Men working out with Cathe

B

Braille

Cathlete
My husband recently began working out with Cathe. Because of this, he's lost weight, gained muscle mass, and lowered his blood pressure. He enjoys doing her step as well as her strength training DVDs. I've been working out with Cathe for longer than I can remember. When I go to Amazon to check out a DVD, though, I've noticed that in the question and answer section there is frequently this question, "Can a man do this video?" My husband began getting in shape because he joined a Medieval Combat team (yes, the members dress up in armor and beat each other up with axes and swords). When we did the research for what skills and training was necessary for this sport, the list was long. I turned to my husband and told him that honestly Cathe was the only one that I knew that could get a 51 Year old (he's the oldest one on the team) in this kind of shape. He reluctantly (mumbling under his breath something about girly videos) tried one of her easier workouts. After he was able to breath again, he admitted that she was good. He's ex-military and belonged to several gyms throughout his lifetime. He then tried one of her strength workouts. Now, he's using her DVDs for strength, agility, balance, explosive power, endurance, flexibility, and recovery. He still has a long way to go to be physically fit, but he can now wear his 80 lb. suit of armor and out grapple the much younger guys on the team. His strength and endurance at least matches the other team members, including the ones that belong to expensive gyms. He still gets out of breath fairly easily (it's not easy to breath on a 90 degree day while being cooked in a metal suit of armor) and he takes longer to recover than most others (after a match). He's still working on agility, but it's coming along. He's a big guy, so flexibility is never going to be his greatest asset, but he's working at being flexible enough to help prevent injuries. He's 45 lbs. lighter while eating more than he used to. I don't have to stop and wait for him anymore when we go hiking. He can now do stairs without gasping for air and his knees no longer bother him. He's a new man and motivated to accomplish more. But... when the guys on his team ask how he's getting in shape so fast, he vaguely answers that he's working out on his own. One of the other new guys is overweight and not making much progress. I can't help wondering why my husband doesn't share with him how he's making such gains? I've even pointed out to my husband that Cathe has guys in some of her videos. So, I guess I was wondering if there are any males on this site that could tell me why my husband hides the fact that he's working out with Cathe. I'd also like to know if anybody on this site knows of other men (husbands, brothers, etc.) that work out with Cathe. I don't see her videos as being feminine in nature. Fitness is for everybody, and she happens to be a great instructor. I'd be very interested in people's comments regarding this.
 
Love that your husband is doing Cathe’s workouts!

This is my opinion like men like your husband doesn’t want to announce to the world he does group exercise (like Cathe’s Workouts) is he has been conditioned like other men that group exercise is for women only. And being in a group exercise with music is very feminine. Men tend to look at fitness is to go to a gym and stand in front of a mirror and lift weights by himself. Maybe they have earbuds for music when they lift a weight, but it is normally alone or with a guy friend or trainer with him. Also, men had been conditioned that to be masculine they can’t have great agility like able to move their bodies gracefully. Men tend to think movement equals ballet and that ballet for Men will make them feminine.

I know this sounds sexist, but that is what I have observed.
I hope that one day men can change their ideas on masculinity. Group exercise (Cathe) is for anyone.
 
It may be that they perceive that a class led by a woman is going to be targeted at women and they don't want to be seen to be doing a woman's workout. Beach Body P90X and Body Beast, both led by men, seemed to be popular with men.
 
My husband does STS and XTrain because he really likes the strength training. He also does Cathe's yoga with me. While he's not into step, he really likes the pace of the strength training workouts and he saw serious strength/fitness gains while doing the workouts. At my gym, men join in the step class I go to. I also hope people can change their viewpoint on feminine vs. masculine fitness routines, if it works and we enjoy it, who cares what it is! It's great that your husband has used Cathe and has gotten such great results.
 
Interesting post. I think historically, the perception was women excercised to be "slim & trim" & therefore typically did more cardio than strength. And the strength work they did was with very light weights or even no weights to be "trim" not strong or muscular. Typically men wanted to be strong & muscular so would mostly do weight workouts with maybe a little cardio thrown in for heart health or to lose some fat. So I think many men think that if they worked out to a female trainer, other men would have this erroneous perception they were doing "sissy" workouts & not doing serious "he-man" workouts.

