Jamie,
NO.
I'm asking if we could get another PYRAMID STYLE series ~ similar to Pyramid Upper Body/Pyramid Lower Body:
http://shop.cathe.com/Pyramid_Upper_Body_and_Lower_Body_Exercise_DVD_p/522.htm
I love these workouts, but they do get old.
I do have STS and there are pyramids there, but I do STS once a year already and would like another series, different from the last 4yrs.
The circuit workouts are nice, but I miss the gym styles.
I really like the Pure Strength, Gym Styles, PUB and PLB stuff because they truly were/are different from so many of the workouts on the market (even withing Cathe's own vast collection). There's a LOT of metabolic workouts to choose from out there today. Whether or not they are
called metabolic workouts or not depends upon the era in which they were released, but there's certainly no shortage of them available. (Technically, there are even some workouts from the 1980's that could be justifiably called metabolic workouts, assuming they're done with enough intensity/weight.) Just IMHO, there are far fewer
split-style workouts to choose from that are actually enjoyable, meant for the serious weight-lifter willing to work hard (but who does not go to gyms themselves), totally work the muscle groups at hand to exhaustion, and that truly give great strength gains over time.
Sometimes I simply feel like
only getting in some good weight-training for one to three body parts and burning those muscles the heck out that day, but NOT with a bunch of stepping or jumps or trendier stuff mixed in. There is nothing
wrong with adding in stepping, jumping, etc. I know we need new exercises, or we won't change and grow as athletes. There are definitely days where I go for mixed-bag workouts and/or ones where I'm getting to use my "toy" (discs, etc.) I'm sure there's some brain quirk where I want to do a particular type of workout that day, but I think Cathe knows better than anyone we need many types of training to stay happy and fit. We need the workouts with lots of unique and quirky moves, and we need ones that are more "classic". After a month or two, I always have to switch off from splits to total-body programs, or I plateau (mentally and physically). I can't speak for anyone else, I just love the classic stuff and want more like them! New music, perhaps some new pacing, a few new moves here and there (maybe not requiring loads of equipment beyond barbell/dumbbells)...but using classic pyramid or bodybuilding splits.
I personally started Cathe workouts in 2005 or so because they fulfilled my desire to get in both cardio
and weight-training, but were quite different from The FIRM (my workout system of that time). The FIRM mixes in weights with virtually every workout, and didn't do many workouts at all that were straight
anything. As in an hour of step, an hour of legs that wasn't mixed in with cardio and abs and other stuff...no, not back then. Cathe really took me to the next level because my body had never had to train for the type of endurance and strength her workouts required. At that time, Cathe was still pretty much separating weight-training and cardio from each other. There were a few exceptions, but I kind of like that she did that. I still kind of like going into the hour saying, "I'm going to be stepping for sixty minutes during this workout" or, "I'm hitting the weights hard and heavy for the legs in the next sixty minutes." It's great that there's the variety. Sometimes separating out cardio and weights can be refreshing in it's simplicity. A lot of people - me included - desperately need and want that simplicity on occasion. I think many of us Cathletes look to our workout time as "me time", but we are also busy and sometimes feel a bit frenetic.
A simple, well-planned workout that we can get in the zone with mentally...I would venture to guess that many of us are looking for that, at least some days.
Sorry for this rambling post. I think what I'm trying to say is old-school is not bad, not in my eyes. I love putting in an older Cathe workout like Step Max and just getting into "me and the step" for an hour. I love my toys as much as anyone, but there are days when I want to
not need them, when I may not want to think that hard or whatever. There's nothing wrong with using techniques that are up-to-date and using what works well for the metabolism. I adore what Cathe has done, her entire body of work is superb. However, I think sometimes people need something that's designed not just with weight loss in mind. Please don't bash me up the head for that statement- y'all know I've lost a lot of weight, and I never want to waste time when exercising.
I do think we need also need workouts that speak to something greater than sheer metabolism or results at times, a sort of workout Zen that you can get into. For me, that often happens with classic Cathe workouts.
This whole post probably sounds like a complaint, but it really isn't. Just some classic workouts would be greatly appreciated, at least by me.
