Cardiovasular condition not getting any better???

[naughtoj]

Hi everyone!!

I am relatively new to Cathe, but by no means new to cardiovascular exercise. Before Cathe as well as now, I hike, run and mountain bike regularly. Now I do Cathe tapes as well.

I did Cardio Kicks today and am wondering why I feel like I am going to die when she gets to the point where she is running through the WHOLE thing again, you know, right before the intensity drills start. My HR monitor beeps incessantly at that point, my HR around 175 (I am 26). Same thing happens when I do Circuit Max...you are supposed to "recover" when you are lifting, but I just don't. My heart is still fast and furious when I resume the cardio.

I think I incorporate intervals into all my workouts, as I always exercise very intensly until something shuts me down for a day or so. I was an advanced cardiovascular exerciser when I started Cathe, so why do I feel like such a failure when it comes to her tapes?? It always seems like I always have to start modifying at the same point, even after 6 mos of doing them. When do I get to finish the whole thing and get that "oh I did so much more this time" feeling you all speak of??

I have noticed, however, that my non-Cathe cardio workouts are much easier..muscularly and cardivascularly. Is Cathe just REALLY tough?? I always think I am overtraining because I literally don't have any low-intensity workouts. I don't think any of Cathe's are??

Anyway, FINALLY I ordered MIC, IMAX, BODYMAX, LEANER LEGS, AND THE WEDDING TAPE. I am very excited, but if I can't make it through CK in good shape, how will I ever get through IMAX. I have been exercising for 10 years...how long does cardiovascular conditioning take??

Any advice??? Janice

 

[honeybunch]

Don't feel bad, I think EVERYONE has a surprise in store when they start with Cathe Cardio tapes! I had exercised for 9 years before I did Cathe tapes (mostly race walking) and I thought I was in great shape.

THEN I got my first Cathe weight tapes (which I DID try) and a couple of cardios, left the cardios sit for months along with Taebo. Then, the year 2000 hit along with my 50 birthday (two months before) and I just jumped in.

Cathe tapes will kick up your endurance level lots of notches, but you just have to give yourself time to work into them.

I started out with the HiLo portion only of MIC, and was humbled, to say the least.

If you stay with them, you'll feel like an Amazon, so just hang in there. No one measures up to Cathe when it comes to advanced tapes!

 

[Jane P]

I know that endurance athletes don't go all out everyday. When they run they do different kinds of workouts. Some are very high heart beat, some are intervals, and some are long and slow keeping the heartbeat at the lower end of their training zone. They claim better results this way, so my suggestion would be to throw in a couple of long slow days to give your heart a break from such high intensity training, but still be active. You may feel like you're cheating, but this may actually improve your results. Good luck.

 

[jillybean]

I would suggest mixing it up. CTX is great because it has intervals during each cardio workout, but some are really short, giving you a cardio blast 5x's a week! I would try that for a few weeks. Then, try a rotation doing MIC once during the week which is long endurance-oriented, and a shorter but more intense workout later in the week (my personal favorite is the step section from Body Max). It's like changing up your lifting routine, you are bound to see some changes. Have fun!