Thankfully things have changed and women are encouraged to train for strength now in addition to doing cardio. Cathe has been a leading advocate for women's strength training for decades. The techniques she employs are grounded in traditional and cutting edge research and can be used by either gender with weights appropriate to their current level of fitness. And men need to open their eyes to this too & not limit their options by gender stereotypes.
 
That's great your hubby is secure enough in his own image to be fine following a workout that's lead by and usually only attended by (in her videos) women. I enjoy that Cathe's worked to be more inclusive in some of her later videos by including men.

I personally cannot imagine my bf doing a Cathe workout. He's waaaaay too machismo. He's a gym-goer, anyway, and prefers the accessibility of the gym equipment to assist his heavy weightlifting routine. But I know if he ever gave her a try, he'd see how challenging her workouts are.
 
I can't speak for other men but my husband is super private and wouldn't share about his life with just any guy who asks. He doesn't understand nor participate in all the life share others seem comfortable doing.

In fact, my husband generally doesn't like asking directions, reading directions or taking direction from anyone else. He's unwilling to follow along with any DVD... regardless if it's a man or woman leading.

So it's not about anything other than his good ol stubborn nature ;)

I encourage you to celebrate his difference and his individual path. What a wonderful thing to share fitness with your partner and be there to cheer each other's progress!
 
Reading everybody's comments kind of helped me to understand. It took how long for women to realize that we should be strength training? Some still don't know. So, just because my husband figured out that women are training in a similar fashion as men do doesn't mean he thinks his friends will know that. Hey, Mad-Dog, or perhaps others on the site will be able to give suggestions? My hubby is a big guy (6', barrel chested, and broad shouldered). He's been losing weight and he's made incredible gains in strength and muscle gain. He asked me about agility. I'm his opposite. I'm tiny and agility isn't a weakness that I'm working on. I have different goals. As a result, I haven't really paid attention to which of Cathe's DVDs have a strong agility focus. Off the top of my head, I suggested Cathe's Low Impact HIIT (from RIP). He really struggled. He's not ready for that one yet, but he's planning on doing it again next week. I need to suggest something that will work better for him. The HIIT factor was wiping him out so badly that he wasn't concentrating on his movements. He's competitive, though, so he pushed himself so hard that I was worried he'd hurt himself. I'm thinking something more steady state with intensity blasts that require agility would help him transition to using HIIT for agility. Does anybody have any ideas? Keeping the impact on the lower side would be good. His knees are much better than they used to be, but he's still carrying a lot of extra weight, so high impact probably isn't a great idea. Basically, he's wanting to improve his reflexes & response time, be able to turn or change directions quickly, stop his arms and legs quickly when they have momentum, etc. He doesn't need to be graceful. It's more sports-oriented type of agility, but he'll be wearing heavy metal armor when he's participating in his sport. He figures that if he can get more agile without the armor while continuing his strength training, he'll be able to apply it when he's wearing the armor. I already offered to research other instructors, but Cathe's got him this far and he's just not interested right now in working out with someone else. Any Cathe DVD ideas?
 
Kickboxing has some agility work & usually can be modified to lower impact - some men seem to feel more "he-man" with a KB workout. Bootcamp workouts too. And S&S's Cardio Slam has some agility work & there's a Premix that shows Cathe demonstrating lower impact moves in a little box ... Step workouts can help with balance ... start with a 4" platform.

Impressed with you two's commitment! Best wishes.
 
Braille, how'bout the Strong & Sweaty series? .. it has Cardio Slam, TB Giant Sets, Ramped Up Upper Body, a Bootcamp & the original PHA. There's an optional spin dvd too.
 
