Were you always an advanced fitness level?

[Cassadine86]

I was wondering if most of you have been advanced level most of your life or if some of you started out as beginngers at one time ?? If you were intermediate or beginner level, where did you start and what workouts did you do before Cathe?

 

[alsrnbsn]

I have NEVER considered myself an "advanced" exerciser!! For me, there's always some harder workout that kicks my booty usually Cathe;-) ) just when I think that I am there! When I was back at square one (Leslie Sansone was intense for me then!) I had never heard of Cathe. When she go too easy for me, I graduated to the FIRM and broke out all the old tapes that had been gathering dust for YEARS!! When I was getting bored with that was actually when I "discovered" Cathe (LowMax was my first, what was I thinking???;-) ).

I still consider myself an "intervanced" exerciser.....in between intermediate and advanced. I don't think that I will ever make it to advanced, but as long as I can still kick out a Cathe, I am happy!!!

 

[teddy16410]

In my 20'2 I was cardio advanced as an instuctor 6 days a week...... went to weekend warrior in my 30's and back to full blown crazy workout queen in my 40's.......
I would only consider myself ADVANCED when & if I can complete the entire Cathe library (80+ titles I think) without having to modify anything......That is not going to happen in this lifetime!
There are only so many TERMINATOR SQUATS this wonderful body can do and really doesnt want to do all that many~;-)
So I will leave this earth a very happy, healthy, fit woman one day and will have my tombstone read: ADVANCED CATHE GIRL! ;-)

 

[Fit_mommy]

I started exercising with things like Leslie Sansone's WATP and Beach Body's Great Body Garunteed series. I then moved on to the Firm. After 1.5 years of the Firm I found Cathe. }(

 

[sparrow]

When I started working out about 7 years ago, I couldn't even make it through the first 15 minutes of BASIC tae-bo!!

Sparrow

My garden is filled with papayas and mangos
My life is a mixture of reggaes and tangos
Taste for the good life, I can live it no other way
- Jimmy Buffett

 

[endorphin_junkie]

Hi Cassadine Goodness NO!! When the, then bizarre, idea of exercising to take care of my body occurred to me at 30 years old I was 50 lbs overweight and had just enough cardio capacity to make it up a flight of stairs to the fridge:+ One fateful day while sitting on my big butt folding laundry on the couch waiting for the next show, Charlene Prickett's 'It Figures' came on. She looked me in the eye and said 'get off the couch and exercise with me', so I DID!! I was clumsy, gasping and didn't make it through much of the routine but it was the spark that lit the fire under my ample booty and led me to where I am today. Fourteen years later I am certainly an advanced exerciser but more importantly I'm healthy, happy, strong and as determined as ever to keep this aging and precious body healthy!

Take Care
Laurie

 

[acatalina]

Oh my no:
Started from the begening...
I am 41 now. At the time the 1st firm came out with Susan Harris I preorded it and started dying with 3 lb weights. Barely made it through the w/o for a couple weeks.I about died couldn't walk for days....
Took a few years off afew ago for work reasons and had to start over. Started w the firm again old and new ones. I had Karen Voit and Gunther Peterson .Then after a year they just weren't doing it so i found Cathe about 1 1/2 yrs ago I think and now at times i lift heavier than her, but i still can't keep up with her cardio like on imax 3.
Cathe is still challenging me and giving me DOMS...


Anne
Aka( Storm)

http://www.picturetrail.com/acatalina

 

[ivorygorgon]

Ok, long story.

3 years ago I weighed 245 pounds. I didn't exercise, although I would say I was fairly active.

I started WW and started losing weight. About 6 months into my lifestyle change I started exercising. I joined a gym. Now I have always been strong, so I didn't start with light weights; cardio though, was another story. I walked on the treadmill. 3.2 mph was a workout for me. I just started trying to get better all the time (still do).

It was about a year after I started working out that I discovered Cathe. There was a thread on the WW fitness board that talked about her workouts. So I delved in. My first Cathe was the one that came with the step. Allstep. Well, I can tell you I just sat on the step and cried because not only couldn't I follow the workout, I couldn't DO the workout physically.

So I started researching. I bought Basic Step, Body Fusion, High Step Circuit, and the Classics. I also bought SB/SJP, but SB made me cry too

I do think of myself as an advanced exerciser, eventhough I have to modify sometimes. Some of the moves I just won't do, because I don't think they are good for me (Tuck jumps, airborne jacks). I don't think this is a sign of weakness or not being an advanced exerciser, I just think it is what is right for my body.

So today I weigh about 161, can do Cathe, and I also do Cardio Coach. The furthest I have run to date is a little over 4 miles, but I have it my head to see if I can one day do a half marathon. I can also do SB and Allstep without modifying.

If I can do it, you can!!!

 

[GreenEyedLefty]

Hi Ivory!! It's good to see you here! I think your post is just what I needed to see. Thank you for sharing your story, I never knew how or where you had started out, and was a little afraid to ask. <smile> But I'm so proud of you, way to go!

 

[kathryn]

Is it even possible for someone to start out 'advanced?" Surely everyone starts out as a beginner (unless they aren't counting something like sports training they did before starting workout videos.

When I started workinng out, I used Cher's two workouts, then moved on to Kathy Smith (doing the 'beginner' version of her step workout, then moving on to 'intermediate') and pretty much what I could find in the stores (Denise Austin, for a VERY short time, because I couldn't STAND her!).

Then I discovered Collage Video (from the Shape magazine yearly reviews of workout videos---they were just videos at that time: DVD hadn't been invented yet) and got into different step workouts (SOmething called "For Animals Only" and Lynn Brick, some CIA workouts...and Cathe's "Step in Motion III") as well as some Firm workouts (didn't really like the first one I got--volume 6--and it cost something like $50!) and some Jane Fonda.

I started out using 5# weights, and added on from there (though I had worked out with heavier weights in a weight room, I had been on a 2 year hiatus from it, and was just starting home workouts). Now my heaviest dumbbell is 35#.

I think it doesn't take long to move from 'beginner' to 'intermediate' (at least 'low-intermediate").

 

[ejostling]

Ivory, I think we are twins somewhere in a parallel universe. I weighed very close to what you weighed, 227 was my highest, then I got pregnant (dr. was not happy). I lost my weight with WW's and then got active. It took me a while to find Cathe, too. I'm so glad I did. I still don't think I'm advanced, but getting there. I weigh about what you do now, too!

Sally