What Cathe to buy?

S

stephanie932

Cathlete
Hi everyone!!!

This is my very first post on this board, as I am a member of the Ya Ya's and someone mentioned posting this question here.

I have been using all 3 Firms systems and enjoy them, however, I've only been exercising since August and have about 30 more lbs. to lose. Christmas Eve I received Basic Step/Body Fusion and I absolutely love it!!! I've done Basic Step on Christmas day and today and will do Body Fusion tomorrow. I want to up my workouts a notch...and I know Cathe will definitely do that for me,....but honestly, I'm so afraid of what to order as my first set from Cathe.

I have around $200 coming in January and I'm debating whether or not to order the Body Blast Series or the Intensity Series. Or maybe you all may have individual dvd's to suggest to work my way into Cathe workouts w/o me feeling frustrated or defeated because of the difficulty. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance....I know many, many of you have every workout, so I know I'm coming to the right place for ordering advice.

~Stephanie~


"Happiness is knowing what you are doing next without me saying it!" - Cathe
 
Hi Stephanie!

I am very new to Cathe myself. Worked out almost exclusively with the Firm for about 2 years until a few days ago!:)

So I can not speak from experience on this, but what I can say, from what I have read on here...it seems that Body Blast has the popular vote for what Cathe set a beginner should buy first.

If you ware looking for a few individual work outs, this might help...this was posted here previously and it rates the intensity/difficulty of each of her work outs going by what the folks that participate in this forum think. (1 being the easiest and 10 the most difficult) You may find it very helpful in deciding what to buy next. Here you go:

Total Body Weight Workouts
1. How to Get in Shape for Your Wedding (weight portion only)- 3.44
2. Push Pull- 5.54
3. Supersets- 5.94
4. Power Hour- 7.55
5. Maximum Intensity Strength- 7.72
6. Muscle Endurance- 7.83

Upper Body Workouts
1. Basic Step Upper Body section- 3.67
2. Pure Strength Back, Biceps, and Abs- 6.65
3. Pure Strength Chest, Shoulders and Triceps- 6.85
4. CTX Upper body- 7.65
5. Slow and Heavy Chest and Back- 7.83
6. Slow and Heavy Biceps and Triceps- 7.87
7. Slow and Heavy Shoulders (part of S&H Legs and Shoulders- 7.95
8. Pyramid Upper Body- 8.15

Lower Body Workouts
1. Basic Step Lower Body section- 2.71
2. Slow and Heavy Legs (part of S&H Legs and Shoulders)- 7.53
3. Pure Strength Legs and Abs- 7.60
4. Pyramid Lower Body- 7.83
5. Legs and Glutes- 7.96
6. Leaner Legs- 8.70

Step Cardio (where step cardio is the dominate feature in the workout)
1. Basic Step- 2.64
2. How to Get in Shape for Your Wedding (step portion only)- 4.15
3. Step N Motion 1- 4.33
4. Step Heat- 4.94
5. Step Jam- 5.14
6. Mega Step Blast- 5.38
7. Step Max- 5.46
8. All Step- 6.14
9. Step Fit- 6.74
10. Power Max- 6.90
11. Rhythmic Step- 6.96
12. Step Works- 7.05
13. Step Blast- 7.50

Other Cardio (where step in NOT the dominate form of cardio)
1. CTX Kickbox- 6.31
2. 10*10*10- 6.42
3. Cardio Kicks- 7.07
4. Kick Punch & Crunch- 7.66
5. Maximum Intensity Cardio- 9.55

Circuit Workouts
1. Body Fusion- 4.31
2. High Step Circuit- 5.27
3. Cardio and Weights- 6.79
4. Power Circuit- 7.00
5. Step, Jump, & Pump- 7.20
6. Circuit Max- 8.47
7. High Step Training Advanced- 8.80
8. Body Max- 8.98
9. Bootcamp- 9.05

Interval Cardio
1. Step and Intervals- 6.94
2. IMAX 2- 8.97
3. IMAX- 9.46

Compilation DVD's
1. Timesaver- 5.90
2. The Terminator- 9.77

Hope this helps!:) :)

~Wendy~

We don't stop laughing because we grow old; We grow old because we stop laughing...Put more laughter into your life.
 
I agree with Wendymin (Congrats on getting your step for Christmas by the way:)). The BodyBlast series is wonderful and SO much fun but is not quite as intense and tough as the Intensity Series. But trust me you will definitely increase your fitness level with this series as well. So, I think the BB series would probably be your best investment. But let's face it-soon you'll want them all:):)

Welcome to the forums and hope to "see" you around. Let us know what you decide.

Wendy
 
Thanks Wendy and Wendy!!