My husband has been working out "with Cathe" since the Mega Step days (I am pretty sure it was the lace bike shorts and thong leotards that convinced him to give step a try). When he needs a bro-fix he uses a series by Men's Health titled MA40. It is a really solid program mixing weights, cardio and recovery stretching. The difficulty level does not compare to Cathe's higher intensity workouts, but the program is still challenging. The work outs are led by David Jack. I believe you can get the DVD series on Amazon.
 
I'm thinking Kickboxing too. Cathe's ICE Rock 'm Sock 'm, and her Lite Revved Up Rumble might be good ones to start with as they are a bit lower impact and you can modify any jumping moves. They also have the added high intensity bonuses, the Blizzard Blast for Rock 'm Sock 'm and the Calorie Crush for Revved Up Rumble, so there is room to advance with these two. I also like XTrain Hard Strikes but it has a lot of jumping jacks and other jumping/hopping moves in it.

Another thing he should consider is mobility/flexibility. Cathe has the Perfect 30 Flow DVD which has a yoga workout and a mobility workout. But other good ones are Mark Lauren EFX and Tom Morrison Simplistic Mobility Method. They both have YouTube channels if you want to check them out.
 
My husband likes the mma boxing and mma fusion dvds pretty well--STS shock cardio--and felt like they were doable. He gets overwhelmed with the HiiT stuff too. Plus, he seemed to see those as more for men--similar to what Debinmi said.
 
I think Cathe's kickboxing and Bootcamp style workouts are good suggestions.
If you want him to see if he's interested in David Jack who leads the MA40 workouts then here are some Spartacus workouts that have different modifications for levels and include agility movements. They're great workouts!

David Jack Spartacus Total body blitz

David Jack Spartacus Triple set scorcher

David Jack Spartacus Bodyweight revolution

David Jack Spartacus ab Attack

David Jack Spartacus Belly crusher

David Jack Spartacus Gladiator Gauntlet
https://youtu.be/laE3Z6iPeIM

David Jack Spartacus Sweat storm
https://youtu.be/Nyoalo2iSOg
 
Thank you for all of the suggestions! He won't do the Jack Spartacus workouts. He said he can't get motivated to work out with an instructor that doesn't do the workout him/herself. I guess I hadn't thought about it, but maybe that's why I like Cathe. Somehow, she manages to instruct, demonstrate, and participate. I have suggested kickboxing, because his combat is actually going to require punching and kicking when he gets good enough, but he's been reluctant. I know he tried it once, but I wasn't home, so I don't know what the issue was. I suspect, though, that it could have been standing on one foot for kicking? He's lost a good amount of weight, but before that, not only was he heavy, but he was having trouble balancing, getting up out of chairs, etc. He tended to kind of slide his feet on the floor when walking instead of picking them up to walk. It's just a guess, but I'm thinking that since his body weight is changing as well as redistributing itself (muscles growing, fat reducing, etc.), I wonder if he is having balance issues. I mean, there are a lot of movements that he hadn't been able to do for years. He's still using a step with no risers, so I think either his balance or his confidence in his balance might have to improve a bit before he tries kickboxing again. Why on earth didn't I think of the Boot Camp DVDs? I have several of those, so he'd have a bit of variety. They'd be perfect! Cardio Slam - that's another one I hadn't thought of. I remember that little box. It helped me to get the feel for modifying moves that I used to be able to do, but as I aged... He'd benefit from that. He has no idea how to modify moves, and I don't like to show him during his workout, because I don't want to mess up his heart rate. That DVD would be helpful for him. He's been out of shape for so many years that he's still learning what he can and can't do. He gets "stuck" when he can't do a move. I just went through my shock cardio DVDs, at vtunell's suggestion and spotted Athletic Step. I'll have to pop some of the others in the player and give them a quick once over to see which ones will focus on agility. I didn't even realize they were part of the STS series! I've never done STS - too intimidating for me :) My husband has been working his way through it, but for the cardio days, I suggested he start with Basic Step. Then, Low Impact Step. When his weight started dropping and his doctor lowered his blood pressure medicine, I suggested he move to the LITE and ICE series. I don't know which ones he's done, but I know he likes them. He's not able to do the Blizzard Blasts or Cardio Crushes yet, but he'll get there. I'll go through the Shock Cardio series and see if I can kind of guess which ones would work for him or find some premixes that will tide him over until he's ready for the whole workout. I have plenty of time, because he's out of town. He's made so much progress with his health and fitness that he signed himself up as my son's partner for a 5K bike race at the Special Olympics! They've been practicing on the tandem (my son is blind) for weeks. I'm a proud mom and wife. :) Hazlady, I suggested months ago that he work on flexibility and mobility. He just kind of ignored me. Then, a few weeks ago, he came home from practice limping (yep, you guessed it - he pulled his groin muscle) and asking me about yoga. I handed him an ice pack and refrained from saying, "I told you so." Anyways, Zack (one of the team's best combat fighters) told my husband that he (Zack) started doing yoga 2 years ago and that it's made a huge difference in preventing injuries as well as improving flexibility. So, my hubby is now doing either Yoga Relax or one of the Perfect 30 yogas once a week. I'm sure glad Zach talked to him, because my husband wasn't listening to me about injury prevention. I need to mention the extended stretches on some of Cathe's DVDs. I only have time for yoga once a week too, but I use the extended stretches almost daily to tide me over. He could do those after a workout on the other days. Thank you everybody! Lots of ideas to work with. I'd tried typing "agility" in Cathe's search bar on the shopping page and came up with nothing. I knew Cathe had quite a bit of agility, but I couldn't remember which workouts and I really couldn't remember which ones were lower impact, because I've been automatically modifying for enough years that the impact doesn't keep me away from a workout (with a couple of exceptions). It looks like I'm going to have a stack of 4 to 7 workouts for him to start with. That should be enough to keep him from getting bored until he's in good enough shape to do HIIT or gets comfortable enough to try the MMA/kickboxing DVDs. After that, he'll hopefully be good enough at modifying and be in good enough shape to do just about anything in the DVD collection. If not, well, I guess I'll be bothering you guys for more help. :) Thanks again. You guys are the best!
 
