FitPrime Fast Cheetah and Strong Bear - Great Workouts!!

R

roe

Cathlete
I am embarrassed to say that I haven't even pre-ordered Cathe's new Body Blast series as my body needs a change after so many years of classic Firms and Cathe workouts. Part of my job is to teach balance and core training using the stability balls, which led me to Collage for some new tapes and ideas for classes.

Tracie Long was one of my favorite Firm instructors, so I decided to order Strong Bear and Fast Cheetah. These videos are absolutely fantastic, especially Fast Cheetah. The moves are brilliant and well choreographed but one must have a pretty good core base to start or risk possible injury to the spine. There is so much balance involved, while either tossing the medicine ball or lifting light weights. The jumps are optional and can be replaced with small squats.

I have done Fast Cheetah twice and Strong Bear only once. SB is a little bit more difficult to master and didn't excite me immediately like FC, but I think I'll grow into it. The balance involved in SB makes it difficult to really increase poundage for moves like leg presses and squats and there is more lower than upper body work in this video. There are some great variations on tricep dips and push-ups in both workouts, for example push-ups with one hand on the med ball and one on the floor while keeping one leg lifted off the floor.

For anyone thinking about these workouts - get them! Your body will be challenged in a completely different way and they are fun!

-Roe
 
Tracie Long

Hi Roe! Great recommendations! Tracie Long is also my favorite FIRM instructor and she raised the bar with the fitprime videos with her new intricate workouts! Very creative and effective! Love how they hit my muscles differently;) Strong Bear has a special affection for my inner thighs(great leg workout there)}( Can't wait to see what she has in store for us with the rebounder:p
 
These are great w/o and I also love steamin cardio and from the ground up.I have to say those half way up leg press hurt so bad.But I love the way my legs feel afterwards.I use one of them each week.
 
Francine - I forgot about that evil inner thigh work in SB. Mine were on fire!! Do you have any of the other FitPrime's like Weights First? I read good and bad reviews about that one and mostly bad reviews about Core First with Carissa Foster.

Sheila - I plan to order From the Ground Up very soon. Not so sure about Steamin Cardio though. Does it contain balance moves?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts ladies! :7

-Roe
 
Thanks a lot ladies! x( I knew I should have skipped this thread! :eek: Now I'm going to have to try to get my hands on these 2 videos. :7 Tracie and Pam were my favorites from the Firm!

First off to read and re-read and drool over the reviews! :7 :7

Take care!
Angie
 
RE: FitPrime Fast Cheetah and Strong Bear - Great Worko...

