With strength work, I am an intermediate exerciser, who doesn’t really want to move up to advanced work. I have basically given up on Cathe’s strength work because it just wears me out. I have the Push/Pull & Supersets DVD and I like Muscle Max for when I do want a harder workout I can go heavy with. After reading about this workout, I decided it was worth a try because it sounded more at my level. Finally, I HATE circuit workouts and have decided I am just not going to get any more of them. I like to do either strength OR cardio, but not both. With the chaptering on this workout, though, I could just hit the forward button and skip right over the cardio sections. It gives me around a 40-minute strength workout.

Throughout the workout, Cathe gives modifications to make moves easier, or harder. Cedie modifies some of the moves, but a lot of them she doesn’t. As this is targeted at beginners, I don’t know why they didn’t have a consistent modifier. Cathy also gives form pointers, but does not do the teaching necessary for this to be a true beginner-level workout. It truly is an effective “beginner to Cathe” workout though. Cathy gives a lot of encouragement throughout the workout. Some of it came across naturally and some of it seemed forced or scripted.

I don’t have the high step Cathe uses in this video, so I used my Rubbermaid step toolbox and my Reebok step set at eight inches. These two options worked well with the moves she did. I also used two sets of dumbbells and two different tubings (I could have used just one easily).

There are several moves (3-4) that require you to support your body weight on your hands. They include push ups (I substituted chest presses), tricep dips (I followed Cedie in doing French Presses), and a couple of mores for your core (which I went ahead and did).

Overall, I liked this workout and I’m going to keep it. It gives me the option to do more advanced moves and to use heavier weights than Cathy and her back-up exercisers. And, like I said above, it doesn’t exhaust me, yet I feel worked out.

Instructor Comments:
She is such a professional and does high-quality instruction. There were a few times in this workout, though, I thought her enthusiasm seemed a bit forced or fake.

Laura S.