A Cathe chronological rotation and reflecting on the past

[cataddict]

Welcome back Linda! So good to "see" you! Sorry about your injury. I do the abs section first on the original Pyramid upper body workout, otherwise it would never happen (as it often doesn't on other workouts). The stability ball abs on this workout is tough!

Stephanie, I often pick and choose from some of the weight offerings, not just on Pure Strength but on the other dedicated weight DVDs as well. I don't always feel comfortable with going very heavy bending over for back exercises, as I think I've tweaked my back using too much weight. I also tend to modify some of the ab work since too many crunches seem to bother my back as well.

Today I took a Cathe holiday and did a You Tube step workout by Rebecca Small. All I have to say is, how did I miss her when Evolution was still around??? I had heard of her but by the time I went looking for DVDs there were no longer any available. I absolutely LOVED this workout and am so grateful for VFer Laura S for directing me to find her on You Tube. The steps were creative, fun, well put together and she has a great personality and did a terrific job at teaching the moves. Warning to those who feel they have two left feet, this is pretty complicated, but if you like well cued by complex choreography (and I do), this is for you! I recognized the music from the workouts that Rob Glick did for Evolution. I liked it in his workouts and I like it here. There were a couple of workouts of her on YT, so I will take a look at whatever else is out there now that I know that I really like her. I did the whole darn thing--roughly 70 minutes--about 30 minutes more than I originally planned on but I was having so much fun I didn't want to stop.

horusosiris, the set in Lean Machine is dark. I think she used it for another of her workouts as well---kind of an industrial look reminiscent of Gin Miller's early step workout. It was also pretty small to crowd all those people in it so I see what you mean. It was also kind of distracting, since I watched the backgrounders more than I usually do. She could have left out two or three people. The set up on the DVD is a little strange as well. It doesn't look like I can go to the second workout without skipping chapter by chapter through the first one. Only the "bonus" Body Rock section is separately listed along with the warm up. It's a little confusing, at least to me.

Waving to all!

[fanofladyvols]

Sue Belated birthday wishes!!
Welcome Nathalie, and Stephanie!! This group is just Hard, sweaty goodness ...to quote Kittybug!

manleym looks like you and Kim are neck and neck for Queen enabler crown!

Originally Posted by ChelePA

Recovery another 6-8 weeks. Thanks for asking.

ChelePA does this mean you will be able to bear weight by the end of May? I hope so!! Reading your posts I'm reminded what an inspiration you are!! I wished I could have kept going somehow with my back but I'm just not able to figure a way when I'm a dummy and hurt it overdoing with normal life.
I'm also stronger than I was in my 20s..I wished I had pushed myself back in the day like I do now!

Cataddict and Stephanie you both mentioned older strength...Slow and heavy and Pure strength respectively. I totally agreed with your assessments, too. Of the slow and heavy ( which is what I did a week ago, the chest workout was my favorite. I didn't do the leg workout though...I subbed in Great glutes and lean legs. Loved doing that way.
Pure strength needs inverted rows and chest supported rows subbed in for some back work. Also the legs section has deadlifts and it was a bit much as scripted so I felt the inverted work was necessary to keep my back mobile. But I really enjoy the simplicity and slower tempo. They also both work well to add the 100 rep challenges from Xtrain.
Something interesting...my daughter joined me with slow and heavy...she did the slow and light method
After a week of that with the rep challenges I asked her opinion. She said, " yeah I like her. She's positive but chill." It was fun having her to lift weights with.

Originally Posted by momofcha

Today was the Cathe live at 7am. Low impact compound training. I liked it a lot, but why does she have the same music from her dvds? Is that really what she plays in her gym?

Sue it's got to be a money/cost issue re: rights..don't you think?

Originally Posted by kittybug

Gals, my husband said something the other night along the lines of 'by the time they reopen the gyms here, I'll have gained a million pounds.' I mentioned to him that I could hook him up with some weight workouts if he wanted to do something at home..... He then said something about the last time he saw me working out, I was twirling and doing cartwheels and flips all while lifting weights and he could never do any such thing, it was just asking for an injury. I'm seriously wondering WHAT workout he might have seen me doing and cannot fathom what he's talking about, seriously, but his perspective is kind of hilarious!

kittybug after I stopped laughing I said " Ah hah!! I always knew kittybug was a cheerleader!!! Were you guys able to get your husband's car fixed?