Braille said:
Thank you for all of the suggestions! He won't do the Jack Spartacus workouts. He said he can't get motivated to work out with an instructor that doesn't do the workout him/herself. I guess I hadn't thought about it, but maybe that's why I like Cathe. Somehow, she manages to instruct, demonstrate, and participate. I have suggested kickboxing, because his combat is actually going to require punching and kicking when he gets good enough, but he's been reluctant. I know he tried it once, but I wasn't home, so I don't know what the issue was. I suspect, though, that it could have been standing on one foot for kicking? He's lost a good amount of weight, but before that, not only was he heavy, but he was having trouble balancing, getting up out of chairs, etc. He tended to kind of slide his feet on the floor when walking instead of picking them up to walk. It's just a guess, but I'm thinking that since his body weight is changing as well as redistributing itself (muscles growing, fat reducing, etc.), I wonder if he is having balance issues. I mean, there are a lot of movements that he hadn't been able to do for years. He's still using a step with no risers, so I think either his balance or his confidence in his balance might have to improve a bit before he tries kickboxing again. Why on earth didn't I think of the Boot Camp DVDs? I have several of those, so he'd have a bit of variety. They'd be perfect! Cardio Slam - that's another one I hadn't thought of. I remember that little box. It helped me to get the feel for modifying moves that I used to be able to do, but as I aged... He'd benefit from that. He has no idea how to modify moves, and I don't like to show him during his workout, because I don't want to mess up his heart rate. That DVD would be helpful for him. He's been out of shape for so many years that he's still learning what he can and can't do. He gets "stuck" when he can't do a move. I just went through my shock cardio DVDs, at vtunell's suggestion and spotted Athletic Step. I'll have to pop some of the others in the player and give them a quick once over to see which ones will focus on agility. I didn't even realize they were part of the STS series! I've never done STS - too intimidating for me :) My husband has been working his way through it, but for the cardio days, I suggested he start with Basic Step. Then, Low Impact Step. When his weight started dropping and his doctor lowered his blood pressure medicine, I suggested he move to the LITE and ICE series. I don't know which ones he's done, but I know he likes them. He's not able to do the Blizzard Blasts or Cardio Crushes yet, but he'll get there. I'll go through the Shock Cardio series and see if I can kind of guess which ones would work for him or find some premixes that will tide him over until he's ready for the whole workout. I have plenty of time, because he's out of town. He's made so much progress with his health and fitness that he signed himself up as my son's partner for a 5K bike race at the Special Olympics! They've been practicing on the tandem (my son is blind) for weeks. I'm a proud mom and wife. :) Hazlady, I suggested months ago that he work on flexibility and mobility. He just kind of ignored me. Then, a few weeks ago, he came home from practice limping (yep, you guessed it - he pulled his groin muscle) and asking me about yoga. I handed him an ice pack and refrained from saying, "I told you so." Anyways, Zack (one of the team's best combat fighters) told my husband that he (Zack) started doing yoga 2 years ago and that it's made a huge difference in preventing injuries as well as improving flexibility. So, my hubby is now doing either Yoga Relax or one of the Perfect 30 yogas once a week. I'm sure glad Zach talked to him, because my husband wasn't listening to me about injury prevention. I need to mention the extended stretches on some of Cathe's DVDs. I only have time for yoga once a week too, but I use the extended stretches almost daily to tide me over. He could do those after a workout on the other days. Thank you everybody! Lots of ideas to work with. I'd tried typing "agility" in Cathe's search bar on the shopping page and came up with nothing. I knew Cathe had quite a bit of agility, but I couldn't remember which workouts and I really couldn't remember which ones were lower impact, because I've been automatically modifying for enough years that the impact doesn't keep me away from a workout (with a couple of exceptions). It looks like I'm going to have a stack of 4 to 7 workouts for him to start with. That should be enough to keep him from getting bored until he's in good enough shape to do HIIT or gets comfortable enough to try the MMA/kickboxing DVDs. After that, he'll hopefully be good enough at modifying and be in good enough shape to do just about anything in the DVD collection. If not, well, I guess I'll be bothering you guys for more help. :) Thanks again. You guys are the best!
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I agree with your husband. I must workout with someone who is actually working out with me. Also, I am sure it’s a good workout with Jack…but for me….it’s tooooo much talking. He’s talking me to death ☠️‍♀️. I think Cathe seems to understand the talking aspect of workouts and does just the right amount…..probably Because she is working out too.
 
