Low Impact Series: Slide & Glide

Cathe Friedrich
Year Released: 2011

Categories: Circuit Training (cardio and weights) , Gliding Disks, Total Body Workouts



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This is a really interesting workout, with a much higher fun factor than I'm used to based on Cathe's extensive recent catalog of drill-based cardio. Slide & Glide uses two discs, a medium-tension firewalker band (can sub a regular Theraband tied into a loop) and a mat for the floorwork. With that minimal equipment, you get a solid 20-minute cardio routine and 20 minutes of floorwork that's abs, core/plank/pushups and some upper body strength.

The music is blah, but there are only a couple of the cardio sections where you're on beat anyway, so it's mostly background noise. Set is the open aerobics-studio with the blond wood floors. Amanda, Jai, Lorraine and Brenda are the backgrounders.

The standing warmup section uses the discs so you get accustomed to their feel. The cardio section is a series of familiar exercises - side and back lunges, low-impact jacks, side steps with one leg sliding out - made harder with the discs. Cathe's cueing is a little off, as it is in most of the Low Impact Series: she cues as she's changing the move, so you often miss a rep or two before you catch up to what she's doing. The only move I found uncomfortable with the discs is the jacks, since my legs were tensed in a not-good way to keep me from skidding. In the future I'll go with regular wide plyo jacks on the floor or another jack variation. Expect to move around your workout space a bit and stop a few times to adjust your feet on the discs.

The floorwork has lots of pushup variations with the discs: hands on discs, feet on discs, feet moving out to the side, in and out, hands sliding out, etc. Many of these moves can be done on the knees if your upper-body strength is not as great as Cathe's or if the moves hurt your wrists. There are also some band-only moves for the biceps and back. The core/abs work includes some disc exercises to target the lower abs. Cathe even uses the discs in the stretch section to slide your hands along the ground when doing stretches for legs, chest and back.

I'd grade this workout at intermediate level, even though some of the pushup work and ab work is pretty advanced. The cardio is steady state and I felt nicely worked out without being wiped out at the end.

Instructor Comments:
Cathe is very professional and demonstrates excellent form. Her cueing could be better, as too often she cues as she's changing a move rather than before the change. She also neglects to tell you in a timely manner if you're alternating legs or staying with one side, which can be frustrating.

athompson10

04/02/2015

This is probably my least used of the LIS Series. I actually really love Gliding disks and cardio moves using the disks. I am not afraid to do jumping jacks, scissors, etc with the disks and find them to be very effective.

However, the cardio section on this is fairly short (under 25 minutes with warm-up) and the strength ("toning") work is not enough for me to feel to worked out. I don't mind that the cardio is shorter, but it is more moderate in intensity, and I prefer my short workouts to be more intense. There are a few intense sections in there, lots of jumping jacks and burpees with the disks, but overall, not a super intense workout.

I do feel that Cathe did a somewhat creative job of using the disks, but I think she is capable of more. I think she could have added some combos using the disks during the cardio instead of just doing more drill-like moves. I think that would have made this workout even better.

I don't dislike the workout, but the nature of it makes it harder for me to fit it in. I do feel it does a decent job of working the legs and good job of working the core. You will work your core throughout the entire workout, and it ends with a very nice core section with some interesting moves using the disks.

As with the entire LIS series, I was disappointed in the music. I really can't stand not having at least some vocals in workouts. This workout has a teeny-tiny amount of vocals in one song I think, but mostly it feels like elevator music to me.

I don't think people should be afraid to try cardio with the disks. It is a great way to get a workout without any impact, and I do hope Cathe continues to incorporate the disks into her workouts in the future.

Lisa C

11/30/2013

This is a very unique workout. I was skeptical that Cathe could find *that* may uses for the gliding discs to create an entire DVD, but I was wrong for sure. Lots of creative movements here. Some predictable, such as burpee type moves and some not so much like gliding jacks. The DVD is divided into a cardio and a strength section. The cardio, IMO, is a lot more challenging than the stregth portion. There is a double cardio premix which I use that is exactly that; the cardio segment twice.

mmis29

10/15/2013

Cathe leads this unique 52 min cardio & strength workout in a brick set w/ 4 background exercisers. This dvd is fully chaptered and includes premixes. You will need gliding discs and a loop for this workout. You can break this up into a cardio workout, a strength workout, or do the workout in entirety for some real double trouble.