Originally Posted by Mickey12

I used to have my husband pick my workout for the day. I would tell him right side or left side (meaning the shelf of workouts on the right or left side of the tv) then he would tell me, “4 down from the top” or whatever he thought of. If I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do he would make the decision for me and it forced me to do workouts that I might not pick on my own. It was fun.

I like doing workouts along with others here because it makes it seem like we’re doing them together. We can compare notes, makes it fun....
Kim

Kim on top of being funny, this seems really sweet
My first Cathe workout was All step and hated it. My first Cathe workout I liked was Basic step.
I notice matching things (like you do) and color coordinated set props Cathe uses and appreciate the time she puts into making the workouts visually appealing. She really seems to understand how often we will be looking at that workout and making it worth watching many times.

I am trying to figure out if anyone is doing anything I can line up with myself as I catch up. Personally, I don't want my husband spending any time examining my collection...he starts sputtering something about whether I need this or that and ain't nobody got time for all that gibberish!

Kate I have new Cathe favorites and am appreciating so many of her workouts but I still hold the Xtrain and Gymstyles series closest to my workout heart.

Originally Posted by horusosiris

I live in NY so almost everyone I know knows someone who either had, has or died from the virus. This is absolutely horrible and so very sad.

horusosiris that made me sad to read. I'm sorry.

Originally Posted by cataddict

We just heard that my sister-in-law's brother died from Covid in the nursing home where he resided.

Cataddict saying a prayer for peace for you and your loved ones. I'm so sorry you're prevented from mourning and helping your family as you normally would.

bee that's a fantastic result for getting your glutes to respond! It really does make a difference for me to mentally focus on whatever muscle I'm working. Doing my abs first makes me remember them when I'm lifting too. These metabolic workouts it's easy to forget to slow down and focus on the muscle you're working.

Today was an outdoor hike..

I have analysis paralysis regarding what I'm doing next week so will have to work on that tomorrow and post.

High fives and hugs to all!!

[Mickey12]

Linda I don’t know if I’m an enabler as much as I am a victim of enabling. I ended up buying 9 DVDs yesterday due to Amy Bento enabling. I decided I had to have her Hi/lo extreme and Hi dome challenge. I couldn’t get extreme at Mary’s site so I found it on eBay along with Rumble and a Kettlebell DVD. I didn’t necessarily want those but they were being sold together for only $10 so I thought, what a bargain, I have to have those!

I got the dome challenge and a CIA Bento kickbox from Mary. I also got hi/lo dynamics Amy Bento from Collage and, well, I had to get free shipping, so I found an old Rob Glick hi/lo that I didn’t have and an old Kathy Smith compilation that I didn’t have and Amy’s Kickbox Surge and core.

Kim

P.s. on an unrelated note, I am very close to getting another cat. I only have one now and was going to adopt from the shelter when they open up again. My nephew recently had a mama and 4 kittens appear at his doorstep so now he’s looking for homes. I didn’t want a kitten and would prefer to adopt a fully grown cat, but he wants to keep the mom. I need to give it some thought, my home hasn’t had a kitten in it (ie, need to be kitten proofed) in about 25 years. They’re soooo active! I much prefer a more sedentary adult cat.

[lavna]

Happy Sunday everyone!

Spring is finally here and we're expected to have a sunny and warmer week! At last! Everybody is going crazy planting flowers and getting their BBQs out! It's so good to finally be able to go outside without a sweater!

Yesterday, I did a long Yard Max workout! My legs are still talking to me today. This morning, I went for 1 hr walk, enjoying the nice weather. Today was supposed to be a leg day, but with all I've done, maybe I'll just do an UB workout later on!

Kim: When I don't feel like doing abs or am short on time, I do the abs from Power hour. They're only 6 min. long but I find I get a good workout in a short amount of time.

Linda: Congrats on your results! It's great that your efforts paid off.

