First Time Posting

[Kellyro77]

Oh! I love Muscle Max. Muscle Endurance and Pyramid Pump are great, too. And I also love Travel Fit.

Yes, for Muscle Max and Travel Fit, she uses bands - they're worth it and if you get into more and more of her workouts, you'll find she uses them quite a bit, so you'll get your money's worth out of them.

The above workouts are also great intros into Cathe's weighted workouts. Once you build confidence doing those, I definitely recommend you try out some of her heavier-weighted workouts. Since you like total body workouts, all three of her total body workouts from STS 2.0 are magnificent (and those would be heavy-weighted workouts.)

Although you can get any of her heavy workouts and always go light, but you may find yourself disappointed because she keeps the reps low in those, and, for instance, you'd not get much benefit out of just sticking with 10 reps of kickbacks with 5# weights, instead of 16+ reps of kickbacks that you'd find in one of her muscle endurance workouts (like the ones you just purchased.)

Hope that makes sense.

Anyways - enjoy! And now I want to pull out Muscle Max and do it soon!

 

[Lady Vol Fan]

You really get a lot of bang for your buck.

Cathe's DVDs that have the thoughtful premixes and bonuses are pure gold.

At the Labor Day Sale, I bought Muscle Max, the one with Muscle Endurance, Pyramid Pump and the Travel one.

GREAT choices! Travel fit doesn't get mentioned much but I love Cathe's band workouts. Also Love MM and Pyramid Pump especially since they have some very useful premixes to mix things up!

 

[aqua girl]

Travel Fit is a great workout!

 

[FitSaxe]

I splurged during the Labor Day sale so I have more workouts coming (and that cool round mat)! Thanks so much for listening to this Cathe newbie babble on! I was nervous to post but after lurking here for awhile feel this is a very supportive community. Do you all remember your first Cathe workout where you finished it feeling so proud of yourself?

Sorry I have just realised i have not answered your question. I believe my first Cathe workout was Body Max, then i added power hour and Muscle Max. All those old goodies are still relevant today.

Enjoy your new workouts. muscle endurance is very good for building endurance. You will gain a solid foundation to upgrade to bigger commitment such as xtrain, Ripped with hit, ctx, 4ds. Take your time in this big Candy shop Take care.

 

[FruitLoop25]

Thank you, all, for your additional comments! They are so helpful to me!! I’m so happy to hear I made some good selections! I have the round mat coming as well and the socks!! Yay!!

I actually bought Power Hour for the Maximum Intensity Strength. What do you all think of that workout? I noticed it’s not mentioned much. What can I expect from it (heavy, high rep, etc)? How does it compare to Power Hour?

Could I please ask a follow up question regarding STS 2? Are those her heaviest total body strength workouts on dvd? If not, what is?

 

[FruitLoop25]

I believe my first Cathe workout was Body Max,

You are a beast!!!! Love it!!

 

[Kellyro77]

Could I please ask a follow up question regarding STS 2? Are those her heaviest total body strength workouts on dvd? If not, what is?

To my knowledge, STS 2's total body workouts (Giant Sets, Super Sets, and Tri Sets) are her heaviest total body strength workouts.

If you participated in her upcoming Lift, Move & Restore Elevated pre-release, she has a wonderful heavy total body metabolic workout with the bonus downloads. It's a download only, though, so you cannot get it on DVD, and there are no premixes with that one. But she goes slow and heavy in that one, too.

Now, you can always opt to increase your weights with any of her total body workouts, but you'll have to make sure you properly pace yourself and give yourself ample breaks instead of trying to keep pace with Cathe.

Cathe purposely coaches you through the appropriate pacing and rests in STS 2, whereas with her other TB workouts, if you're upping the weights, you have to coach/moderate yourself.

 

[FruitLoop25]

Kellyro77- thank you!!! It looks like I know which dvds will be my next purchase!!!

Thank you for the pacing information. That makes perfect sense!

Also, I appreciate the information on the downloads. A lot to think about!! Haha

 

[FitSaxe]

Could I please ask a follow up question regarding STS 2? Are those her heaviest total body strength workouts on dvd? If not, what is?

Kellyro77 advise below is what you need to be aware of. You also need to know that the weight load depend on the reps range and the rest time between sets. So for total workout, the most recent workout meet the need of anyone willing to lift from 6 reps range to 10. So your heaviest weight load request fit in with the purpose of LMR2#1 Total Metabolic strength Free download. For split workout, STS original is the most adequat for heavy load. The most recent LMR2#3 and upcoming#4 are relevant for split workout.