I Love/Hate Weights First!!!! }}( What a killer--especially those lunge-knee up--dips! I gasp for air and strength on the second leg. I like Fast Cheetah and Strong Bear but am willing to part with Steaming Cardio for Cathe Bootcamp if anyone is interested.:) It is too fast and long for my tastes.
~~Cindy
~~~from sea to shining sea~~~~:D
 
RE: FitPrime Fast Cheetah and Strong Bear - Great Worko...

I Know!!! These workouts are great when you want something different. And my heart rate stays right up there throughout. Last time I did SB, I burned 320kcals!! They are fun too!:)
 
I just did Strong Bear for the first time yesterday, and I really enjoyed it. The music was rocking, too! I have Fast Cheetah on order at Amazon (they have it listed as coming out at the end of June or in July, I think. Don't know why?). Glad to hear it's a winner, too.

I also think Traci Long is one of the best Firm/Fitprime instructors.I'm convinced that her influence improved Firm videos greatly. It wasn't until the "Tortoise" and "Hare" videos, that she at leasy partly choreographed, that the Firm started having halfway decent cardio moves (IMO).

While FItprime can have some pretty "odd" moves (and their own lingo: go from "no" to "yes," "sit through"--I've only heard on Firm workouts as a way of saying "sit up"), they are also quite effective (at least the ones that aren't questionable, like big ROM curtsy dips with a barbell on your shoulders). I just wonder about the function of the "boot camp" move where you get into pushup position, go down, then hike your butt up in the air. What's with that?
 
LOL Kathryn! :7 That butt hike threw me for a loop too. I think Anna must have been a little too creative with that one, like grasping at straws. I've only done SB once - it's in this video - and plan to do it again tonight so I'll try to figure out it's purpose. But I don't think the butt hike lends any effectiveness to the workout!

I liked the "no" to "yes". It sounds friendlier than right and wrong, terms I usually use in classes.

Kathryn - please enlighten me. I've wracked my brain and then some, and cannot figure out the benefit of elevating your back leg on a 12 or 14" step during a static lunge, another Firm classic move. Is it supposed to shift the emphasis more in the front leg?? I am going to be on a conference call with Douglas Brooks next Tuesday and this is one of my questions. Have you come across this in your readings? From a kinesioloyg standpoint, I am having trouble figuring it out. Less knee extension with the rear leg elevated=less quad emphasis there. Hmmm... ponder, ponder. Anyway, the elevation of my rear leg only causes pain because it throws my hip into hyperextension.

Comments?

-Roe
 
>>Kathryn - please enlighten me. I've wracked my brain and then
>some, and cannot figure out the benefit of elevating your back
>leg on a 12 or 14" step during a static lunge, another Firm
>classic move. Is it supposed to shift the emphasis more in
>the front leg?? I am going to be on a conference call with
>Douglas Brooks next Tuesday and this is one of my questions.
>Have you come across this in your readings? From a
>kinesioloyg standpoint, I am having trouble figuring it out.
>Less knee extension with the rear leg elevated=less quad
>emphasis there. Hmmm... ponder, ponder. Anyway, the
>elevation of my rear leg only causes pain because it throws my
>hip into hyperextension.
>
>Comments?
>
>-Roe

I think of this move as more of a one-legged squat than a lunge. But it seems like kind of a hybrid between the two. The emphasis is definitely on the front leg, and it adds a balance challenge. The rear leg seems to get more of a stretch (in the hip flexors and quads) than any resistance work.

I don't see why it would have to be a 12 or 14 inch step though, as 6 or 8 inches seems like it would work as well. I have seen this move done in several fitness magazines, and sometimes even with the rear foot on a stability ball (which would be even higher). I find the 14" "Fanny Lifter" height to be a bit too high for the move. On me, it doesn't hurt, but I don't go down as far as I'd like to (and can with 8 inches) and it's rather awkward.
 
ROE- steamin cardio doesn't contain (inmo) any moves that I would consider balancing moves not like tracy's where you stand on one leg and work your upperbody.But you do pause on top of a step up holding your other leg behind you so that would be consdidered a balancing move.I love the kickboxing segment but the editing in this one is not done very well in some parts.I just overlook it that stuff don't bother me as long as it is not to choppy.I like it better than fast cheetah .I also have up and down but haven't done that one yet.I will probaly order susan's but not anna's and probaly tracy's but I don't have a rebounder yet.and don't know if I will buy one if I can do it and just modify it to a high impact w/o I would rather do it that way than buy a rebounder.I think the purpose of doing lunges with your leg on the step is to put you in kind of a 1-legged squat postion, just a different" twist" on the lunge.
 
Hi,

I have all the FP videos. SB and FC are my favorites too! I burn a lot of calories w SB and it works all of my muscles. Core First is actually a great workout. Many people don't like it because you start w floor work but it creates a nice pre-exhaust to muscles. The music is great in this one too.
 
RE: FitPrime Fast Cheetah and Strong Bear - Great Worko...

Isn't this lunge off the step done in Cathe's MIS tape? Except I think she's on an 8 or 10 inch step. I know its in one of her tapes. If Cathe does it, it must have some worthwhile function!
Beth
 
RE: FitPrime Fast Cheetah and Strong Bear - Great Worko...

Great guys....now I am adding these to my latest want list!!!!!}(

I can always count on you!!!:D


Janice
 
RE: FitPrime Fast Cheetah and Strong Bear - Great Worko...

Janice!

Those were my feelings too! :) Now I just need to decide whether or not I want both. I try to keep my videos contained to the 3 shelves on the bookcase I have set aside for them. I think I could get both and be okay but then when the new Blast Series arrives -- I'll have to start juggling again. :)


Happy shopping!
Angie
 
RE: FitPrime Fast Cheetah and Strong Bear - Great Worko...

Kathryn,

I posed this question to Douglas Brooks on the conference call yesterday, and he parroted your statements about the elevated lunge being more of a balance challenge with the rear leg on a high step in a semi-stretched state. Hip flexor inflexibility might be a limitation in which case the step height should be lowered.

As far as joint action of the front leg, it is still hip and knee extension, so if one feels uncomfortable with an elevated rear leg then by all means do the exercise with both legs on the floor. The front leg is the loaded leg - it is taking the brunt of the weight with the barbell on the shoulders, and it is going through the same joint action either way. If pure strength is the goal, then one should do the exercise with both legs on the floor where balance isn't an obstable and the weight load doesn't have to be lowered to accommodate balance.

Time for you to get certified Miss Kathryn!
:7

-Roe
 
RE: FitPrime Fast Cheetah and Strong Bear - Great Worko...

I thought I'd add to this FitPrime thread with some comments on From the Ground Up with Heidi Tanner. I really enjoyed this one. Heidi is great, the music is wonderful (except for this one weird country song), and the moves are done very slowly with LOTS of balance work. The negative leg press done slowly should be on Slow and Heavy! Maybe I will add set of those to S and H legs next time I do it. This tape has a little of everything-strength, cardio, balance, core-so of course in 50 minutes you don't get a full workout of any one element. But it is great for a day when you want to have a relaxing, but still invigorating workout. I actually did it without shoes (as they suggest) on carpet and it worked. Something about that music just makes you so relaxed, its hard to explain. Or maybe being barefoot is relaxing, I don't know. This is one I think I would pull out on a day when I just cannot psych myself up to do a hard core workout, or I'm too tired to give a full effort for a Cathe tape. It seems the most like a classic Firm of all the Fitprimes to me.
Beth
 
I've pre-ordered four Fitprimes (WF, U&D, SB, FC) Traded them all away after one preview. I've got the Susan Harris tapes coming. If those suck too, that's the end of the great experiment.

For my money, you just can't beat Cathe. I want to work out, not parade around doing curtsies with a 50 pound barbell on my shoulders. LOL
 
>I want to work out,
>not parade around doing curtsies with a 50 pound barbell on my
>shoulders. LOL

ROFL!!!!!!! Hahahahahahaha!!!!
:D :D :D :D
 
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