HELP--Kathy Smith gets on my nerves!!!

S

SheRa329

Cathlete
Just so that you understand, except for a few workout tapes back in the day like TaeBo and Tony Little, I have always turned to our beloved Cathe for my workouts. (except for yoga/pilates, obviously) But I have always heard great things from others about Kathy Smith and her workouts, since people always think that i'm referring to her when I say Cathe. Anyways, for Christmas my MIL went out of her way to buy me a couple of Kathy Smith dvds b/c she knows how much I love "Cathe". I decided that they could keep me occupied while I await the arrival of the Hardcore series. But let me tell you, I plugged one in the other day and she drove me NUTS!!! She looks like a big dork trying to do all of the moves and I hate her cueing!!! I know that there are people on this forum who like both Cathe and Kathy so tell me what you think. I guess I've been spoiled! But don't get me wrong, I will use them and learn to love them b/c it was very sweet of my MIL to go that much out of her way to get me exactly what she thought I wanted. I'm interested to hear your thoughts.

PS: DH knew what I wanted--he got me The Terminator for xmas!!}(
 
She kind of annoys me too. What puts me off the most is her personality--she's just so BORING! The opposite of our beloved Cathe, who's enthusiastic & chock full of personality. I just can't deal w/Kathy's monotone direction.
 
Hi Ashley, so Kathy drives you nuts:D !?!

I've done quite a few of Kathy's videos:) I rank her pretty close to Denise Austin; although Denise was the one who drove me nuts...Neither are nearly as good as Cathe' but better than alot of 'others' on the market. Cathe does have a way of 'raising the standards'

Have a great day:)
 
If you don't like her don't use her workouts.

IMHO, Kathy Smith is a titan in the field of exercise videos / DVDs, and has been so since the early 1980's. She was a very necessary antidote to the celebrity charlatans like Jane Fonda, creating workouts for cardio and resistance training that were safe and effective, and fun for her fans, for a population largely unschooled in rhythmic group fitness and introductory weight lifting.

Is she as intense as Cathe? No. But does she have a valuable body of products for HER customer base. Yes. If you're not part of that customer base then fine, don't put the workouts into your rotation. And keep mum about that to your MIL - just smile brightly and thank her for such a wonderful gift.

A-Jock
 
I'm with you, Maximus. That's the perfect word: BORING!!! I just want to push her off her step and take over!!! Lisa--I've never done a Denise Austin (like I said, pretty much Cathe only) but from her ads they look about the same!
 
What workouts did you get?
I really like some of Kathy's workouts, but on others, she is over-the-top (I've heard that she has asthma, and when she uses her inhaler, it makes her a bit hyper).
In Lift Weights to Lose Weight (the original), she is so hyper that I couldn't stand it. She also sometimes has a tendency to be off the beat of the music, which drives me nuts!

What I really like about Kathy is that she keeps up with the latest fitness trends and research, calls on experts to help her create her workouts and doesn't try to be an expert in everything herself. Sometimes, it's almost like she's a "spokesmodel" for the experts who choreograph and even script her workouts.

She's also very good on safety and I can't recall any workout of hers that includes contraindicated moves.

Many of her workouts are doable by various levels of exercises as well.

Her step workout is a classic, IMO, though it wouldn't appeal to choreo junkies. I also liked her "Secrets of a great upper/lower body" set, though I don't have it anymore. On Lift Weights to Lose Weight 2 (which contains more functional exercises than LWTLW1, and a bit calmer Kathy), she includes a bonus stability ball workout that is tough! Most people might not imagine Kathy Smith doing pikes on the ball, but she does them, and rather easily. Her "functional fitness" workout is a fun and effective interval workout (though I wish Cathe would do something similar, a bit longer).
 
Kathryn: I can't really remember the names of the workouts. There were 2 and I believe they are relatively new. I've heard of one of them before (good things) and the other focuses on toning the butt and thighs. I believe they're both all step workouts, but I've only watched the first one.

A-Jock: I do plan to use these workouts b/c I've heard great things about her and her workouts and I always like to add variety, especially at times where the routine becomes a bit redundant. I'm just trying to adjust and be a little bit more open-minded instructor wise. That's why I turned to this forum to help me see the positive side!!!
 
Ashley,

Your opinion of Kathy Smith is the same as mine. I've tried to like her, really I have. She seems so popular and has quite a variety of workouts. They are readily available and fairly inexpensive too.

Kathy Smith seems to take herself and the workouts so darn seriously. Yes, it's serious stuff and form and safety are concerns. But she doesn't look like she's really having much fun doing her own workouts. How can I have fun if she isn't? I guess it's just a personality clash between her and me.

She also seemed to have been AWOL when they passed out the rhythm gene. I don't know how she continues to be able to sell cardio workouts. Just trying to do the warm-ups in her toning tapes drove me crazy.