Braille, I first have to admit that I have absolutely no clue about men working out since I've always worked out alone and am single. However I can relate to wearing (or in my case carrying) a lot of weight but knowing that agility with that is difficult. I have an idea for him based on some personal experience. I started doing rucks (military inspired workout, hiking with weight in a pack) about 5 years ago. The most I carried was 100lbs but on a more regular basis I would say about 60 lbs. Once you are burdened like that it is very difficult to be nimble and agile because of the weight. I had to essentially teach myself techniques to cope. I also did short, fast hill repeats with the weight to condition myself.

I did have the advantage to already being Cathe trained so I was able to pick up my new sport more easily. I don't know if anything was more important that the other but I was going to suggest core work and kickboxing/mma fusion as something for him to try. But I think even better, he could set up his own agility exercises, you know, stuff like tires to step in and out of, maybe cones to weave in and out of, stepping up and down, turns etc., that he could do on his own but wearing weight while doing it. He could start lighter than 80 lbs. (I bet 50 lbs would be easier yet challenging enough) and try some of the course he set up. I think he would find that as he becomes better at it, he could increase his weight even to over the 80 lbs, thus when wearing his armour and fighting, it would almost be 'easier'. If he tries the exercises with out any weight he will be amazed at how much more agile he has become.

Here is a very simple exercise if anyone is interested. Just go up a hill, at a decent pace, while carrying a significant and challenging weight. Do that same hill with the weight but one day go without carrying anything. You will find it is like the hill doesn't even exist and you will be amazed!
 
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