first time buying a cathe tape

[willpowerAli]

I have a bunch of firm tapes (probably about 22 or so) and I always heard that many firm tape users also use Cathe tapes. I am going to finally buy a Cathe tape. After many years of hearing about her tapes, I am going to finally purchase some. I guess the reason I never bought one of her tapes is because I thought Cathe just focused on step aerobic. I see that I was wrong. My goal is to increase muscle mass while losing fat. I basically follow the Body For Life eating plan. My body type is endomorph, specifically ecto/endomorph (pear shaped). I have a higher fat percentage in my lower body (like many other women I guess). The tapes I would like to buy are Power Hour, S&H, 6 pack cross trainer xpress, pure strength series, and MIS. I just don't know what to buy.

I hope Cathe or any other person can help me decide which one to buy first to see the quickest results. I will eventually buy the other ones, but I am just confused. I feel like I need to challenge my body parts more with heavy weights. Should I focus on weight training 3 days per week and the other days do cardio or should I train them 6 days, one part per day along with cardio. Also, if I weight train 3 days per week should I do a total body workout 3 days per week or should those 3 days be focused on different body parts. I am totally confused. Basically I wanted to follow a program for 4-6 weeks and then change it. After the 4-6 week period, I can buy other tapes to change my training. For now I have been using my Firm tapes alternating a cardio tape with a sculpting tape.

Any advice/suggestions???

Alicia

 

[Aquajock]

Good morning, WillpowerAli! Welcome to the gang, where we specialize in spending your money for you!

If I could offer a minor modification to the Cathe workouts you're planning on buying first (understanding that there's always tomorrow . . .):

Slow and Heavy
Power Hour
Cross-Train Express 6-pack
Interval Max (interval step routine)
Circuit Max AND/OR
Cardio Kicks

The reason I made these suggestions is that all combined they offer you a really good mix of strengthening AND cardio options that you can mix and match with great variety every 4-6 weeks.

As far as piecing them together into a rotation or series of rotations, I'm not much help to you there because I don't follow rotations myself. I'll suggest doing a search of past threads here; many of them are devoted to rotations, and I know a faithful forum participant named Kathy S. has a huge collection of suggested rotations that can be e-mailed to you.

Good luck!

Annette

 

[Cruncholi]

I think you should just buy them all. They are all awesome.
Oh, by the way, welcome aboard!

Seriously, I think MIS is an excellent overall total body conditioning strength tape, using heavier weights (so is Pure Strength)

I love the short, but intense cardios in the CTX series and there is great variety of cardio types (kickbox, hi-lo, step).

They are all really good videos in their own way. No two strength videos are alike. Power Hour is a lot like BodyPump. Slow & Heavy is like the superslow method of weight training. Pure Strength is a lot like MIS in style, but broken down into a 3-day split. Really, its whatever style you prefer, what you think will hold your attention for a few weeks at least, and your own personality.

Good luck.

 

[DebbieH]

H Alicia!

Annette & Linda have both given you great advice but I just wanted to jump in and WELCOME you to the forum. It can be very confusing when you first start trying to decide wich tapes to get. I remember being sooo overwhelmed also. Just dive in and get a few to start with and proceed from there because you WILL want them ALL eventually. You can't go wrong with any of them. Have fun and let us know what you decide.

Your-Friend-In-Fitness, DebbieH http://www.plaudersmilies.de/wavey.gif If You Get The Choice To Sit It Out Or Dance...I Hope You DANCE!!!

 

[naughtoj]

RE: H Alicia!

Now that I am HOOKED on Cathe, I am really mad at myself that I didn't buy the whole DVD package. I don't even have a DVD player right now, but I plan to get one. They really have gotten much cheaper. Also, the way some of the others on this forum talk about combining weight sections of one tape to parts of others and so on is very appealing. But with VHS that can be time consuming. The quantity discount is the best deal with the 23 DVD's if you can afford it. I am at a spot right now where I cannot buy any more tapes until I can get that package and sell all my VHS. Of course, this is personal opinion and I really don't HAVE to, but it would be so much better, especially if you are really into exercising and you know it will never go to waste!! All Cathe's tapes are so good that literally you cannot waste your money....Good Luck...Janice

 

[willpowerAli]

RE: H Alicia!

I do want them all. The money is the problem. I do not have a DVD player, but will buy one after I receive the DVDs. I may have to get one at a time. I am thinking of S&H.

I made a list in the order I want them but it may change:
1. S&H
2. Pure Strength
3. Power Hour DVD
4. CTX
5. 2 pack
6. MIC DVD
7. Cardio Hits

I am looking into training routines of women fitness models/competitors and I would love to create daily workouts focusing on one or 2 body parts from different tapes/dvd's with at least 3 sets per exercise. I plan to change the program every 4-8 weeks. For some programs I may do one tape/DVD just as it is with no modifications. I'll probably get one at a time and then when I become familiar with them, I will then be ready to create these programs/rotations for my body type/shape and goals.

I still want them all though!

Alicia