Reflections on the 4 Day Split

lemoncustard

lemoncustard

Cathlete
I have tried and tried to get the footwork on the new workouts. I even put them away for a few weeks because my level of frustration kept mounting. I have never had any problems with any of your other workouts. I took them out again this week and I just ended up doing plyos and jumping jacks. I also workout to reduce frustration and not build on it. Although I can understand that you are going dancier in an effort to make your workouts more interesting to a broader audience, please consider making concessions to your loyal fans who have counted on you for challenging workouts that focus on athleticism as well as intensity. I want to spend my workout time working out. My brain is tired at the end of the workday. I don't have time or interest to watch the same workout multiple times. A modifier with less dancier moves would have been good. A section that broke down the dance moves at a slower place would also have been helpful.

I also would have appreciated a premix for each upper body area that had multiple sets.

Just my two cents.....

Rhonda
 
Hang in there Rhonda. You will get it. It took me 3 to 4 times and I still dont have that "shuffle, hinge kick, stomp" step down. The combos are short. Try learning just one combo. Maybe try doing one of your other step routines and before you finish or cool down, do one 4DS combo. Sometimes it helps me when I say the combo after Cathe cues it.

Dont give up on it, because they are really lots of fun.

Carmen
 
Annette Bethel

I haven't done the cardio portion of 4DS because of my bunion surgery, but I have done the weighted mixes. They are awesome. I can't wait to try the cardio. With that being said, in due time, cardio will click for ya!
 
Hi Rhonda!

Like Carmen said "hang in there." This time around Cathe went dancier b/c that's what the majority wanted to see from her.

I only now after MANY weeks of trying LIS finally got the 3rd combo. My brain was clear & was more awake when I did this w/out. I realized that I was making the moves much harder than they actually are. Does your dvd player by any chance have the capability of putting the moves into slow motion? The moves do come very fast & you need to think quickly what's coming up. The only instructor for step that I can do is Cathe. I've tried & tried to do Tracey Staehle & Amy Bento but just gave up on them.

ITA! With the weight training sections, I would've preferred in Chapters listing each individual body part & all of the exercises just as you stated Rhonda. The premixes for weight training didn't contain all of the exercises. I was very disappointed in this. If I want to do all of the exercises, I have no choice but to do chest & back all of the time.

Just my .02 too. Good luck Rhonda w/the choreo! Kathy:D
 
I'm with you Rhonda!! I simply can't understand why a short break-down chapter is such a remarkable request. Meantime, I'm just not doing the step. For me, it's simply not worth the frustration - not when my limited and valuable time could be better spent on other cardio pursuits. (plus, I hate cardio enough already) I know although I will buy other future workouts, I will never buy any step workouts. (I actually need to figure out how to get rid of some of them sitting on my shelves. Anyone want an IMAX 2 or LOWMAX?)
 
>I will never buy any step workouts. (I
>actually need to figure out how to get rid of some of them
>sitting on my shelves. Anyone want an IMAX 2 or LOWMAX?)

If you're serious, pm me. Maybe we can work something out?

April
 
Thank goodness someone else feels like me! I was ashamed to admit that I had not been able too grasp some of the combos on the 4-D Split. For me too, it's the 3rd combo in LIS; and as for as the HIS, well lets not even go there. But I am determined to learn these routines because I DO want to get my money's worth. On my rest days, I attempt the combos on the floor instead of the step. Oh, I my copy of Low Max is also collecting dust; it bores me. So once again Rhonda, hang in there and do not stop trying!
 
I really didn't have a ton of trouble with the moves. The cardio is so short that I don't think there is much time to break down the moves. I think Rythmic step has a lot of tricky moves but that work out is longer so there was time to build the moves up.

I just bought my firt non cathe step workout - advanced step challenge 2 by Amy Bento. Holy cow is that tricky and not broken down so much. It took me an hour just to kearb the first and second combo. There is 5 in this workout. By the way I think the description for ASC2 is more athletic based moves but it is way tricky I think.

I love the fast fun complex workouts as once you learn them time goes by pretty quick and it is so enjoyable.

I know you may not have the time to learn them as I do.

Good luck.

Winter
 
Not every series and/or workout is for everyone. Cathe has TONS of other workouts available so you can always just do something else.

I think the 4DS step workouts are the most fun of anything Cathe's produced so far but, hey, like I said--they're not for everyone.

Allison

http://www.picturetrail.com/allisonj90
 
Hi Rhonda! I'm sorry to hear of your disappointment. I appreciate the time you have taken to express your thoughts and I have noted all of your suggestions. Your feedback is valuable and important to me.

I'd also like to say that while I would love for everyone to be happy with every workout I release, I know this is simply impossible. The best I can hope for is that the majority of my workouts, appeal to the majority of my audience, the majority of the time.

Again, I'm sorry to hear of your disappointment Rhonda and appreciate that you can also understand my position.
 
