No, they just don't "get it" huh?

L Sass

Cathlete
:( I know this topic has been discussed ad nauseum, but here I go again. We were at dinner last night with another couple. Wife knows about Cathe -- I've shown her some Cathe DVDs. She works out, but thinks that anything Cathe calibur is WAYYYY too intense - she's more a pilates, stretching, walking gal with every now and again some weight work thrown in (I think she's got up to 12# weights.) No big deal - I don't try to sway her from her routine, but she DOES ask about Cathe.

So she knew I had RT'd it this year and last night asked how it went. Now I have always maintained about that RT that unless you are a Cathe fan and can truly appreciate how genuine she is and how amazing the bond of the whole experience is, then there are no words to adequately describe the trip. Still, wife and hubby pressed me for details. So during dinner I shared some details, and I mentioned STS coming soon. Husband asks about STS, I gave some details, wife says it's clearly not for her. And then it came. Husband asked if this was all home video stuff and I said yes. He looked at wife and said "Oh so this is like that Denise lady that you exercise with on TV" to which wife replied, "no honey, this lady is more intense than that - she's more like the Kathy Smith tape that I use when I really want to work hard."

And I was done.
 
Let him try just 10 minutes of BC and he'll know it's not Denise or Kathy ;)

You're right, people just don't get it :eek:
 
I have a cousin who buts into anything and when people ask me what I do to workout she tells then I do like jazzercise stuff like the classes she use to take. I don't say a word. She thinks I'm nuts because I spent $200 on workout videos (STS). You need to tell your friends when Cathe is on Fitv and let then see that.

Farrah
 
Please son't get me started on Denise.....
I have to admit that a long time ago before I found Cathe, I also thought Kathy Smith was way intense.
My home fitness journey was Kathy S, Billy Blanks, and Cathe.:D
 
:) Naw, they don't. You know that by now! ha ha!

That said, in all fairness, without seeing it first, who would believe that you can get such a tough workout on a video? I have people shake their hand at me all the time but after seeing just a short clip, they change their minds. And if they don't, let them live in their little Denise Austin fantasy world while you benefit from your workouts!
 
They really don't!

Wow, rage, frustration, and comedy all wrapped into one! When I injured my knees of course my friends were wondering how. After all, all I do are those little workout dvd's, right? I mean, I don't go to the gym like them. So I was trying to explain Legs & Glutes- the step-ups and such. And because I mention a step, their tiny little minds automatically switch to leotard-leg warmers-Jane Fonda 'esque step aerobics. And they think this is hilarious. And I'm trying to explain the pretty significant difference between what they're thinking of and Legs & Glutes (hello, it's not even cardio!! wth!?), but pretty soon I give up.

And there's what I mentioned on the STS thread. My male friend who thinks lowly at home-fitness is for women. I guarantee he would be crying by the end of ME, if he could finish that is.

My mom is a Leslie Sansone Walk at Home gal, bless her soul. I never say, "you should do this" but I've certainly mentioned how much I love Cathe. And she starts talking about how she really likes Leslie because she works every side of the thigh, with the side, front, back steps etc. And I'm thinking "how can a person consider side stepping as strength training??". But she loves it, she does it faithfully, and I try not to knock it. ;)
 
I tried to explain P90x to a friend who actually does fairly decent workouts at the gym. She just couldn't get past the fact that I wasn't doing 2 to 3 sets of 6-8 or 12-15 reps for each muscle group. I kept saying "It's all about muscle confusion!" Her response? "Well my brain is a muscle and it's pretty confused!" :D She's funny. But she just couldn't picture it at all.

I like Kathy Smith though I would say never she is intense!

Sparrow
 
Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't get why you would be enraged over this conversation. (If she had told her husband that Cathe wasn't as intense as Kathy Smith then maybe.) It strikes me that the woman was trying to tell her husband that he didn't quite understand or something, which is clearly true.

Perhaps I'm fortunate in that the main people I tell I work out at home are my bootcampers. They can see that I'm fit and strong. It is really nice when someone who has been to my house chimes in that "she's got an entire gym in her house" due to my weights lined up in my living room, LOL!

I think there is a big part of me that likes to work out at home to avoid feeling like people are perhaps judging me like I feel like they do at a gym. However, it seems bound to happen wherever we work out.

I think keeping your mouth shut was your best option in your situation-- good job!!! If everyone knew how great we think Cathe is, we would hate that too! ;)
 
:( I know this topic has been discussed ad nauseum, but here I go again. We were at dinner last night with another couple. Wife knows about Cathe -- I've shown her some Cathe DVDs. She works out, but thinks that anything Cathe calibur is WAYYYY too intense - she's more a pilates, stretching, walking gal with every now and again some weight work thrown in (I think she's got up to 12# weights.) No big deal - I don't try to sway her from her routine, but she DOES ask about Cathe.