Here is a clip of the most recent metabolic strength.

https://fb.watch/BVvEe_dv-z/

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1109605807647009

So what is your plan, what is your goal/desire. Starting from Total weight lifting program or just randomly working out depending on your mood?

Now, you can always opt to increase your weights with any of her total body workouts, but you'll have to make sure you properly pace yourself and give yourself ample breaks instead of trying to keep pace with Cathe.

 

[FitSaxe]

To anyone asking if beginners can do LMR2#free download. Here is Cathe answer.

 

[FitSaxe]

Kellyro77- thank you!!! It looks like I know which dvds will be my next purchase!!!

Thank you for the pacing information. That makes perfect sense!

Also, I appreciate the information on the downloads. A lot to think about!! Haha

Here is another Total workout you could add in future. it require more equipment compared to muscle max.
it is a great workout

 

[Debinmi]

@FruitLoop25,
I'm afraid we may be confusing trying to explain all Cathe has to offer, so I'm going to speak to one of your newest purchases - Power Hour+. All 3 of these workouts were originally created on VHS and then repackaged onto one dvd. They were originally produced in the 1990's I think. So although MIS says Maximum, Cathe does not lift as heavy for some of the exercises as she does today, just as most of us didn't lift as heavy back then - it's all relative. Relative to your current strength. Typically Muscular Endurance workouts use high repetitions and lower weights. Hypertrophy workouts use heavier/moderate weights and moderate reps. While true strength workouts use very heavy weights for which you can only lift about 4-6-8 reps. The only true heavy weight workout Cathe has is the MESO 3 of the original STS. But you can go heavier with her hypertrophy workouts, just go slower and use less reps.

Power Hour is a muscle endurance workout - sort of like Jari Love (I think - it's been a long time since I did a Jari workout). So high repetitions and lower relative weight. Cathe takes a body part and works it out to one full song, like in a Les Mills Body Pump workout. Here's the breakdown of the workout:

Warm up w/Barbell- 5.5 min

Strength Training 40 min

Legs: 7:15 min

Squats BB

Plie Squat BB

Chest: 6 min

Push ups

Pec Flyes DB

Bench Pr. BB

Back: 6 min

Underhand Dead Row BB

Dead Row/Dead Lift BB

One Arm Lat Rows

Legs: 7 min

Lunges BB

Lunges DB

Shoulders: 5 min

Ant. Delt Raise Plate

Flex Lateral Delt Raise DB

Post. Delt Raise DB

Military Press BB

Biceps Curl BB 5 min

Triceps: 6 min

Headbanger BB

One Arm Kickback DB

Headbanger BB

Abs w/Planks

Stretch

On to Maximum Intensity Strength. While Cathe lifts pretty heavy for the time of this workout, it's not as heavy as her workouts today, because it's older. Here's the breakdown":

Warm Up with Step - 6.5 min.

LEGS 18.5 MIN

Squats BB

Static Lunges BB

Plie Squats BB

Dead Lifts BB

Rear Lunges w/DB

Rear Lunges off Step

Chest - 8 min.

Push-Ups

Bench Press BB

Pec Flyes DB

Push-Ups

Bench Press BB

Pec Flyes DB

Back - 7.5 min.

One Arm Lat Rows DB

Overhand Dead Row BB

Underhand Dead Row BB

Posterior Delt Flyes DB

Shoulders - 7 min.

Upright Rows BB

Militaries BB

Flex Lateral Delt Raise DB

Biceps - 6 min.

Crazy 8's BB

Hammer Curls DB

Alt. Hammer Curls DB

Triceps - 7.5 min.

Lying Tricep Extensions

Close Grip Bench Press BB

Triceps Dips BB OR Sub

Triceps Kickbacks DB

ABS - 10 MIN

Stretch - 3 min.

The reason you probably don't hear as much about these workouts on the Forum is because they are older. I still use Power Hour as an endurance workout once, maybe twice a year. I like the format. It is dated in that Cathe talks about her "little guy" keeping her up at night (he's now an adult) but it's kinda cute and the workout is still a good endurance workout.

I mostly use MIS as chapter add-ons when doing Parts workouts as in my September rotation. Parts of this workout will be added to other Cathe weight lifting workouts to focus on specific muscle groups. As you can see the chapters for each muscle group are fairly short, so they're great as an Add-on.

