How did you progress to Cathe?

C

CarenG

Cathlete
I am just curious for those of you who haven't always been in shape - what videos or workouts did you do to work yourself up to the level you are at now.

For me it went like this -

Denise Austin
8 Minute Abs/Buns
Abs of Steel
Tae Bo - 1st basic, then advanced
Power 90
Tamilee Webb I Want Those series
The Firm
Cathe & Powerstrike

Now Cathe & P90X
 
I started off with first the step from ESPN and that program then I went to buns of steel and tried others till I went looking on the web for a new step tape I could use and understand and follow easier.
I have to admit at first I almost stopped using cathe because I had a hard time following till one day it clicked and I have been with Cathe's workouts since.
 
I know, everytime I get a new Cathe workout I think 'this is so hard, I'm never gonna be able to do this', but after a few times I get it and it feels like such an accomplishment. I love how challenging the Cathe workouts are!
 
I am so looking forward to doing her new ones, I am so glad the doctor said I can still do them only on a lower step! I love the challenge and the music and the way she talks and explains things makes it so fun, I always smile no matter what tape I put it to do for the day.
 
For cardio, I started with Gin Miller and Keli Roberts. I then tried Kari Anderson and Karen Voight. My first Cathe tapes were Cardio & Weights and Cardio Kicks. After that, it was Cathe all the way (with the exeption of kickboxing - I do use Janis Saffell too).

For weights, I started on my own for upper body. Now, I use Cathe for all my weightlifting (except for what I do at the gym) and I've never even bothered to try anyone else.
 
I started out with The Firm when Vol. 1 came out and got a bunch of those videos, and started doing step with the Gin Miller/Step Reebok and got some of those. I loved Gin's "Intense Moves" (did wonders for my skiing) and wanted to add more high intensity training to my collection, and found Cathe via VF recommendations.

The rest, as they say, is history.
 
I guess I wouldn't say I was out of shape, but I use to belong to a health club before I had kids and only did the advanced floor aerobic classes. Then a friend and SIL loaned me a few vids to try out and I went and bought a Step. I started with Reebok the video, Kathy Smith's Step tape, and Karen Voight's Energy Sprint. I was getting soooo bored with the choreography. Then I discovered Collage and bought my first Cathe--IMAX. Yikes! With the exception of some other great advanced videos, it's been all Cathe!:D
 
Mine went like this:

Couch potato
Glider (you know, the Tony Little thing)
Bicycle (six blocks)
Bicycle
Bicycle
K. Smith's Lift Weights to Lose Weight (no weights)
Firm (thought they were insane--no one could lift that much!)
Cathe

And my next challenge -- p90x and Cathe's new series! Whoo hoo!

Shari
 
After 30+ years of avoiding any physical challenge (I'm a late bloomer:7 ) I started working out with Charlene Prickett's old show and ordered my first videos from her. I later added most of Kathy Smith's tapes, quite a few of the Crunch workouts and Tae Bo. I began picking up any workouts I could find and soon realised how hard it was to find a video that actually delivered as intense a workout as was advertised on the boxx( One night I 'googled' fitness videos and found the "Video Fitness" site and the world of home fitness was finally opened up for me . One name came up over and over as I purused the site 'Cathe Friedrich' I read all of the reviews and order BodyMax and PowerMax. Needless to say, they met and exceeded all of my expectations and have a special place in my healthy, happy, heart.:)

Take Care
Laurie
 
I started with the Firm back in 1991 and bought all their tapes over the years. My first step tape was the original Step Reebok workout with Gin Miller, bought in the mid-1990s, and I tried out a few more Gin/Reebok tapes. Around that time I saw an ad in Shape magazine for the Collage Video catalog, got on the mailing list, saw Cathe tapes in the catalog and ordered Max Intensity Cardio and Max Intensity Strength. MIC was way too advanced for me, but I tried MIS and fell in love - it was more gym-style and focused than my Firm tapes.

The transition from Firm aerobic weight-training to Cathe was major - I had to focus on slower, more controlled reps and proper form (something that many Firm tapes lack). I also had to "get out of my ego", as yoga dude Bryan Kest says, and accept that I could not match Cathe's weights. The Firm gave me good overall toning and made me confident that I could lift weights; Cathe gave me major muscle and the inspiration to lift heavier, plus the incentive to challenge myself on cardio and learn her inventive style of stepping.

Allison
 
It's hard to remember all of them, but I'll try ...

Denise Austin
Kathy Smith
Jane Fonda
Joannie Greggains
a woman named Cynthia Kerelak (sp???)
Tamilee Webb
various tapes I used once then gave away because I hated them
finally found the Firm in 1989
Kari Anderson
FitPrime
Mindy Milrea (sp?)
Cathe!!!

