Cathe Fit Split review thread

[Indy]

I don't have this set but got the Advanced Fit Tower DVDs. I have just now begun to do them. I looked for reviews on them here but there isn't too much. Based on the criticisms here - this is what I have noticed:

Too fast - she does a warm up at a frantic pace. Some weight work - at break neck speed. It is too fast for me.

It's kind of boring. The premixes repeat entire segments. I was really disappointed repeating things over again. It isn't that innovative to me - I can repeat segments myself.

She is too much of a seasoned professional to be poor at cueing or just phoning it in here. She resorts to counting. Counting???!!? You don't need to count it off for us - not helping.

I have stopped really buying Cathe - and I was a huge fan. I still really like her - she's top notch but everything is the same all the time. I'm tired of Athletic hard hitting choreography. All the jumping - it's too much.

[cecififi]

I must be in the minority. Fit Splits is all me and my daughter having been doing for the last couple of weeks. I LOVE the weight work and the pace. I love that I have a short rest to keep my heart rate up. Even my co worker who borrowed my dvds said she felt the workouts were intense and a great calorie burn. I am loving these and the pace - maybe cos ive gotten into yvette bachman lately and she gives you practically no rest in between moves/sets etc.

I give these a major thumbs up - especially the weight work. And, i love using the gliders so I am happy about that part too.

You can always try cathe on demand for 7 days to try before you buy... at least i think you can.

[angie_nrs]

I reviewed each workout as I did them in this thread. There are pros and cons to all of them. Would I purchase this set now, knowing what I know? Probably not. Overall (for me) they just weren't fun and I haven't reached for any of them to do a second time.

I would be really surprised if Cathe or Chris or someone from her company wasn't monitoring this thread. I know i would! Honest feedback is critical in reviewing what works and what doesn't. If they are just going by what is being posted on cathe.com, then that means they can't handle constructive criticism. I doubt that is the case.....at least I certainly hope so. Because if they aren't taking the criticism into consideration, then they won't improve their product, which means they are going to lose valuable customers.

I really hope she knocks it out of the park the next time. But given the last few series.......I just don't know for sure if I'll pre-order as I have been disappointed.

[Lori_Michigan]

That's interesting to hear not much negative on her forum, I had no idea.

I've bought everything that Cathe has put out since 1993 (yes, I'm that old ) and have loved her for many years, but this set is so utterly boring and dreadful for me that I may have to rethink future buys unfortunately, unless it's ICE 2, then I'd be in for sure!

[lavna]

Originally Posted by angie_nrs

I reviewed each workout as I did them in this thread. There are pros and cons to all of them. Would I purchase this set now, knowing what I know? Probably not. Overall (for me) they just weren't fun and I haven't reached for any of them to do a second time.

I agree with your opinion about the workouts.
I have all of Cathe DVDs since X-train but knowing what I know now, I would get only one of the two DVDs with the Push/Pull premix. I don't think I'm going to use the other workouts very often. The cardio especially has been rather uninteresting in her more recent offerings. The last series that I get the most use of is RWH.

Originally Posted by angie_nrs

I would be really surprised if Cathe or Chris or someone from her company wasn't monitoring this thread. I know i would! Honest feedback is critical in reviewing what works and what doesn't. If they are just going by what is being posted on cathe.com, then that means they can't handle constructive criticism. I doubt that is the case.....at least I certainly hope so. Because if they aren't taking the criticism into consideration, then they won't improve their product, which means they are going to lose valuable customers.

I hope you are right about someone from Cathe following this thread!!!

Originally Posted by angie_nrs

I really hope she knocks it out of the park the next time. But given the last few series.......I just don't know for sure if I'll pre-order as I have been disappointed.

I too have been disappointed. I love working out with Cathe and would like to continue to do so!

[cataddict]

Overall I actually like the series. I wish there were better premixes, and the cuing is terrible (even after doing the entire series twice I still can't pick everything up in a nano second) and I'm modifying any horizontal gliding. Those negatives aren't deal breakers for me, and I don't care about the music as long as it isn't distracting or by ABBA . I still like this set much better than Kelly's latest offering.

IMHO I wouldn't write a lot of negative things on an instructor's own forum. To me it's kind of like going to someone's house and criticizing their food or décor while you are there, particularly when the host is footing the bill. Kind of tacky to do it, but this is just MY opinion. I see those type of forums as an extension of their marketing efforts, and while I'm a member at Cathe's forum, I haven't posted or visited in ages. VF is where I go to get people's opinions about workouts---consumer driven. I expect the instructors read what is said here, and I hope they do.

[isebelleg44]

I also don't think the series is that bad. Although she could have made better premixes with this one and I am not really a premix person. I have pretty much abandoned Cathe DVDs and all DVDs for that matter for streaming. I love Cathe live and her now having more Fit Tower workouts, tempts me to purchase another workout toy.

I think that the days of great DVD productions are over. I was more reminded of that, as I did a couple of RKS workouts the other day. Now those were beautifully shot, but had no premixes to speak of.

[jlwittlin]

so i don't often post, but this thread interested me, mostly because i assumed the reason the cueing in shred cardio was so bad because the dubbing of the dvd was off! (i have about 60% of cathe's releases, and this was really really off to me. it never occurred to me it was just badly cued, lol!)

i also have problems with my low ipmact dvd -- the music gets so loud during the stretch that i can't hear cathe cueing at all. it's very noticable going from one chapter to the next.

and having done all the dvds...they are ok. they are not the best ones she's made, but they are solid intermediate workouts. ironically as i've gotten older i've been able to do more impact and modify less, possibly because i've just gotten more fit as i've worked out more and lost 20#s in the last year, but i would agree with others that i'm over HIIT type stuff.

the rest of my thoughts...i like the kickboxing one, and i liked the weights sections on all of the dvds. i'm not bowled over by any of the cardio, and i don't like the two abs bonus segments on the push/pull days at all!

[Shelbygirl]

I also like this new series. It's not my favorite, but not everything can be. (More recent favorites for me would be ICE and Strong & Sweaty).

I agree, though, the premixes aren't that great. I would have liked to see some "mish-mosh" premixes, rather than premixes that just remove sections.

And, I don't really care for gliding discs, but that's just my personal preference.

Shelbygirl

[CarolineBP]

Has anyone had problems with the discs freezing? I've only tried one premix with bonus abs and it kept freezing.