As to Body Max: This is also a very old workout and was a favorite among older Catheletes back in the day. It was a regular Saturday morning workout for me. The whole things is about 90 minutes. Now, there is a nice Upper Body workout on it that is about 30ish minutes. I use this maybe once or twice a year when I'm short on time but want to get in an UB workout. It's really good for that. Here's the breakdown of just the UB work:

Upper Body Section: 34 minutes

Chest:

Chest Press DB

Bench Press BB

Push-Ups

Back:

One Arm Lat Rows R&L DB

Bent Row BB

Posterior Delt Flyes DB

Shoulders:

Military Press DB

Upright Row BB

Bent Arm Lateral Delt Raise DB

Long Lever Lateral Delt Raise DB

Bent Arm Lateral Delt Raise DB

Long Lever Lateral Delt Raise DB

Bent Arm Lateral Delt Raise DB

Biceps:

Biceps Curls BB

Hammer Curls DB

Crazy 8's BB

Rotational Hammer Curls DB

Triceps:

Close Grip Bench Press BB

Headbangers BB

Triceps Dips from Step

Triceps Kickbacks DB

Abs 8:30 min

Cathe has a blog where you can search for articles related to your interests and then it may list workouts and other articles that are relevant to the discussion. Here's an article about the types of weight training, the % of 1Rep Max and approximate reps used in each type of workout. You may find it helpful. You said you've done Nia Shanks workouts. I read her book "Lift like a Girl" a number of years ago and if you followed her workouts, then you probably are used to lifting heavy (for you - it's all relative).

One-Rep Max: Are You Lifting Heavy Enough?

Are you lifting heavy enough to reach your weight-training goals? One way to find out is to determine your one-rep max. Here’s how.

cathe.com

 

[Braille]

You picked some good ones! I think you'd like Perfect Pump too. It's a 1/2 hour upper and 1/2 hour lower body workout that can be done together as a total body workout. The Pyramid Pump you purchased has some bonuses, including a mini 5 minute upper body and 8 minute lower body bonus that are great for tacking onto the end of any workout if you feel the need for a "finisher" or to add a bit of strength training to the end of a cardio workout (after all... you're already warmed up lol). I usually prefer total body as well, but I have to admit that there is something about X-train's Burn Sets that keeps me coming back, even though it's one body part at a time. I didn't think I'd use LMR much, but I've found it to contain elements that I really need at my age (55). The balance portion was more challenging than I'd expected. lol Total Body STS is a great total body workout that you might consider putting on your list for the future. This forum is a great place to get tips, support, and answers (or guidance to links that provide answers), but if you want to skim through a bunch of thorough reviews (to prepare for Black Friday sales lol), go to 2 Lazy 4 the Gym. Her reviews list the equipment (as well as what you could substitute), her opinion on the workout and its level, the exercises, how many reps, and just about anything you'd want to know. She reviews other instructors, but Cathe is her favorite, and I've found her reviews to be very valuable. It's also saved me money, because it doesn't cost that much to buy a workout here and there, but it does cost a lot to do that and then decide you want the whole set. lol Her site helped me to determine whether I was going to frequently use most of what came in a series or if I'd be better off just buying an individual DVD or 2. If you haven't discovered 2 Lazy 4 the Gym, you should check it out.

 

[FruitLoop25]

So what is your plan, what is your goal/desire. Starting from Total weight lifting program or just randomly working out depending on your mood?

I work out according to my mood….always!! I do 2 strength workouts a week and the rest is cardio or cardio + yoga! My goal is to stay independent for as long as I can and hopefully avoid needing 24/7 care in a nursing home.

 

[FruitLoop25]

Debinmi- Wow!! Thank you VERY much for taking the time to write all that out! That was incredibly thoughtful of you!! I really appreciate all your effort and time. It was so informative!

 

[FruitLoop25]

I didn't think I'd use LMR much, but I've found it to contain elements that I really need at my age (55). The balance portion was more challenging than I'd expected.

Yes, this is me too!!! At 51, I really noticed that I needed more balance and have made a concentrated effort to do more balance work!! I actually do mobility workouts now as well and use to scoff at them!!! Boy, how times change!!

Also, thank you for all that extra information!!! I appreciate the help!!!

 

[FitSaxe]

I work out according to my mood….always!! I do 2 strength workouts a week and the rest is cardio or cardio + yoga! My goal is to stay independent for as long as I can and hopefully avoid needing 24/7 care in a nursing home.

Thank you for replying.
Hope you find the most relevant routine to meet the independance many aim for.