Disc cardio work includes: swimmers, runners lunge pulling the disc in, cardio lunges & reach, burpee climbers, jacks, rope, shuffle curtsy, burpee pushups, cardio side lunges, burpee knee pulls pikes, and twists. Strength work includes: bridge ham pulls, lying band leg scissors, roll out trip pushups, band arm pulls, crossover pushups, hammer curls, dragging pushups, disc situps, disc torso twists, mermaid crunches, and plank foot slides. Warmup and cooldown included.

I rate this a solid intermediate workout that is low impact, super unique, and the choreo is very easy to catch onto. Cathe does an excellent job of utilizing the discs in a variety of fun, effective, and unique ways. Really enjoyed this workout and love the low impact but higher intensity! I received this dvd to review.

lindseylu

07/20/2013

Slide and Glide - Cardio portion

I just did the cardio portion (then stretch) of this workout as I combined it with Afterburn. I felt that although it was easier than Afterburn, by emphasising the moves I was able to keep my heartrate elevated.

I enjoyed the fun use of the discs to make high intensity moves like jumping jacks, low impact. I liked that many of the moves really targetted the glutes, inner/outer thighs and hamstrings as these muscles need extra work for me (due to muscular imbalances from running).

I enjoyed how Cathe incorporated the discs into the stretch segment as this enabled me to get into the muscles more deeply.

I rate the cardio portion of this workout an 8.5/10 because by itself for me it is too short for cardio and the music, really would be perfect with some vocal tracks.

Instructor Comments:
Cathe and crew were nicely perky during the workout.

Kirstyscooby

12/04/2011

Double Trouble premix of Slide N Glide.

Double Trouble is basically the warm up, cardio standing slide done twice (exact same sequence) and cool down. I added the core/ab section to round things out.

Double Trouble - 51:36

( Warm-up 4:49, Cardio Standing Slide 21ish, Cardio Standing Slide 21ish, Stretch 5:04)

The cardio includes a lot of lunge, burpee and jack variations. I especially loved the skater lunges, the curtsey lunges, and the spiderman with cross-over move. I actually enjoyed the doing it the second time more than the first because I got more used to the discs and could work the moves better. It's important to keep the ball of the foot toward the end of the disk so that the heel can come down easily.

The intensity of this workout, which I think can range from intermediate to high intermediate or even low advanced, depends a lot on being very focused on form. The jack moves almost have the intensity of plyo jacks once one grips the discs properly. The other place where form makes a huge difference (it’s important to listen to Cathe’s cues) is the oblique burpees – if you bring your knee to your hand like she tells you, it’s much more intense than just sort of aiming at the knee.

The core section is not included on the Double Trouble premix, but I added it to the end of the workout. It has some really nice moves. Cathe stretches in between each move, so the pace is leisurely even though the moves are challenging. It's not as good as Plates and Weights (from STS core--of of my favorite core workouts), but it uses the discs well. It includes sit ups with legs on sliding discs, the L move where one leg is up in the air and the other is low parallel (loved the way this felt with the finger tips on disks), and plank work.

While doing Double Trouble, my heart rate never got up very high, and I don't really see this as a major cardio workout. The emphasis is on leg endurance, especially inner thigh and glutes.

Acescholar

11/01/2011

Full disclosure: I received a free review copy of this workout.

This workout is mainly comprised of two sections:

A cardio slide and glide segment, about 20 minutes
A strength segment that works the whole body, about 20 minutes.


The cardio section is largely standing with lots of squats and lunges in various directions and jumping jacks and other cardio moves. My favorite move was when you moved forward punching and then slid back with two large side squats. It also includes a lot of push ups and mountain climbers. Throughout this segment, Cathe cued pretty well, although once in awhile she cued with the move and seemed a little late with the cueing.

The strength segment is done on the floor with the disks and a firewalker loop. I have a non-Cathe loop that worked just fine. She works the entire body in this section. She does a good job describing how to do the moves as she moves through the segment.

I would rate this workout as high intermediate to low advanced.

Instructor Comments:
Whenever I do a Cathe workout, I am struck by her professionalism. She seemed very comfortable in her role in this workout and was motivating and fun.

Laura S.

10/31/2011