

Lisa C.

12/17/03

I am going to summarize timesaver workout #5 which is somewhere around 50 minutes of leg work concluding with some ab work. It has footage from mainly Legs and Glutes and some from Step Jump and Pump.

It starts off with standing exercises which come from Legs and Glutes and Step Jump and Pump. Cathe also put in some bonus footage, which included kick-butt lunges and one legged squats. Then she moves into the floor work from Legs and Glutes. I really enjoyed this leg workout because I felt it was very balanced between the quads and hamstrings. I feel that many of Cathe's tapes don't have enough focus on the hamstrings, glutes, and inner/outter thighs, but this one is does. This is a dream leg workout.

In comparison to Legs and Glutes, I feel that this workout is slightly easier, briefer, and it's nice that it includes the ab work! Definatly going to be using this one a great deal!

Instructor comments: Cathe's a wonderful instructor as always. :)

tough cookie

12/20/03

Timesaver is made up of the following Body Blast workouts: Step Blast, Step Jump & Pump, Kick Punch & Crunch, Legs and Glutes and two brief core/ab segments from Supersets. This disc is broken down into 5 workouts:
Day 1
SJP warm up
SJP step
SJP Bench Press/Chest Flye
SJP Tricep extensions
New Footage Chest ~ Pushups
New Footage Tricep overhead press/kickbacks
SJP Stretch

Day 2
SB Warm Up
SB Combo #3
SJP Hi-Lo #1
SJP Hi-Lo #2
SJP Deadrow/deadlift
New Footage Double Arm Lat Rows
New Footage Supermans on Ball
SS Wood chops
SS Sidebends on Ball
New Footage Bent knees and pikes on ball
SB Stretch

Day 3
SB Warm up
SB Combo #1
SB Combo #2
SJP Barbell Curls
New Footage One Arm Curls
KPC Abs and planks
KPC Stretch

Day 4
KPC Warmup
KPC Intermediate Intensity Drills
KPC High Intensity Drills
SJP Dumbbell Shoulders
New Footage Barbell Upright rows
KPC Stretch

Day 5
LG Warmup
LG Leg Presses
LG Hover Squats
LG Rear Lunges Rt. Leg
LG Plie squats
LG Rear Lunges Lt. Leg
LG Plie squats
SJP barbell squats
New Footage Kickbutt lunges rt. leg
New Footage One-legged Squats rt. leg
New Footage Kickbutt lunges lt. leg
New Footage One-legged Squats lt. leg
LG Standing leg extension
LG Outer thigh lifts
LG Glute/Hamstring tucks
LG Glute/Hamstring raises
LG Outer Thigh/Glute sweeps
LG Inner Thigh Lifts
SJP Abs & Planks
SJP stretch

The new footage imho, is the reason to buy this disc. It is nice to have shorter workouts, but you can pretty much do any of the cardios here with the premixes Cathe offers or with the click or two of a remote. But the new footage is great. The one legged squats and the one armed bicep curls especially. I wouldn't drop the money for this alone if I had the other Body Blasts already. But I preordered and got it for a great deal. Plus, with bits of SB, SJ&P, and KP&C on one disc, it will be easy to program a new 10-10-10. I love it!

Instructor comments: Cathe is unparalleled in terms of form, energy, and instruction.

Jill Lundquist
jlundquist@welshco.com
12/23/03

Timesaver contains 5 workouts by Cathe Friedrich, ranging in length from 38 to 48 minutes. Four of the workouts contain a warmup, cardio segment(s), strength training for 1 or 2 bodyparts, and a stretch; 2 of those also contain core work. The fifth workout is all leg work plus abs, and includes a warmup and stretch. Each workout also includes bonus footage which is not available in any other Cathe workout. None of the workouts contains a cooldown; instead, there is a screen instructing you to pause the DVD to cool down before moving on to strength work.

Timesaver #1:
38 minutes. Includes warmup, step aerobics, and chest/triceps from Step, Jump & Pump; bonus timesaver footage for chest and triceps; stretch from Step, Jump & Pump.

Timesaver #2:
40 minutes. Includes warmup, combo #3 and stretch from Step Blast; hi-lo combos #1 and #2 from Step, Jump & Pump; back and core work from SJP, bonus footage, and Supersets.

Timesaver #3:
45 minutes. Includes warmup and combos #1 and #2 from Step Blast; biceps and core work from Step, Jump & Pump, bonus footage, and Kick, Punch & Crunch; stretch from Kick, Punch & Crunch.

Timesaver #4:
43 minutes. Includes warmup, moderate intensity drills, high intensity drills, and stretch from Kick, Punch & Crunch; shoulder work from Step, Jump & Pump and bonus footage.

Timesaver #5:
48 minutes. Includes warmup from Legs & Glutes; leg strength work from Step, Jump & Pump, Legs & Glutes, and bonus footage; ab work and stretch from Step, Jump & Pump.

My favorite of all these workouts is #3, because I prefer step and I enjoy working biceps. #4 runs a close second – I love the kickbox drills, but shoulder work is far from my favorite thing to do. In #3, the bicep work bonus footage includes concentration curls using the stability ball as a preacher curl bench. Feels very effective, and you can really see the biceps working in that position! Timesaver #1 is an easy way for me to do Step, Jump & Pump, since Cathe’s hi-lo is not my favorite (although I can tolerate it a little better in this series). The bonus footage in #1 includes some pushup variations – 6 counts down/2 counts up, 2 counts down/6 counts up, and alternating pushups and one-arm pull-backs (calls on the core a bit, like plank work). Timesaver #5’s bonus footage includes something called “kick butt lunges” – you step forward into a lunge, then immediately pull the front foot back into a hamstring curl, nearly kicking your butt with your heel. These are very interesting, although I’m not sure I’m doing them quite right yet – I don’t seem to be putting nearly enough weight on my front leg when I lunge forward. These may take some getting used to, and I imagine they might cause trouble for people with knee problems. As far as the bonus footage goes, those are the things that stand out the most for me.

I don’t mind that the cooldown is left out; I just pause the DVD and use that time to walk around and drink some water for a minute or two.

If you’re trying to decide whether it’s worth it to get this DVD just for the bonus footage, here’s my take on it: If you really don’t want to bother with programming your DVD player, or if you don’t have a multi-disc DVD player, it may be worth your while to get the Timesaver DVD, especially if you’re looking for shorter workouts with the Body Blast series. Also, if you’d like a ready-made one-week rotation that works each bodypart once a week, this might fit the bill. However, if you’re looking for a very strength- focused workout, this probably will disappoint you. I’d say this DVD is best if you’re short on time and want workouts that cram in cardio, strength and core work in a maintenance program. Also, if you do the workouts in order, there are repeats of warmup and stretch segments (Step Blast warmup two days in a row, KPC stretch two days in a row, and SJP stretch in #1 and #5); it doesn’t bother me, since it’s not the main part of the workout, but it may bother some people.

I see this one having its place in my collection, but I probably won’t stick with it for more than one week at a time, probably just a week every month or two.

Instructor comments: Cathe is her usual professional but friendly self in these workouts. Her cueing is right on most of the time (for me), but in #4 the cueing is sometimes a little late during the kickbox drills. If you're used to Christi's cueing, Cathe's cueing may seem a bit late, though.

Lynne Lounsbury

1/1/04



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