Burn Sets - Cheat, Back and Shoulders Review

[Trixoo]

I see nobody has reviewed a Burn Sets workout yet, so here goes...

Tonight's workout was Burn Sets - Chest, Back and Shoulders. I had planned to do this workout Fri evening or Sat, but I still had DOMS from Xtrain Bis and Tris and Hard Strikes and in my lower body from an unbelievable amount of spinning in the last week (love my new spin bike, but I can't stay off it!). I'm not much for patience, but I'm even less for injuries, so I just went out and had some fun instead.

I have to mention again how gorgeous/handsome everybody looks and the excellent cinematic quality of the filming...I'm just so impressed. Regarding the cast, I usually don't make personal comments beyond how good everybody looks, only because I think anybody who is brave enough to be filmed working out - let alone a Cathe sweat fest - is heroic and is to be put on a pedestal. I will say, though, that Marlo seems more comfortable this go round...like she's really beginning to believe she belongs there (you do Marlo, you do!). Also, unlike STS, Cathe has the men warm up with the crew versus off to the side on a piece of equipment. Seeing Greg in the warm up I had to think of some of the comments a few of you made in a recent thread in the OD about watching your husbands work out to Cathe. I find this utterly charming...the beat in the music being a manly man's kryptonite. Still no smiles from Al that I've seen (generally not watching the screen much except the warm up) but like I said in another review, I like him and his intensity. I'd like to know what he can bench press...those are some impressive pecs!

I'm about to hit that point in the review where I can't see what I'm typing, so stay tuned for part 2.

 

[ReneePruitt]

Lol so cute! Im waiting.. )

 

[Trixoo]

Part 2 -

Okay, so the workout itself. I love that both Xtrain and burn sets work the same groups of muscles. I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to cycle Cathe's weight workouts, but couldn't make it work because the upper body workouts didn't sync...this was so frustrating for me, so I. Really thrilled by this aspect of Xtrain.

I did Xtrain Bis and Tris earlier in the week....in that workout you do an exercise for bis followed by one for tris and keep repeating that, using a new exercise each time. Burn sets is completely different. You work a muscle group in is entirely before you move on to the next muscle group. The way you work the muscle group is also different. Instead of each set being a different exercise, you do three sets of an exercise followed by another three sets of a different exercise. For example, for chest you do 3 sets of bench presses, 3 sets of chest flies, 3 sets of incline bench press, 3 sets of incline flies all topped with some....

wait for it....

wait for it....

push ups. C'mon, this is Cathe after all. But don't worry. Mercifully, it's only one set of push-ups, not 3 (thank you Cathe!!!).

What makes burn sets different is how the three sets are done. You pick a heavy weight. The first and second sets are 10 reps, then the third set is to failure. You can judge whether your weight was heavy enough (or perhaps too heavy) based on how many reps you get with that third set...very, very handy when picking your weight the next time. Also very DOMS inducing if I'm accurately predicting how I'll feel tomorrow based on how I feel right now (which can be described as "used up").

One other note - rear delts are worked pretty well in this workout, so for those of you making your own rotation, you probably wouldn't want to do this workout and the next day do the legs workout with the rear delt add on...you might want to leave that off. Okay, have to move on to part 3.

 

[Trixoo]

Part 3

You should know that I'm not only hampered by the app in doing these reviews, but by the various disruptive activities of my two kitties. They have complete confidence that nothing is as captivating or deserving of attention or space as them. I end up typing a lot of this one handed. Yes, they're spoiled, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Where was I? Oh, so the moves in this workout are tried and true (except how did Cathe come up with a way to do supermans using a fire walker band AND tubing? Awesome). For those of you who liked mesos 2 and 3 of STS (particularly meso 3), I think you in particular will love this workout. However, for those who didn't like the long rest between sets in M3, the rests here are much shorter, more like M2 (30 seconds?).

Once again, I was so glad to see a stretch specific to the body parts used.

I loved this workout and think Burn Sets combined with the Xtrain strength workouts are going to be a very powerful combination!

Can't wait to hear what the rest of you think!

 

[ReneePruitt]

Love the details, oh gosh cant wait.
So what rotation are u doing?

 

[Trixoo]

Love the details, oh gosh cant wait.
So what rotation are u doing?

I'm not sure I'm doing a rotation, because I'm too addicted to spin to do it less than 2-3 times a week. . Right now I'm just trying the different workouts to get a feel for them to see how I can make a rotation for myself. I've only ever done one official rotation - STS - so this isn't unusual for me. I usually do 3x strength and 3x cardio a week, but choose my workouts each day based on what I did the day before, what I plan to do the following day and how my body feels. It's not as disorganized as it sounds and it works pretty well for me.

How about you?

 

[atompki1]

Thanks for the review!! I really enjoy your writing style

BTW...I've been using Safari on my iPad to access the forums since the app isn't working well right now. It is working great!! Just a thought.

 

[Trixoo]

Thanks for the review!! I really enjoy your writing style

BTW...I've been using Safari on my iPad to access the forums since the app isn't working well right now. It is working great!! Just a thought.

Well that's a great idea...thanks!

 

[BlakKat]

Thank you for the great review & details. I can't wait to try this one!

 

[horsing around]

Still waiting for mine to arrive, but I'm impressed with all the reviews that I'm reading. Has anyone else picked up on the number of times "love" is used when they describe this series!!! I appreciate this forum and being able to share my passion for exercise (especially Cathe) with others.

Lisa

 

[mini-natty]

LOVE your reviews Pam! Keep em' coming .

I have not done any Xtrain weight work yet, but I have previewed (many, many times ) and undoubtedly liked what I saw. I am a huge fan of moderate-heavy weight work, so Burn Sets will be right up my alley . I will come back to your threads and post my thoughts once I have done the workouts.

Thanks again!

Natasha

 

[Trixoo]

LOVE your reviews Pam! Keep em' coming .

I have not done any Xtrain weight work yet, but I have previewed (many, many times ) and undoubtedly liked what I saw. I am a huge fan of moderate-heavy weight work, so Burn Sets will be right up my alley . I will come back to your threads and post my thoughts once I have done the workouts.

Thanks again!

Natasha

I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to say! . I'm not as sore this morning as I thought I'd be...but DOMS is sneaky and sometimes it's day 2 that gets me!

Here's a little add on to my review: the last shoulder move is a new one and uses tubing...the forward lunging scarecrow. I think next time I'm either going to use my very lightest tubing or use dumbbells. I'm feeling the front of my left shoulder this morning, not in a DOMS way, not in an injured way, but in a way that makes me think this is a move I need to work up to. Just FYI as you try this one out...Cathe has Brenda show the dumbbell modification.