4 Day Split: Kickbox

I was actually searching for a review of another Cathe workout when I saw no one had reviewed this workout. How could that be? This is one of my favorite Cathe workouts.

I would rate this solid intermediate but you could kick up the intensity by adding 1lb weighted gloves or 1lb weights. The workout is 30 minutes from warmup to cooldown. The pace is steady state. Cathe starts with a warmup that actually feels like part of the workout. She then takes you right into kickbox and boxing combos. The choreography is not complicated so you can really work on your heart rate.

Any high impact moves such as jumping jacks are easily modified to low. I don't find the impact especially high and never have a problem modifying. The leg drills definately bring up the cardio without the impact.

During the workout Cathe mentions that there are a lot of sculpting moves and says this a workout that hits it all. I look to this workout as a bonus total body workout. There are plenty of lower body sculpting moves, arm drills and even an upper body ab toning section as part of the cool down.

There is never a dread factor for me and I always choose this one when I want a kickbox workout but I only want 30 minutes of cardio.

Instructor Comments:
Cathe is fun, energetic and motivating, as usual.

Bebop

There are four workouts in 4DS, each consisting of approximately 30 minutes of cardio followed by 30 minutes of so of weight work. This review is for Kickbox, which is on the same disc as Bootcamp.

4DS Kickbox is a great workout. It starts out with 31-32 minutes of kickboxing, continues about the same amount of leg and core work, and finishes with a 5 minute stretch for a total of 71 minutes. The kickbox section is my favorite. I has a 12 minute extended warm up with a few toning moves at the end, then it launches into 17.5 minutes of kickboxing combos which include lots of kicks. There are also hammer downs, various punch combos, and some jumping jacks. Both the intensity and the impact are moderate, and both could be modified up or down fairly easily. There is a real cool down, which you don’t always get in Cathe’s workouts. I usually do the premix which adds a stretch at the end for a 37 minute routine. It’s also easy to combine kickbox and core for a 45-46 minute workout.

The leg work is mostly standing. There are 4 rounds, with two exercises per round. These are: 1) squats and deadlifts; 2) plie squats and leg press; 3) low plane lunges and leg press with an outer thigh lift; and 4) a seated outer thigh move (sort of like a sitting firewalker) and another round of squats. Cathe uses dumbbells for everything except the squats (where she uses a barbell) and the seated outer thigh exercise (where she uses a band). She also uses leg weights in the leg press in round 3 . The core work has lots of crunch variations but no planks; I enjoy it, but I’m also glad when it’s over!

This DVD has a lot of creative premixes, ranging from 31 to 105 minutes. Cathe has incorporated footage from the other 4DS workouts to include premixes that are cardio only, weights only, weights before cardio, and circuits. With 11 premix options, it’s easy to find something to do no matter what your energy level!

What I Like

The choreography in the kickbox section is fun. I love kicks, and this DVD has a lot of them (or at least, that’s my impression). And the length of the cardio is about right for me these days — if I want a longer workout, I just add on the core section. For those who want more cardio than that, there is a 53 minute premix called “Cardio Power” which combines the cardio portions of Kickbox and Bootcamp.

Plus, this DVD is really versatile. I usually do cardio and weights on different days, and I love how easy it is to split this “split” into cardio and weight portions. Each of the workouts (main plus premixes) has a nice card listing the exercises included and the equipment used. The premixes also have the weights that Cathe uses (this information is on the “Mix & Match” menu in the main workout). No guesswork! I wish she did that with all of her workouts!

Finally, while I don’t like standing leg work in general, I do like the low plane lunges (odd, but true). They seem really effective to me. Ouch! I also like the seated inner thigh work with the band. But I’ll sit down to work out any time. :)

What I Don’t Like

Cathe’s cueing is generally good, but she calls for a cool down at least twice in the main kickbox section before she starts the actual cool down. It’s like she changes her mind… at one point, she even does some grapevines before ramping it back up. It’s annoying, but if you know it’s coming you can adjust for it, I guess.

I don’t like squats. I know they are good for you, and I’ll do them, but … out of eight leg exercises, three are squats (2 standard sets and one set of plie squats). Sigh Also, I love Cathe’s floor work but there’s none of that here. So I don’t do the leg portion of this DVD often.

These are minor quibbles. Overall, I think this is a nice workout which fits into the 4DS series well.

Things to Be Aware Of

There is some impact in the kickbox section, but it can be modified down. In fact, Cathe even shows a few modifications, which is unusual for her. What Cathe doesn’t show is form pointers. If you don’t have a lot of kickbox experience, I’d recommend trying one of her earlier kickboxing DVDs where she does give a tutorial.

Also, the music for the most part is techno. I don’t mind that — it’s pretty high energy. However, I know that it annoys some so I mention it here.

Instructor Comments:
Cathe is fierce! She seems so happy to be working out that I am too. At one point, she says “Break the door down!” and I kick a little harder. Cathe’s attitude is one of the reasons I’ve returned to this DVD over and over. She’s great in this one.

shawnt