Stephanie: Bent over exercises are hard for me too. When I do them, I support my torso on something to ease the pressure on my lower back. It helps me a lot. If I wasn't doing that, I'm sure I'd hurt myself over time.

Waves to everyone else! Enjoy your Sunday!
Nathalie

[manleym]

Hi Everyone!

Fanofladyvols I am SO GLAD you're back!!! We were all so worried about you, so it was good to hear you were ok (sorry about the injury, but overall ok). Glad you're posting again.

Wow! Lots to catch up on! I love it!

Kittybug how's the haircut? Feeling fresh with a little extra spring in your step? It always feels good getting cleaning up. And doing ALL of X10!! That is INSANE!!! I've done parts of it but NEVER X77!! And not sure I really want to or can!!

Thanks everyone for the feedback on PRS 1 & 2. I think I'm going to start of with 2 to build my confidence and maybe spend some time trying to learn 1. So this week I'll be doing the 2013 series and throwing in some of Cathe Lives. I haven't checked them for this week but am hoping to do some new-to-me Lives.

Like Kim I've been buying alot of Amy Bento's workouts too. I bought 7 (EBay and Amazon) and got 2 in a trade, and already had 3 of them. I think Kim and I are buying them all up on EBay. Now I'm wanting Body Box, and Hi-Lo Dome Challenge since ya'll have said they're good and like them. Ugh! When does it stop?!?!

I also like Amy Dixon's BB's. I have 1,2,& 4 and think 4 is my favorite since it incorporates weights, and then 2. I also really like that she has 3 levels - I'm in and out of different levels all the time, depending on the move. She's a good instructor and has good music. I don't remember thinking "make it STOP!" like in some dvds, so it must be fairly decent.

So glad to hear some of ya'll are having good weather and able to get out do some Yard Max. The sun feels so good!

I love the fact that we're all about the same age and stage of life - battling the post-menopausal changes. Sometimes I look at my legs and ask, "Whose legs are those?!?" I used to be able to bounce a quarter off my legs. So while I don't look bad for my age, I had to accept that I will never look like I did 25 years ago. Just glad I can still to Cathe and keep up with ya'll!!

Sorry this is kind of brief and I don't have time to respond to each of you individually but love reading each of your posts! Should have more time later. This has been a busy weekend for us. Just wanted to pop in and say hello and hope everyone is doing well.

Hugs to all of you! I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!

[lavna]

Originally Posted by manleym

Hi Everyone!
Thanks everyone for the feedback on PRS 1 & 2. I think I'm going to start of with 2 to build my confidence and maybe spend some time trying to learn 1. So this week I'll be doing the 2013 series and throwing in some of Cathe Lives. I haven't checked them for this week but am hoping to do some new-to-me Lives.

I'm sure you'll like PRS2. I like that there's not too many time spent teaching the combo. She does the finished combo 2 times before moving on to the next. I the end, she does all 6 combos together.

I checked the schedule for next week Lives but it's the same one as April 13th (and May 4th!).

Nathalie

[manleym]

Thanks Nathalie! That's good info! Sounds like the end with all 6 combos together is the trickiest part, just like many other step dvds where they put all the combs together.

I just checked Cathe Lives too and there's only a few I haven't done, so I probably won't do many of them this week. I think my AM workouts will be learning PRS 1 and/or some Amy Bento. Then my PM workouts will be Cathe's 2013, which are some of my favorites!

[Mickey12]

So Kate’s post about Step Pump and Jump got me thinking about it. I did it today after not doing it in a really long time. Lots of fun, nothing too complicated in the choreography and good music. I made it until the lunge section around the 40 minute mark and decided to do my own abs instead. I picked up with the low impact section of hi/lo and then cooled down on my own. While it was lots of fun, I just didn’t have the motivation to finish it. . Tomorrow is another day.

Kim

[kittybug]

Happy Sunday Fierce Femmes!! Fierce Femmes, hah...that just came out, hah hah!

OMG, first of all, WELCOME BACK Fanofladyvols!! It is SO SO good to hear from you again. We missed you something fierce! Glad you're back up and running again. I cast a pox on injuries...no more for any of us, darn it!

