I am new here.

[loria]

Hi there.
I am totally new to Cathe workouts. I have been using the Firm for about 2 1/2 years now and am thinking about trying Cathe.
Frankly I find all the descriptions overwhelming.
I am 39 years old and don't want anything hi-impact I have had a surgery on my back that left me with some nerve damage in my feet that affects my balance.
I am curious about the ages of people who do her workouts. Are they appropriate for people as they get older?
I can do the Firm Tough Tapes and Super Sculpting and Cardio, (though I modify the plyo because of my legs) without too much trouble. I don't use a barbell, just no room for another piece of equipment.
I would like some recommendations for DVD workouts. I am primarily interested in strength work but would appreciate any cardio suggestions that could keep me in my heart rate range and not put me over it.
Thanks for the input.

 

[wendyloo]

Hi. Welcome to the Cathe forum!
OK. The women (and man!) on this forum are of all ages--I would say 30's and 40's typically, with a large handful of 50's in there, too!
You can rule out MIC, because it is high impact (as are most of Cathe's cardio tapes, but some are modifiable to lowER impact.)

You can also rule out Circuit Max--these moves are just too hard to make fun if you take out the impact.

Cardio tapes that I find relatively simple to modify:
Rhythmic Step (considered her most complex choreography)

Step Fit (certain sections easier than others to modify to low)

Step Works (ditto)

Power Max (s'posed to be very powerful, but I take out the jumps)

Cardio Kicks: you can delete the power hops and certain other moves, and still get your heart rate going with the kicks and punches in this video.

But I know your main request was for strength work. All of Cathe's strength tapes should be fine for you since you are used to working with weights. She uses a barbell in almost all of them (and dumbells), but you can modify to just using dumbells and get a barbell if and when you're ready.
A good place to start would be Maximum Intensity Strength (MIS) or Pure Strength (PS). These are essentials! Both are available on DVD...
Hope this helps!
Wendy

 

[loria]

Thanks Wendy for all that info. It is just what I needed. I am glad to see that you don't have to be a twenty-something in order to do these!

 

[AKirkland]

Hi Loria,

I'm a former Firmie, too, and am 36 years old. I started using Cathe's Pure Strength series a couple of years ago and have never looked back.

You might be interested in Power Hour. It's a total body muscle endurance workout - lighter weight, higher reps - similar to some of the Firm workouts without cardio sections. However, the pace is fast enough and the work (in my opinion) hard enough that it ends up having cardio benefits.

I also used dumbbells only for quite a while and that works out fine initially. You may get to the point where you need heavier weight, though, and then you may have to rethink the barbell decision in order to continue to see results.

Welcome to the group!

Angela