So she knew I had RT'd it this year and last night asked how it went. Now I have always maintained about that RT that unless you are a Cathe fan and can truly appreciate how genuine she is and how amazing the bond of the whole experience is, then there are no words to adequately describe the trip. Still, wife and hubby pressed me for details. So during dinner I shared some details, and I mentioned STS coming soon. Husband asks about STS, I gave some details, wife says it's clearly not for her. And then it came. Husband asked if this was all home video stuff and I said yes. He looked at wife and said "Oh so this is like that Denise lady that you exercise with on TV" to which wife replied, "no honey, this lady is more intense than that - she's more like the Kathy Smith tape that I use when I really want to work hard."

And I was done.



Lorrie,

Years back, I would have been "that hubby"..Never, ever, in my wildest dreams did I ever think I could get challenged by a home fitness workout.

I was never so wrong in my life..the difference with me is, I'm not afraid to admit it.
 
Haha!Thats to funny!
There is a girl here in town that does BC classes and pilates. She also is a power lifter so she is in pretty good shape. After I had DS , DH was talking to her about how in shape I was and I enjoyed working out at home and that my workout videos were intense. She asked who they were by and he says "Cathe someone" She just shurged her shoulders and said " Ive heard of her, I don't think he workouts are that hard".
I felt like calling her up and saying, "no hun..we are talking about Kathy Smith..." Unless you do these workouts, you have no idea what you are getting yourself in for!

Lori:)
 
Like many here, I've let go entirely of touting the benefits of DVD-based home exercise in general and Cathe-based home exercise in particular to The Fluff Crowd. It's always wasted time and energy that I'll never get back, so in my mind I always go back to Cathe's earliest promotional strategy, which was to target the already-seasoned exerciser. To try to explain these benefits, even when approached by people who see me in exceptionally good shape at the tender age of 47, to people who think walking from the car to the gym door is a workout, is like trying to explain color to a blind man.

I've always gotten a kick out of the fact that I've gotten majorly strong and fit through two workout strategies that are routinely contemptuously derided by the general public: home-exercise DVDs and non-swimming water training. The general public sees DVDs as Denise Austin and Richard Simmons; they see water training as the canasta-games stuff usually seen in traditional club environments' group fitness schedules. And I say "Fine. You paddle your canoe and I'll paddle mine . . . and I'll get to shore about 10 hours before you do."

Thank heavens - and Cathe - for these forums and her Road Trips. How alone would we be if we didn't have these?

A-Jock
 
Enraged? No Ame, I don't think anyone was enraged. Just amused that someone could ever find Kathy Smith's workouts as intense as our Cathe.
 
such a situtation

Not too long ago I was a Kathy Smith/Leslie Sansone user myself. Then I purchased the little pink Susan G. Kommen step and started the beginner's rotation. I've been working through that for about 8 weeks now and today its just too smokey/smoggy out there to go for a hike. So, I popped in an old Kathy Smith dvd. I do like her and have enjoyed her workouts but according to my hrm I only saw an average of 97 beats per minute. In the first few weeks with Cathe I was just dying (hate to admit but true) with just "Basic Step" but by the end of that portion of the rotation my heart rate came down to a cool 120 and I knew it was time to pop up to Body Fusion. (I do realize all of you true Cathelites are possibly holding your sides and laughing . .)

Since I started with Cathe the only thing that really works on the heart rate is hiking uphill, running, jump rope and just one of my Buns of Steel tapes. I still love my yoga but thats just really different.
 
I've been really lucky when I discuss Cathe with other people; for the most part people have seemed pretty impressed, and the usual comment I get is something along the lines of how disciplined and/or motivated I must be to be able to workout at home. No one has ever made a comment disparaging the intensity of the workouts, at least not to my face anyway. (Part of that may be that when people ask, I start out by saying that I do "Advanced High Impact Step Aerobics". I don't even mention that I do it in my basement at home unless people ask where.)

And even when it came time for the Road Trips, when people asked why I was going and I described it, not one person asked why I was doing it or said that it seemed weird. Almost everyone (including my grandma) said something like, "Wow! You're going to have a great time!" or "that sounds great".

Now, I won't say I've made too many Cathe converts. My sister likes Cathe, but other than her, the other people I've introduced to Cathe have not stuck with it. Oh well.
 
"no honey, this lady is more intense than that - she's more like the Kathy Smith tape that I use when I really want to work hard."

ROFLMAO!

Though on a scale of intensity, where Denise is a 3 and Kathy Smith is a 6 or 7 and Cathe a 9 or 10, then Kathy is "more like" Cathe than is Denise...

I think you should send them a link to the Youtube videos. Then see what hubby thinks about it!
 
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Most of my fiends just think it's from riding...sometimes I share and sometimes I don't...ok, most of the time I don't and it is really awesome to come to the boards and share with everyone who has the same goals and workouts out.

Thanks you guys for being here....:D
 
Frankly, I don't care if people get it and I have to agree with Amy...would we really be happy if everybody "got" Cathe and she got cheesy mainstream like The Firm? I've had comments from morbidly obese right down to the orthopaedist who rolled his eyes when I told him I did Cathe and explained her workouts. I think Denise Austin is a fruitcake but she appeals to a certain element and if she can get people off the couch and moving so they feel better and gain confidence good for her. Maybe they will one day discover Cathe maybe they won't, whatever works for them. The friend asked and honest question and got an honest answer.
 

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