Now I use a few of my original Firm favs, (tried the "new" Firm and absolutely did not like it!!), Cathe, and once in a while Tracie Long's new ones. But Cathe is the one who got me in the shape I'm in now!!!

Carol
:) :) :)

(edited because I forgot a few!!)
 
I studied ballet seriously until I made a descsion to go to grad school. While in school, I took dance classes at the Phil. College of the Performing Arts.As my dance classes slowly dwindled off, I started to workout to the original Firm videos. I supplemented these videos with others such as Gilad. Eventually I was doing mostly the 'Firm" and a little over a year ago there were some posts of the Firm website about Cathe. I tried my first Cathe video over a year ago and have been hooked ever since.
 
Denisr Austin on TV/ walking daily (early 90's)
various videos with no particular favorite (mid 90's) :
Gin Miller, Karen Voight, Kathy Smith, Jay Balhnik?, The Firm all from Collage video...
Then ( late 90's) a collage video operater suggested Step Heat. Gradually I've picked up many of Cathe's workouts over the years and switched to DVD along the way.
Currently I enjoy doing the premixes and "mish-moshes" ~to quote my exercise buddy: Aquajock!
 
For me, it went:

Step Reebok/ Reebok Power Step/ Aerostep/ Circuit Challenge (1993)
(Kathy Smith's Pregnancy Tape) (1995)
Firm Vol 1/Vol 2/ Vol 3 (1996)
Firm Cardio/Weight and Tortoise/Hare (1997)
Cathe Step Jam (1998)
Body Max
CTX (preordered)
Gin Miller's Intense Moves/ Cathe's MIC/ Cathe's IMAX
and now the Intensities and Body Blast

(Edited to add, I worked out with Charlene Prickett's TV show in the late 80s, when I was in high school, so she gets the credit for hooking me on videos! Between 1990 and 1994, I didn't have enough room for at home workouts, but as soon as I moved into a big enough home, I bought my Reebok step.)
 
For me it was The Firm the first one with Susan I think it was Sculpting Basics? I did the Firm for years then Kathy Smith, Power90, Slim in 6, Body for Life then Slim Series. Back to the Firm and now I'm here at Cathes. I feel I have learned something from everything I have tried. Now it will be the Firm and Cathe.

Susan
 
I have been working out for many years. I used to do workouts to records od Kathy smith along with using a jump rope according to the book put out by Kenneth Cooper. I progressed through the Firms and Cathe Smith along with Karen Voight Energy Sprint and Great weighted workout. I also had several of Kari Anderson's workouts. I checked out the Firm website alot and kept hearing about Cathe. I finally started hers with body max and power max. I have not found workouts I have loved as much as these by someone else. I still do others but mainly Cathe's.
Diane Sue
 
I started with Buns of Steel and Tamilee Webb.
Then Crunch, and discount videos like Greenhouse and Redbook workouts. After that, I went through Karen Voight, Pilates with Jennifer Kries and even tried TaeBo.

Then came the Firm!! Whoo hoo!! And a year after that, I saw Cathe on FitTV. I now have The Blast Series + Timesaver and HSTA, and have preordered Hardcore. I can't wait!! And next on the list, by the way, is the Intensity series. The video clips blew me away and I have to have it. :9
 
I started out with the 8 minute DVD and Gilad. Then I moved onto Kathy Smith and Keli Roberts. Now here I am, a Cathe fanatic :)
 
I had worked out in a gym at the local community college when I was working. I became a stay-at-home-mom when I had my daughter 3 yrs ago. I needed to get fitness back into my life. I owned several exercise videos, including Kathy Smith, Tae-Bo and Kari Anderson. Good workouts, but I needed something more. More of a structured fitness routine including weights. Enter The Firm in Jan. 2003. The Firm got me on track with fitness and lifting weights. Several months, ago, I felt that my progress had stalled and felt the need for something more advanced. Enter Cathe. I discovered her on FitTV this past April and there has been no turning back. I have been doing more Cathe than Firm lately (love the Timesaver DVD) and have pre-ordered the Hardcore series. Since it will be awhile until that comes out, I will just have to order some more Cathe DVDs. She is the epitome of excellence!

:) :)
 
I started with tv workouts in the early/mid eighties. Mostly Gilad and 20 minute workout. Then Kathy Smith mid-eighties, progressed to the Firm in 1988ish. Early 90's started getting everything Cathe made, as she made them!!!! I remember the first time I did a Cathe step tape I thought "there is no way!!! But I kept trying and progressing. Thanks to her cardio (I am dead serious when I say this, too) my cardio capacity has increased so much and I was able to get off of my blood pressure medicine. I think it was because her workouts upped the intensity and really took me to another level.

Linda
 
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