This is an outstanding workout for the Chest, Shoulders and Triceps. The chest work contains an elevated push-up variation which I tried (I could do MAYBE five) before returning to regular-- these are for the seriously powerful upper body and despite the fact that I am an advanced exerciser, I am in awe of those VFers who can actually do them. After the pushups, Cathe leads you through a series of bench presses and pec flies, finishing off, if I recall correctly, with a very tough superset combo of pec flies and dumbell presses.

Next, you move onto shoulders. Boy, are those Arnold presses hard! I had to drop down my weight after only a few. I very much liked Cathe's attention to specific parts of the shoulders in this section, which includes exercises for working the front of the shoulder in particular (an arching press that really works-- YOW!) and then the back of the shoulder (a modified seated fly, in a V-shape). I really felt as though my whole shoulder had been worked.

Finally, you move onto triceps, which are TOUGH! These include close-grip dumbell presses, cross-body presses and lying french presses, with the final exercise being (my favorite!) tricep dips. She really pushes you through to the end of the tricep dips, which finish with a set of 24 with the barbell in your lap when you are already totally fatigued (this is my favorite workout burn, I think, and boy does she make it burn!). WOW, does this rock as a way to end the weight training portion. I felt totally great when I was done (endorphins, anyone?).

Both the warmup and the final stretch are good, though simple, and the entire workout is extremely thorough and well put together. Like the other Pure Strength videos, time just flies by on this one.

I tacked onto this video a half-hour of moderate cardio, and felt fine. This video, just like the Back, Biceps & Abs one, goes very well with a moderate cardio workout on days where, for instance, you're not doing Interval Training. Yet another winner from Cathe, and an A+++ grade from me.

Instructor Comments:
Cathe is her usual best in this video, providing very thorough instruction and pushing you to complete even the sets you swear you will never get through. I did wonder, however, if this one is the last in the series that they taped, because she seems less smiley in this video than the other two. Nonetheless, a fabulous job by Cathe.

Elizabeth