Question for Cathe and anyone....

[Faythe]

Cathe and educated croud,
I am looking to increase my endurance and loose weight. I had been having great results from PS series and S&H as far as strength. My body is noticeably different and muscular. But I want to get more lean and loose the excess baggage. I was wondering what are the best Cathe tapes for endurance and getting lean? This is what I have of Cathe tapes: 4 step video's, CTX, PS, S&H, PH, and BodyMax. Which are the best for endurance? And which are best that I don't have that you'd recommend?
I do eat clean and do cardio 6 x wk and weights 4 x wk.
Also, my heart rate monitor tells me I am going over my max HR when I do your step video's. I am trying to leave out the leaps when it gets too high. Is that what you'd recommend? Thanks in advance for your help
Faythe

 

[willowe]

Hi Faythe,
I am in the same situation as you in that I need to lose weight, although I too have also been getting good results from Cathe's strength workouts.
Personally, I would aim to do 1 interval or circuit workout (ie, Interval Max or Circuit Max), where you are doing higher followed by lower intensity (a la Circuit Max) or lower followed by higher intensity (Interval Max). These types of workouts can be great for shaking up the metabolism and breaking a weight-loss plateau. I would also recommend doing 2 or 3 "steady rate" cardio workouts, where your heartrate is more or less at a sustained rate throughout the entire workout (ie Rhythmic Step, Step Heat, Step Works, Step Fit, etc).
I would also cut your strength/weight work back to 1 x per week (that is, working each body part once per week using say, Power Hour, or MIS) in order to maintain rather than build muscle.
This is just mt personal opinion based on information I have gathered from Cathe's responses and my fellow friends on the Forum. Perhaps others may have alternative suggestions?
Hey, perhaps we ought to do an experiment together and see if the above type of rotation works!?
Kaz.

 

[Faythe]

Hi Kaz,
Thanks for your post. I think I'm going to try CTX straight through, and add extra cardio. I think I'll also do BodyMax once a wk also, at the end of the rotation. My husband laughs, all I do is re-do my roations always looking for that perfect one. I just got a cold, and feel really run down. Sunday I did 2 hrs in the am and then CTX Step Circuit in the evening, felt great until an hour before bed. I thought I felt all my energy leave my body. I woke up with a cold, but not a usual cold. My body aches and my head a bit stuffy but I have no energy. So I didn't work out since Monday. Feel terrible, but as soon as I'm up to it, I'll start this new rotation (unless I change it again).
Faythe

 

[Cathe Friedrich]

Hi Faythe! Hope you are feeling better. Be sure that you are not overtraining since this can lead to a weakened immune system. I would say that you could do the CTX series as is (without adding additional cardio on to it) plus one Power Hour workout per week. This would come to 7 workouts per week. Btw, Power Hour is the most muscular endurance oriented workout that I have. I would suggest that on just one of your weekly workout days, you do one CTX cardio in the day and then Power Hour in the evening in order to have at least one full day of rest per week. Take care of yourself!

 

[Faythe]

Cathe,
Thank you so much for your post. Last night I previewed the CTX tapes I have not done yet, and am excited about doing them.
Faythe