Cathe spoils us. Even when she's killing us!

-Diane
 
Kathy knows her stuff but her voice and "yee haw" yells get on my nerves. As for Denise Austin, her voice is annoying. I like Tammilee Webb and Cathe.


Shirele
 
It's her voice...grates on my nerves like fingernails on a blackboard. But she does know her stuff & I credit her with helping a lot of people get fit. She has a few workouts I'll still do sometimes because they're very good. But the voice!! Yikes!!

Ruth:)
 
I pretty much got my start with Kathy and Gin. Have I out grown them, for the most part, yes, but there was a time when that was about all I could buy or handle. Kathy introduced me to step aerobics and her Power Step is still pretty good. I just got her Lift Weights To Lose Weight 1 on dvd. I had the vhs for a few years now. The upperbody segment is still very fatiguing for me. Yeah, she yells alot in there, but it's a good arm workout, imo. I won't slap her in the face, because she helped me get to the level of Cathe. I'm glad I started with her.
 
Denise Austin is the one that REALLY annoys me. She always sounds so congested. I hate to hear her whoop & holler.


Marlax(
 
I have a great deal of admiration and respect for Kathy Smith. She brought exercise videos to a whole new level back in the 80's. Kathy is an excellent instructor, IMHO, and a smart business woman. I had done aerobics and Step for years and then I moved overseas in 1990. Needlesstosay, there were no clubs, or aerobics studios where I lived in Japan. If it wasn't for Kathy Smith's Step videos, I would have miserable. Also, her pregnancy tape was the only one of it's kind back in 1989. She showed that you could stay fit and safely workout, all the way through pregnancy AND feel good about yourself and your body.
God bless you Kathy. You'll always have a soft spot in my heart.
 
I too will always have a soft spot in my heart for Kathy. I have moved on now but did dust off her pregnancy tape recently (it had been resting in the cupboard since 1989). Kathy really inspired me into fitness and was my hero for many years. Ultimately starting with Kathy helped make completing Cathe workouts a reality for me!
 
I too will always have a soft spot in my heart for Kathy. I have moved on now but did dust off her pregnancy tape recently (it had been resting in the cupboard since 1989). Kathy really inspired me into fitness and was my hero for many years. Ultimately starting with Kathy helped make completing Cathe workouts a reality for me!
 
I too will always have a soft spot in my heart for Kathy. I have moved on now but did dust off her pregnancy tape recently (it had been resting in the cupboard since 1989). Kathy really inspired me into fitness and was my hero for many years. Ultimately starting with Kathy helped make completing Cathe workouts a reality for me!
 
I have "Functionally Fit", a tape of Kathy's that I like. It is an interval tape. I purchased another tape a while back because I liked "Funciionally Fit", it was price well,and I was hopeful. It had a current looking cover, but much to my dismay it was a cheesy 1980's video of hers. I felt like I had been conned. It wasn't very expensive. I guess that should have been my first tip off. I read the back of the DVD and it sounded current. It sure wasn't. It was just a remix made to sound like it was current. I was extremely disappointed.
 
Which tapes did your MIL give you?

Granted, Kathy Smith's cueing isn't that great. This I didn't realize UNTIL I found Cathe. (Although Cathe sometimes makes mistakes in her cueing, like in C&W, but hey, nobody's perfect.):) Now that Cathe's step workouts are giving my knees some grief, I sometimes think about the old Kathy Smith tapes I sold on eBay after I found Cathe. I particularly liked her Great Buns and Thighs tape. That was the first workout that gave SOME hardness to my thighs. I'm bottom-heavy, you see, and most of my body fat is in my lower body. However, nothing gave my legs strength and shape as much as Cathe's leg workouts.

I also liked Kathy Smith's Power Step tape, although if I did that again now, I'd probably get bored after getting used to Cathe's choreography. Kathy Smith's Power Step choreography didn't give my knees any problems though. I used Kathy Smith's Basic Step tape during my pregnancy, along with an old floor aerobics workout she had tailored for pregnant women. My step just became shorter and shorter, until my third trimester, when I took the step out altogether.


Pinky
 
I loved Kathy's older tapes and still have her very first one! Also, her Ab tape back in the early 90's was good. Her Step tape was one of the first step tapes I ever did and I still think that was a good workout (Power Step too!). I hadn't done her much in the last 8 years or so and then someone gave me LWTLW1. I put that one in one morning at 5:30 a.m. and she scared the crap out of me! Yes, she was over the top and I wasn't prepared for that as that wasn't the Kathy I remembered!! That was some strong personality for that early in the morning. I do think she is an excellent instructor and I believe she has her own following just like Cathe does!

Jo
 
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