Workout Length 68 minutes
Level: Advanced
Equipment: High step or fanny lifter, various dumbbells (heavy), barbell, resistance band. Mat optional
Date Released: 2005
Availability: Cathe.com , Collage Video

The first time I did High Step Challenge I really didn’t like it. It felt very rushed to me. Cathe moves very quickly from one exercise to the next and sometimes she left my head spinning! The cardio segments are very intense and I wasn’t prepared for that either. The second time I tried it I didn’t even make it through the first strength segment (more on that latter).

By this point I was ready to put this one on my trade list but some folks on the forum convinced me to give it another chance. I’m glad I did! This time I had a printout of the list of exercises from Fitness Video Fanatics to guide my way. This helped a lot. Once I knew what exercises to expect I could prepare ahead of time and have the equipment I needed ready. This time I actually almost enjoyed it!

The format of this workout is cardio cycles alternating with weight work. The whole body is worked in the weight sections, with a nice balance between upper and lower body. I do find that the upper body segments are sort of oddly arranged. Each segment doesn’t concentrate on one part of the upper body – it’s mixed up, but not evenly. So in the first segment you do mostly triceps but a little shoulders. I think it would have been better to split up the upper body segments evenly like she did in Muscle Max and Cardio & Weights.

There are exercises in this workout that I really like and some that I really dislike. Most of it is traditional leg press, squats, bicep curls etc. but she mixes it up with some different twists. All of the leg presses are done with the band, which I don’t really like so I use dumbbells instead. The second set she does with light weights, adding an overhead press at the top. She says this is to work on cardio endurance. I don’t really see the point of it. I also have a hard time because my ceiling isn’t high enough to do an overhead press when I’m on top of my high step. So I just do regular leg press with heavy weights.

One exercise I particularly like in this workout is decline push-ups with your feet on the short step. After a set of push-ups she has you go into a core exercise where you step your toes off the side of the step and back on again, alternating sides. I can really feel that one along the spine and in the core.

The cardio sections here are very intense and mostly high impact. Lots of Cathe’s usual jumping up and down :). They are quite similar to what you might see in an IMAX blast or in the KickMax blast section. So be prepared to modify if you need to.

After five cycles of cardio & weights you go down to the floor for abs (which Cathe is now calling “core” :) ). One thing that really annoys me about most of the Hardcore workouts is that they filmed the ab & stretch segments separately but didn’t leave you enough time to move your equipment and put a mat down. So you’ll need to pause the DVD here and clear all your equipment out of the way.

The actual abs section is quite short, not particularly interesting, but effective enough. The stretch is pretty good though. I’m impressed with the stretch segments in all of the Hardcore workouts. They are much longer and more thorough than what she’s done in the past. Instead of trying to choreograph moves together she just goes right into the stretches.
Overall I’d give this workout a B+. It’s a nice, challenging, total body workout in typical Cathe style. It’s deficiencies can be overcome if you plan ahead :)

Instructor Comments:

Megan