Getting on the XTrain caboose.

I got my XTrain series in the mail yesterday; I'm getting on the XTrain for the next few months, baby.

It comes with 9 discs (well, 10, really--I got the bonus "Ride" DVD where there are a lot of women on spin bikes spinning in front of a camera.  Since I do not own a spin bike, it doesn't look like I'll be doing that one any time soon.  What was I thinking?) that are a cornucopia of weight lifting and cardio goodness.  All of them look tough except for the "Hard Strikes" one where they're all wearing pink boxing gloves.  I'm casting a leery eye on that one for now.

But you know what's amazing about this series?  THERE ARE DUDES IN SOME OF THE VIDEOS.  Yeppers, actual males in all their maleness.  They seem like they're tucked in the back for the most part though, and usually appear in the weight training DVDs.  My first reaction to seeing them in the pictures in the user's guide was, "Dude!  There's dudes in this!"

Anyway.  Since today was a cross-training day, I got up early, scampered downstairs, and broke open the set faster than any kid on Christmas morning.  I chose a low-impact total-body workout called "Supercuts" for this morning's torture session, choosing the premix that played the entire workout plus a bonus core workout.

These are a few of the thoughts that ran through my head during this workout:

• "This may be too easy." (thought after the first 10 minutes)
• "This may kill me." (thought after 20 minutes)
• "I am going to break my ass." (after doing some crazy core moves called sit-outs)
• "I think my diaphragm is going to poke through my chest wall." (after doing even crazier core moves called kick-outs)
• "Wait wait wait I can't get this firewalker band over my fat thighs correctly...wait...damn. Going to have to rewind." (when doing a moving squat exercise with dumbells; or, trying to do it anyway)
• "Guess I shouldn't have been stupid enough to pick the premix with the core work after it." (after realizing the main workout ends with sit-ups and push-ups done very fast and very often)
• "What does she mean 'right foot'?  Isn't she on her right foot?  Should I be on my left then?  Oh *bleep*ing hell." (after Cathe confused me with her directional terms)
• "I think my thighs look a lot like Cathe's.  Or Jai's.  Oh, who am I kidding--I have thighs like Sasquatch."
• "Holy crap that was over quickly."

Now, in a feeble attempt to mimic what professional fitness blogs do, below is a specific list of pros and cons of this workout:

PROS:

• Tons of variety in the exercises.  I loved not having to repeat "rounds" of exercises for once.  
• All of the moves were simple to do (some I've seen in Cathe's other videos but there were some new ones).
• Compound moves are abundant that get your heart rate up quickly.
• Challenging last set of moves where you do 5 sit-ups and then immediately roll over and do 5 push-ups for 8 sets total.  
• Tons of premixes, as usual.  There is absolutely no excuse for not finding a workout you can do in the time that you have.  NO excuse!
• The core routines are pretty damn challenging, and I like that you have two from which to choose.  Variety, again.
• This no-impact workout if very intense; don't ever let Cathe's low-impact workouts fool you into thinking that they won't be challenging enough.  My knees and Achilles are thanking me for not jumping around after yesterday's 9 mile run.

CONS:

• Cathe moves between exercises VERY quickly sometimes.  Not often, but sometimes I had a hard time keeping up. (This is probably because I am slow.)
• There's a lot of equipment needed for this workout (5 and 8 lb dumbbells, a medium tension resistance band, a firewalker band, and gliding discs), some of which you only use one time (the firewalker band).  Also, what if you don't own some of this equipment? You can always use paper plates instead of the gliding discs, but what if you are hell-bent on saving the planet one piece of refuse at a time and refuse to purchase wasteful paper plates? What then, my fitness fanatics?  What then, indeed.  (The point I'm trying to make is this: Is this workout still as effective even if you don't have all the equipment?  I would have liked some modifications to be shown, as someone who usually is missing some piece of equipment needed for a workout.)
• Since I got a barbell for Christmas, I was disappointed that no barbell was used.  Don't give me that crap about this being a cardio/toning routine.  I got a barbell for Christmas and I expect all workouts to take into account my unreasonable expectation.

In all seriousness, this was a pretty decent workout; I look forward to doing it again. And, if it isn't enough for you or you find it too easy or too short, I dare you to try the Supercuts Extreme workout, where you do the workout twice, you badass.  Then come and tell me how easy it is.  For the rest of you (us), enjoy this DVD if you can, and stay tuned for more reviews in the XTrain series from yours truly.