Ripped with HiiT: Low Impact HiiT One

Cathe Friedrich
Year Released: 2014

Categories: Floor Aerobics/Hi-Lo/Dance



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This is a fun, short HiiT workout that gets your cardio session done with in under half an hour, including warmup and stretch.

Cathe and her four backgrounders - Amanda, Jai, Brenda and newbie Kate - are in the well-lit gym setting. You'll need minimal equipment and it's optional. Cathe and crew use a yoga mat as a visual prop (you step over it, straddle it, and move from one edge to the other when doing moves) and have two Dixie cups to be picked up/put down to deepen lunges and squats. I tape out a yoga mat's dimensions on my floor instead of stumbling over my (extra long, extra thick) mat, and use two pairs of rolled-up socks for the cups. The music is upbeat background generic and most of the time you're off-beat anyway, so it's just there to keep up the workout energy.

Cathe promises low impact and delivers. All the drill-type moves - which include lunges, side to side runs, 'slam-it' squats, basketball jump shots, low leaps over the mat - are done with one foot on the floor. The only floor/wrist-intensive move is an awkward burpee-into-low-"surfer"-squat that is not demonstrated very well, unfortunately.

I'd rate this workout as intermediate, though to make it advanced you can just go faster or deeper on the moves. I found Cathe's pace to be too fast sometimes, especially for working out on carpet. I can't move my feet that fast!

Instructor Comments:
Cathe is in awesome shape as always and demonstrates good form. She has high energy for this short workout and it is inspiring. Her cueing is good but not great; she does cue on the move a couple of times, so you miss a rep while you figure out what she's doing. The surfer squat/burpee move could have been demo'd better.

athompson10

04/16/2015

I like this workout a lot. It has decent intensity from a low impact workout. It is short (29 minutes) so the workout the flies by.

The way Cathe brings the intensity up in this workout is different than her other lower impact offerings. Often she uses weights, compound moves, burpee type moves, gliding discs or the step to achieve intensity. In this workout the intensity is added from 1) Speed and 2) Depth of movement. Because of this, the workout feels a bit different, and I like that.

The depth is achieved by using a Yoga Mat as a visual prop and Dixie cups to make you go low. You don't really need any equipment for this workout, but those props do help you achieve good depth in your movements.

The speed is very fast. It might feel too fast for some people. I personally can't really keep up with Cathe and the crew on some of the moves, but as long as I go as fast as I can, I am getting a good workout.

This workout is a drill workout like many of Cathe's workouts, and most of the moves are twists on moves you have done before. But she really does put a fresh twist on many of the moves.

The music is not great, and mostly instrumental. But it is better than the Low Impact series (thankfully!)

I did not pre-order Ripped With Hiit, and I signed up for On Demand to try all the workouts. This is one that I will be purchasing for sure.

Lisa C

02/03/2015