You know what I do? I am truly the biggest stepping "fool" out there. I pulled out Cathe's "Low Impact Step" and did that, then I did the Chest/Back workout on 4DS. I own her trickier step workouts and never do them because frankly, I cannot and no matter how hard I try, I will always be better at kickbox and bootcamp! Thank goodness Cathe is so darn versatile. Even on the step workout DVD's the premixes always allow for interesting workouts, so I love all of the workouts and do not mind it I cannot "get" the trickier step ones, I just pull one out I can do successfully, and my hats off to you 'steppers" out there.

And a big ole thanks again to Cathe! Cannot wait for your new stuff already!:7
 
To lessen the frustration of learning the choreography in HIS/LIS, I learned a combo at a time. I would just tack it on to whatever workout I had plan for the day.
I broke the workouts down into the warmup and the three combos. One day I learned the warmup, next day I learned combo one etc.
After I learned all four part throughout the week, then I would add the entire workout into my rotation.

I found this method lessen my frustration considerably.


Saundra
 
I would just like to throw out another point of view:

I didn't find the choreography challenging enough. I viewed the workout, did it once, and by the second and third time I was doing the workout flawlessly. This workout is FUN!, but I just wished it would have stumped me a little longer.

I realize that Cathe could have someone modify in the background, but I have found that when this occurs in other videos, it does slow down the video progression, because while the person in the back can modify, Cathe would have to show the modification at least once.

I love that Cathe has minimal breakdown, it keeps the workout interesting and I keep coming back. Literally with other videos that are more broken down, I yawn and never make it to the last combo because I am bored and tired of doing step touch side to side while the material that I learned long ago is explained over and over again.

I am sorry for your frustration, but I would love it if Cathe was even dancier and more complex.
 
Cathe: I agree that a short tutorial segment would have been helpful for HIS and LIS, especially since there are moves that you acknowledges in your teaching to be 'tricky.' It is frustrating when one is used to getting most of the choreo the first time through (so we can focus on intensity), and being stuck on several moves in the new workouts. I found it particularly so because of the length of the workouts: I *almost* got things, and just when I would have had it after one more repetition, the segment is over!

Adding a tutorial segment for those moves (clearly pointing out what foot does what when!) would certainly help us, while not taking anything away from those who prefer to just go for it.

Other posters:
Perhaps not every workout is for everyone (though what to do if you like the 4DS weight work and the other two cardios present no problem? If HIS had been sold as a separate 60-minute step workout, we could have easily just not ordered it), but more could have been done to make them more user friendly for those of us who don't want to have to learn a workout piece by piece. (If a workout isn't more approachable, I have plenty of other instructors I could use instead, but I'd like to workout with Cathe).

And I'm not sure if I agree with the poster who said the more complex choreo was done because the 'majority' asked for it. Certainly quite a few people did (repeatedly), but I'm not sure if they were in the majority or not. It's not my impression. I think we'd need a poll to find that out.
 
I didn't think that the 4DS split choreography was any harder than Rythmic Step or Step Blast. It's not like dancier stuff is unchartered territory for Cathe workouts. It seems like she has a little of everything and I appreciate the variety.

Like another poster, I learned the workout section by section, repeating until I got it and doing it this way, I learned both HIS and LIS in about a week and now can do them both flawlessly. I enjoyed the challenge. The choreography of 4DSBC and KB are both very basic and athletic, providing a nice balance.

Just my .02
Maggie:)
 
This is the first time I have actually had to stand still and watch parts of Cathe's choreography to master the moves. What really helped was to pay attention to the side of the step she was on for certain pieces, like the shuffle pivot A step combo in HIS. Once I realized she broke down the whole combo on the front side (closest to the tv), it was super easy to conquer! Another tip is to count out the beats to each move even if you do it out loud. This really helped on the step hitchkick uneven exit stomp for two move. As long as I kept couting the 8 counts in my head with each step I took, I was right on target with Cathe and her crew. The hardest move for me was actually the rock horse on top of the step. My body just did not want to stay up there at all!

Now you should hear me when I watch FitTV with "those other step instructors". I seriously want to beat them silly. They use a lot of the same moves as Cathe but have no idea how to teach them properly!

Don't give up. Take the time to watch and digest and when in doubt, count it out!

Remember that whenever the body has to learn new choreography, the muscles and nervous system must sync up to process the new patterns, and each time you do the workout the pattern is remembered and easier to perform.
 
I agree with the other posters. Maybe this DVD isn't your "forte" so to speak. Some people are better with dancer moves, some with more athletic moves. I actual prefer more athletic myself but that can get boring. It took me forever to get the IMAX2 down. Not only is it intense but there's a couple of spots that are tricky. I can tell you to date, I mastered it! And it's one of my fav's! So Fun! The video previews help alot. Take a look at them before you buy. Does it work for you? I was looking over the 4 day split video and man, I think I'll stick with the dvd's I have for a bit before I start a challenge like that! I'm not really a dancer but from what I notice in the 4 day split and other Cathe video's is that the steps are basic steps i.e. shuffle, rock horse, etc. she just incorporates them differently each time. If you can master these basic moves,and get comfortable using them, I think you can get used to using them in a variety of different moves. Best wishes.
-Gabriel
 
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