Purchase CTX or 4-Day Split?

[mini-natty]

Hello everyone

I was thinking about adding to my Cathe collection with one of these series sometime soon. I like that you get so many w/o's, pre-mixes, variety, in one bundle for a great price (they are on sale this month plus 15% off which makes it a bonus!).

Any thoughts or suggestions? Which one did you prefer and why?

Just some background info: I don't mind "dated" w/o's. I don't care about bad/good music, that does not seal the deal for me. I am open to any type of step routine, simple or complex. I like high & low impact. I like all types of weight training/circuit training. I like kickboxing. The more variety, the merrier!

Thanks greatly,

Natasha

[susanzabo]

I wish I could help but I am just starting 4ds tomorrow. I have ctx and I do like it but I don't find myself doing it as often because the cardio segments are short (shorter than 4ds). I am anxious to get other opinions as well.

[Stacy]

Of CTX and 4 DS I prefer CTX.

I like CTX Upper Body as a stand alone upper body workout. CTX has more ab routines. CTX is great for Leaner Legs alone as well. I also think the cardio segments in CTX are more intense.

The downside of CTX is that there really are no premixes. I think the choreography in 4 DS was a bit harder to learn and I also dont find myself doing the Bootcamp workout of 4 DS very often.

[exercise-lover]

I like 4DS a little better than CTX. I love the kickbox in 4ds. It's just fun. The upper body work is great in 4DS. Either set is good though.

[fargomom]

I agree about the great upper body work with 4DS. It's killer AND Cathe goes heavy on a lot of the exercises .... might be a way to put that new barbell to use (ahem: mini-natty!).

Of the cardio only workouts, I've only done "kickbox" and "bootcamp" with any kind of regularity. I particularly like kickbox because if I want a longer kickbox experience I'll just repeat the whole thing again, minus the warmup. It really is a fun workout! I can't speak much for "lower intensity step" or "high intensity step." I think I did each one once or twice after I purchased 4DS. I do agree, though, that the choreography on the step routines is tricky.

I don't own CTX, so I can't speak to that one - sorry!

[MelanieC]

I prefer 4DS over CTX and really would recommend that you get 4DS before CTX (if you can't get both).

There are two step workouts in 4DS that are so much fun with the music and the choreography. The intensity can easily be increased by making your step 8 inches instead of 6. I would definitely say that the step routines in 4DS outshine CTX. I usually reach for Higher Intensity step when I need a pick-me-up workout day.

Bootcamp has so much variety and before you know it, you'll be done the workout, but feel like you've really worked hard. You use the step for some of the drills.

Kickbox is also awesome. In my opinion, it outshines CTX.

The strength portions of the workouts are tough, but in a good way!

So, there you go. If you can only buy one right now, I suggest 4DS.

[susanzabo]

Natasha,

I just did the 4DS - Kickbox/legs today for the first time and that was so much fun! Seemed light on the leg workout though (remember I am used to B&G which has about an hour of legs) but I thought the first 30 minutes of warm up and kickbox was a perfect beginning. I also previewed the rest of the cardio and it seems like that is where some of the moves from Low Impact Challenge were born :-) Hip Hop repeaters, leg swing to the front, leg swing to the back. Both the low impact and high impact step look like fun and I can't wait to do it. Boot Camp has some drills I haven't seen before and it looks tough.

The amount of premixes is ENDLESS, but as someone else said, there is a lot more core work in CTX... Decisions, decisions.

Susan

[TRSTACIE]

I have both CTX and 4DS. I definitely prefer 4DS. There are tons of premixes, great music, and good workouts. In fact, the Low Intensity step workout is my all time favorite. The Kickboxing workout in CTX is pretty good but I didn't care for the other ones....they kinda had a Denise Austin feel to them. If you like Denise Austin, you might really like it.

The one complaint I have heard about 4DS is that it's hard to learn the choreography. There is some truth to that. She doesn't break the moves down as much as other DVDs because the workouts are shorter. However, once you get them down, it's super fun.

[mrsyancy]

i think it depends on what ur looking for....i like both workouts, but 4ds has more weight lifting than ctx.....i think some of the weight segments in ctx are only like 15 minutes or so on 2 or 3 of the workouts, but the cardio is pretty intense......and IMO there's really only one difficult part to learn in the low impact step section that i remember of 4ds (i could be wrong), but they are both fun.....but like i said the weight segments are shorter in ctx.....and u can also chapter them how u want them in ctx also, even tho i don't think ctx has premixes...well there is my two cents....HTH

[mini-natty]

Thanks everyone

I think I may be leaning more towards 4-Day Split. It seems to be the winner here. I love the option of the pre-mixes too.


TRSTACIE- Nope, not a fan of Denise lol

Thanks again!