Gals, I did do X77 today...and I might never, ever do that to myself again. Hands down, that was THE hardest Cathe workout I've ever done, harder than Imax 3, Tabatacise, any of the longer Cross Fire or Intensity or To the Max premixes, just unbelievably hard! I will say I really enjoyed most of the music in this one though...very fun and motivating. But it was so hard, I started having to take breaks after only 30 minutes, so it took me at least 10 more minutes to get through than the 77 it's listed as! My hair was soaked all the way out to the ends, every single strand!

I think tomorrow will be Great Glutes, some premix or other, and I'm really looking forward to it!

Nathalie, you took the words out of my mouth on Cathe and her triceps! I can frequently keep up with her on weights for lots of stuff but triceps? Oh, heck NO. It is NOT just you. She's just some kind of genetically engineered beast.

Cataddict, ME TOO on the curls! My hair is a crazy wild bush right now because of short layers, but I've learned my lesson repeatedly that it needs to be a certain length AT LEAST for my curls to behave in any manageable way, and yet I seem to do stupid things anyway like cutting it all off and having to learn that all over again. I'm trying to grow it there now! It is totally about the weight! Oh, and because of you, I also checked out a YT video from Rebecca Small that looked like SO MUCH FUN, the step one, OMG....how have I missed her all this time? I MUST try that one sometime soon!!

Horusosiris, thanks for the leg day info! And also, I laughed that you stuck out the Cathe Live you didn't like because it was too much effort to find something else. I cannot tell you how many times I've done the same thing with various workouts!

Oh, Bee, sorry about the gluten!! I went GF about 15 years ago and got horribly dosed by mistake a couple years ago...I got so sick I missed a flight and a trip I had scheduled the next day, and I was down for the count for about four days. It sucked!

Zraipel, no worries on the tablet posting, totally understand!! And I feel the same way about those particular back exercises. They do NOT agree with me and I prefer substitute exercises for sure. So glad you're here!!

Kim and Manleym, I'm laughing at you two snatching up all those DVDs! The enablers being enabled, I love it!!!

Kim, how old is your current adult cat? It might be best to take two of the kittens if it is older than 6 or 7. Cat proofing, oh, yes, I know allllll about that! I'm just grateful our two little ones have integrated so well with our adults now!

Manleym, my hair cut is this coming week, just a few more days and cannot wait! I too love that we're all around the same age group...I am pretty much peri though, unfortunately, and wishing this dang ride would be over soon too because sometimes it's miserable!! How do you make it through sane, and does it get better/easier???

Hope I didn't miss anybody...waves to all, check in when you can!! Stay fierce, my lovely friends!

[cataddict]

Happy Sunday, friends!

Today I did Supersets from the Body Blast series. I liked it much better than I expected. There was no repetition and there were some different moves using the stability ball. I didn't even mind the barbell work and I've kind of drifted away from using the barbell. I can't remember when I last did this workout, it pretty much seemed new to me!

I looked on You Tube intending to sample some Marcus Irwin. Instead, I found a Christi Taylor hi lo workout that I don't have already (Totally Hot Cardio, I think it was?) and did that instead. I was intending to do it for 30 minutes when the song "Bang on the Drum" came on and I was having so much fun listening to it I just kept going. Following that song was Devil With the Blue Dress and yes, I kept going. This is such a fun workout! Don't know why I never purchased it and now I don't have to!

kittybug, you MUST try the Rebecca Small step workout! So much fun!! And congratulations on finishing X77! You definitely ARE a beast!! (or crazy )

Kim, I agree on maybe getting 2 kittens. They can keep each other company and play with each other and if you are lucky they will wear each other out. They have a ton of energy!

I have a hair appointment on Wednesday. The grey will go away but I think I'll keep the length pretty much as is.

Waving to all! Next week I am still doing mix and match of Body Blast workouts although I'm close to having done most of them. I'll maybe add some You Tubes depending on what I find. The Cathe Lives this week are ones I've done several times so I'm not doing them again. Obviously I have the most random type of rotation ever!