Cathe Friedrich
Kick Max is a 74 minute flame inducing butt
kicking workout. There are three sections:
Kick and Punch Combos, High Impact Blast
and Leg Conditioning drills. I only did the
combos and leg conditioning drills.
Right off the bat, I'm afraid. Cathe looks like
she might come through the TV and beat me
up with the use of a single well toned pinkie
finger. I get over my fear, however, and
proceed the through the long (11 minute)
and gradual warm up. It'd make a nice "just
rolled out of bed and need to wake up
slowly" warm up. It includes more kicks than
KPC and has you in horse stance (plie squat)
for quite a while. There is no reviewing the
punches and kicks. She gives a few forms
pointers but this is not the place to learn the
difference between a roundhouse and side
kick.
Next up are the combos. These are very very
fast! I'd say they're even a little faster than
KPC. Like KPC, she teaches the punches first
and than the kicks. You really need to be
able to whip those arms around at lightning
speed to keep up with her. Quite literally
you'll do a jab, cross, hook and upper in
about 5 seconds. A warning, be careful not
to smack yourself in the face (not that I did
that.) The first one involves puncing and than
doing kicks while moving in a circle. If you
have carpet, Cathe wisely advises doing this
in place (or consult an orthopedic surgeon
for knee replacement surgery.) The second
combo includes more punches (jabs, crosses,
uppers) and than kicking with a balance
element. You do a front kick and than
without putting the foot down do a back kick
and than front and than put your foot down.
Tough to balance, not tough aerobically.
Third combos has more punches (jab, cross
jab) than low blocks and a hammer. This
didn't seem to flow that well and was
awkward. The legs involved three knees
(again moving in a circle) and than a front
kick. Fourth combo has double jab, duck
upper x2 and than a really fast side kick,
lunge, side kick combo. Cathe does not
break this down at all. It's a see it and do it
thing. I got it quickly but those without
kickboxing experience will be dumbfounded.
A warning, while this is advertised as a low
impact workout, she does throw in jumping
jacks in between combos and between sides.
You can modify, of course, but this section
isn't that tough aerobically so you really need
these to get the heart rate up.
The leg condioning drills were a pleasant
change. Okay so maybe I wasn't thinking
pleasant thoughts while doing the drills but
before I was cursing, I thought they were a
pleasant change. The difficultly ranges widely
on these. Some had me making noises that
my neighbors probably interpreted as me a
doing a different kind of Hardcore workout.
This would include the roundhouse fast kicks
(leg out, bend at the knee, in and out, very
fast.) Others had me bored since they weren't
that challenging like the side kicks. A lot
reminded me of pilates style moves like
chasses (sp?)
The cool down was yoga inspired. Cathe was
subdued and didn't provide many form
pointers. It was nice and long and held the
stretches long enough to really get into
them.
Instructor comments:
Cathe has improved her kickboxing form.
She and her two background exercisers are
ripped to the point of gaunt faces. While
Cathe provides a few form pointers, they are
more reminders to experienced kickboxers
than instructions to newbies. Her cueing is a
bit late in parts and she doesn't break things
down much. Very professional and
encouraging. She and her background
exercisers are obviously enjoying themselves
and working hard.
Elisabeth
2/12/05
Initially I disliked this workout because I love Kick, Punch, and Crunch so much. In time this workout grew on me, it is a serious fat/calorie blaster. The first section is mainly low impact with some jacks thrown in between combos, the first part is not as hard as Kick, Punch, and Crunch, but the second part-the blast challenge-whew! At first it literally took my breath away, it still challenges me and I have to psyche myself up when I get to that part.
The leg part is also difficult, it challenges your legs in a different way than the standard weight exercises.
Instructor comments:
Cathe is like fine wine, she gets better with age. She has a natural presence and is one of the few instructors who is serious about getting video exercisers into tip-top shape. Her line of dvds/vidoes are the simply the best on the market
M. P
01/04/06
Whew! Kick Max is definitely more intense than KP&C, in terms of length, complexity of the kickbox drills, and as a cardio challenge. Even the warm up (11 min) is a little challenging with regular and pulsing squats.
The workout itself consists of 10 kickbox "blast challenges," beginning with some that will test your balance and ending with some that will test your cardio capacity. The blasts got harder as the video went along. At the end, expect plenty of plyometric moves like jumping jacks, jumping "rope" in a zig zag formation, power lunges, and some of those dreaded knee tucks.
She does not break down the moves quite as slowly as she did in KP&C. I think some of you will be happy to hear that since all that instruction can get a little old by the 10th time around or so.
After the blasts, you move on to leg conditioning drills. Cathe holds onto a chair and works the leg with small movements (think Callanetics, Lotte Berk, etc.) for a while and then goes on to rapid fire and slow kicks (think TaeBo).
And while I'm drawing analogies, I'll point out the set has statues on it (think classic Firms).
I like the leg drills and I like the idea of working the legs with two different styles on one tape, but the video may seem a wee bit long by the end for it.
Overall, one of my favorites. I love that it's more advanced that KP&C and other kickbox videos I own, but it didn't completely wipe me out and wasn't *quite* the killer some of her step workouts can be.
Instructor comments:
She looks great and cues well. She really sets the standard.
Sarah-lara
2/26/07
