Now, I know some people are all up into the "I refuse to buy these new-fangled fitness DVD workouts because I have Netflix/ExerciseTV/I am really really
The new additions to my little digital family this time were two Cathe Friedrich DVDs. Now, I love me some Cathe Friedrich. I wouldn't call myself a full-blown "Cathlete," but the woman knows what she's doing. I can honestly say that she has toned me in places that I never thought would ever be toned again; even my husband noticed that I was developing these things called "muscles" in my arms and thighs, and this is a man (whom I love very much) who has a hard time noticing more obvious things, like where the dirty laundry goes (not on the floor) or the fact that I have just finished cleaning the bathroom and he probably shouldn't throw water all over the mirror and get all his little beard trimmings on every flat surface imaginable in the room.
Anyway, back to my new Cathe workouts. The woman is not afraid to lift heavy, and that's what I like about the two new workouts I did of hers last week (conveniently located on one DVD): Boot Camp + Muscle Endurance. As a runner, I like to pump some iron at least twice a week, because I believe to be a stronger runner you need strong muscles, especially to power up hills and to maintain proper upper body form when you're tired. I also like to do weights because I have a thing for lifting weights. I am woman, hear me lift these two really heavy dumbbells and roar. If weights are your thing too, then these two workouts are a good investment.
The first workout, Boot Camp, was a pretty good workout. It consists of eight "fitness cycles," as Cathe calls them, each one starting with some cardio and then moving on to upper- and lower-body weight work, and ending with some core work. (It also consists of the cheesiest background I have EVER seen. 2002 must have been a bad year for workout DVD sets, I guess.) I loved the weight-work--it was challenging and effective. The core work consisted of moves that I have never experienced before. Laying a heavy medicine ball on your side while doing side plank lifts? Awesome. However, the cardio left me wanting....specifically, it left me wanting her not to do a few really cool moves, have some extra cardio time, and then fill the rest of that time with jumping up and down. I had had enough of jumping up and down after the 5th cycle. However, the weight and core portions of each cycle are so solid that it won't stop me from doing the workout again--it'll just stop me from doing any superfluous jumping during the cardio.
The second workout on the DVD, Muscle Endurance, was nothing but 65 minutes of pure muscle-shaking goodness. It has the same awful set at the Boot Camp workout, but you won't notice that during the workout--you'll be too busy trying to make it to the end of each exercise (as long as you're using a weight that challenges you). The back of the DVD says that it is a high-rep, total body workout, and I would agree with that--the amount of reps she does is challenging. However, there are a lot of leg presses in this workout (so much so that one of the pre-mixes consists of just leg presses. Really?); I could have done with some more variation there. The core work is also very similar to what was done in the Boot Camp DVD, so I guess I'm lucky I liked it in the first place--because I did most of it again later in the week. But those are minor annoyances, this is a DVD I will be reaching for when I want to do some serious weight work.
What I love about these workouts (indeed, any of Cathe's workouts) is that they come with pre-mixes: shorter versions of the workout that you can do that focus on different aspects or muscle groups. For example, the Muscle Endurance DVD comes with upper and lower body premixes (along with that leg press premix for all you masochists out there), which just play those parts of the workout. For me, these are awesome, especially on days when I'm weight-training the day after a long run and I want to leave my legs alone because they need their rest.
For both of these workouts, you'll need a high step (Cathe calls it a mini-step), a barbell, some dumbbells, and a medicine ball (they use an 8-lb one in both workouts). But you don't really need a barbell--you can do all of those moves with dumbbells, which is what I do. I don't own a barbell because a) I don't have room to store a barbell anywhere in my very small 1930s farm house, and b) I am afraid my husband will come downstairs one morning to find that I have crushed some body part of mine with it, because I am not very coordinated. (I'll post later about various stupid workout injuries I have inflicted upon myself.)
Overall, these DVDs are worth the time and money. Cathe's workouts tend to be on the expensive side, but if you buy them from Amazon rather than off Cathe's website, you won't be gouged on shipping (every time I try and order something off Cathe's website, they only have UPS Ground as an option. I get pissed off at this).
And I know these workouts have settled in nicely to my little workout DVD family.
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