The strength you are after is it by lifting super heavy? --- The adequat program being Meso 3 STS 1.0 rep range 4-8 reps or endurance and hypertrophy --- more 12-16 reps or 10 reps?
The truth is it is not feasible to specifically choose low rep range. To workout safely, we all need to start from high rep and go all the way to low. This is done by increasing the weight gradually.

 

[Lady Vol Fan]

I work out according to my mood….always!! I do 2 strength workouts a week and the rest is cardio or cardio + yoga! My goal is to stay independent for as long as I can and hopefully avoid needing 24/7 care in a nursing home.

What a great approach!

Don't forget to post as you work through your new Cathe workouts..it's invigorating to read thoughts/impressions of older titles from new eyes!

 

[FruitLoop25]

What a great approach!

Don't forget to post as you work through your new Cathe workouts..it's invigorating to read thoughts/impressions of older titles from new eyes

Thank you! Watching my family members deteriorate before my eyes was certainly very motivating for me. I’ve been the most consistent I have ever been with my fitness since that time. Of course, some things are simply out of one’s control and one can “do everything right” and still get hit with serious health problems. I can only control what I can control. What I have seen is that functional strength, balance, functional aerobic endurance, flexibility and mobility seem to be the essential ingredients to longevity.

So, my fitness goals have evolved over time and with age. If you had asked me my fitness goals in my 20’s, they would have been aesthetic. Now, I could care less about aesthetic goals-zip, zilch, nada. I want to continue to be able to load hay bales, easily carry grain bags (50 lbs), lift heavy furniture myself, carry the cat in his crate while going to the vet, walk the dog, wheel out the trash bin, carry laundry up and down the stairs. When you watch loved ones deteriorate, you start to notice all the little things you take for granted. For example, as I age, I want to be able to cut my own toe nails, shower and toilet myself, get dressed, put my socks on while standing up, tie my shoes, put my own jacket on, etc. So, functional fitness is just everything to me.

I have been much more concerned about certain fitness things that I never even gave a thought too before. Things like strengthening my shins, doing balance work daily, doing foot exercises and hand exercises, shoulder, hip, and spine mobility. If you had told me even 10 years ago I would be doing “hand exercises” I would have called you a liar! Ha!

Thank you for all your kind messages! I discovered that I DESPISE doing paper weight workouts. I need a video. I need a crew. I like to watch different people. It keeps me interested. It keeps me engaged. I feel like part of the team! so, I am a DVD girl all the way! I like lifting heavy and then mixing it up with high rep for a break. Although, it’s not really a break since muscle failure is still muscle failure! I also like to throw in body weight workouts because they are so functional. I do, at least, 2 strength workouts a week and sometimes 3 times. I mix in all the above. I haven’t found that I have lost strength with this method. I don’t need to be the strongest me I can be. I just want to be strong enough to comfortably get through my life! I’m looking forward to trying all my new Cathe workouts! The mat came and it’s so squishy! I love it! I immediately did back to back barefoot cardio workouts! Oh, that’s another thing I added- more barefoot workouts to keep my feet strong. Anyways, sorry this is such a long post. Thank you all so much for being so kind, welcoming, and supportive. You have no idea how much I needed that right now. Thanks again!

 

[Debinmi]

Hi @FruitLoop25 ,

I like your approach to fitness!

Here are some additional resources that may be helpful in your Cathe journey. I realised when posting the breakdown of Power Hour+ exercises that I had received the info from another generous Cathlete named Anna. She shared her Compendium with the Forum community many years ago. It details the exercises, weights used, premixes, equipment used in Cathe's earlier works. It is very useful as it was published before Cathe started publishing her User Guides (linked later). I hope the link still works:

Anna's Workout Reference Sheet

Hi everyone, I'm not sure if this something others would find useful, but since I put the time into it I thought I'd share. This is a reference sheet for Cathe's workouts and premixes based on the nature of the workouts: such as all step, mixed cardio, total body weights, etc. The ideas is...

cathe.com

For more recent works, Cathe took Anna's idea and started creating User Guides that list the chapters, weights used, premixes, etc. Here's that link:

Get My Free User's Guides For My Exercise Video Series

Get your free Cathe User's Guides, including rotations,premixes, equipment needed, workout cards and more.

cathe.com

You can also get helpful info from Cathe's Workout Manager:

The Cathe Nation - Workout Manager

The Workout Manager is an online application that allows you to track, schedule, analyze your fitness workouts and calculate your one rep max in an easy-to-use interface.

cathe.com