cardio question!

[gabrielle]

dear cathe,
hello, im gabrielle joyce. i love your pure strength series! im 15, 5'7 and 130 lbs and I want to lose about 5 more pounds. My sister, Jessica, has been a huge fan of yours starting with your step videos (bodymax, step works and the other one....starts with an I?...something with Intense in it, i forgot!) Anyways i have been doing the pure strength series for about a month now and want to include cardio vascular. i watched your step workouts abd they look like fun but they seem very complicated. i havent doen step in a long time! what should i do to work up to them? also, how should i arrange them with the pure strength series? if you can help great! thanks,
gabrielle
p.s. eric is very cute, congratulations!!

 

[Cathe Friedrich]

Hi Gabrielle!

I'm glad you are enjoying the Pure Strength series. You can continue to do the PS Series while also incorporating the following:

Judging by your question, I am assuming that you are not currently doing any form of cardiovascular activity. If I am right in this assumption, then I would suggest doing a brisk walk/light jog workout three times per week, at 20 minutes per workout, to build your endurance up. Do this for 3 weeks, gradually increasing your time by five minutes per week. I would also suggest that, in the meantime, you order Step Jam and Step Heat(these are two videos that are not overly complicated yet still intense). When your videos arrive, I would WATCH them in your free time(during the time of your three week walk/jog program). This will visually expose you to the workouts and help get you more comfortable with the moves. After three weeks of the walk/jog program, I would substitute one of the walk/jog workouts for a step video workout. So now you are doing two walk/jog and one step workout per week. After two weeks of this, I would now change to two step workouts and one walk/jog per week. NOTE: On your step workout day, only do as much of the video as you can handle. Work your way up to doing the workout in its entirety.

SAMPLE WEEK D-U-R-I-N-G FIRST THREE WEEKS:

Mon--walk/jog 20 minutes(increase time gradually)
Tues--PS Back/bi's/abs
Wed--walk/jog 20 minutes(increase time gradually)
Thurs--PS Chest/shoulders/triceps
Fri--walk/jog 20 minutes(increase time gradually)
Sat--PS Legs/abs

SAMPLE WEEK A-F-T-E-R THE FIRST THREE WEEKS:

Mon--Step Heat(as much as you can handle)
Tues--PS Back/Bi's/Abs
Wed--walk/jog 40 minutes
Thurs-PS Chest/Shoulders/Triceps
Fri--walk/jog 40 minutes
Sat--PS Legs/Abs

SAMPLE WEEK AFTER F-I-V-E WEEKS:

Mon--walk/jog 40 minutes
Tues--PS Back/Bi's/Abs
Wed--Step Heat(as much of it as you can handle)
Thurs-PS Chest/Shoulders/Triceps
Fri--Step Heat
Sat--PS Legs/Abs

Mon--Step Jam(as much of it as you can handle)
Tues--PS Back/Bi's/Abs
Wed--Step Jam
Thurs-PS Chest/Shoulder/Triceps
Fri-walk/jog 40 to 45 minutes
Sat--PS Legs/Abs

Good Luck with Everything!!