I actually sat down and ordered all those #'s to see where most of the series fell. It took me almost 1.5 hours...lol But, I feel that I have a better idea of where things fall now.

I can't believe all the choices. This is going to be so difficult. I think I have my mind set on ordering High Step Circuit tomorrow and then I'll keep previewing until my eyes go nuts...lol

TY for both of your suggestions....it really helps!

~Stephanie~

"Happiness is knowing what you are doing next without me saying it!" - Cathe
 
I loaned my HSC to a friend who is new to Cathe and she absolutely loves it-I'm surprised I got it back:) She immediately ordered it and that's the only workout she does now so you won't be disappointed.

Wendy
 
Stephanie-
What are you looking for? More complex step work or strength training? How easy/hard was it for you to pick up on Basic Step?

I have to say that I wouldn't choose a workout entirely by how it's rated in terms of how "easy" it is. I would go for the fun factor. Order the workouts that, first of all, fit in with your fitness goals, and then based upon how much people love them. A lot of Cathe's workouts can be made easier or harder depending upon how much weight you use or how many reps you do. The more recent workouts on DVD have lots of programming options that can help you to vary the intensity.

You know how fun the Firm is and how the fun factor motivates you, right? What's your fun factor? For me, the music is very important and I LOVE the music in Power Hour. Tell us what you really love about working out, and maybe we can help you to pick something that will meet your needs and that you will really love.
-Nancy
 
Thanks Nancy for actually trying to peek inside this exercise head of mine!

I started out at 190 last January w/ just diet and lost about 25 lbs. In August, I finally started working out. Now, I do workouts 6 days a week, with Friday as a rest day. During the week, I usually do a 30-45 min. workout alternating cardio and strength days. I have many of the Firm add ons and throw them in. On weekends, I usually do 2 workouts (1 in the am and 1 early evening...both Saturday and Sunday). I usually save those days for the hour long workouts. I also just got an Urban Rebounder for Christmas and will be incorporating that in my workouts for cardio....still working on that (tougher than it seems)....lol

As you can see, my workouts do focus on the fun factor and I do love the FIRM and rebounding because of that. BSS3 is awesome to me because of the music in it. I love the loud club style, forget your exercising, mindset I'm in when I do it.

As far as complexity....to be honest, if you are familar w/ Cardio Express it took me about 4 times to get the steps down. I did it, but w/ many, many rewinds, as I seem to have 2 left feet. I can do it now without even thinking, but it does take me awhile to learn complex steps. That's the main reason I'm so worried about choosing Cathe's workouts. I don't want to be so frustrated w/ them that I put them on a shelf to collect dust. On the other hand, seeing her personality in Basic Step/Body Fusion I can tell that I really like her style and she will be fun.

Basic Step, believe it or not, was very simple for me. I didn't even have to rewind. Today I'll be doing the Body Fusion, so I'll have to get back to you on that one. I did preview it last night and can see 1 or 2 parts that I may have to rewind, but I'm not too worried about it.

I still would like to lose about 30 lbs. so I've been mainly concentrating on cardio.....but, I really miss the strength workouts that I used to do faithfully 3 times a week.

I'm sure you didn't expect a book.....sorry about that. ;) I'm just trying to give you as much info. as it takes, since I am relying on you all for advice. Thanks again....soooo much!

~Stephanie~


"Happiness is knowing what you are doing next without me saying it!" - Cathe
 
Hi Wendy-

Thanks! I was thrilled to get the step! I used it yesterday. I'm very happy! :)


~Wendy~

We don't stop laughing because we grow old; We grow old because we stop laughing...Put more laughter into your life.:)
 
Hi Wendy-

Thanks! I was thrilled to get the step! I used it yesterday. I'm very happy! :)


~Wendy~

We don't stop laughing because we grow old; We grow old because we stop laughing...Put more laughter into your life.:)
 
Hey Stephanie,

I too am going to be trying Body Fusion for the first time either today or tommorrow most likely...we will have to compare notes to see if either one of us fell on our face at all! LOL ;) Along with being new to Cathe, I am also new to step except for the short step segments in the Firm's videos so I am in the beginning of the learning process also.

~Wendy~

We don't stop laughing because we grow old; We grow old because we stop laughing...Put more laughter into your life.
 
Stephanie,

You might want to get the TimeSaver DVD from the BodyBlast series first. It has a total of 5 (compilation workouts from the series) workouts. Three of them are about 20-25 minutes of step, followed by 1 or 2 upper body part toning. The fourth is taken from half of KPC, plus an upper body part. Then the fifth is an all legs workout (mostly Legs and Glutes). It would give you a "feel" for the series and you would have cardio that fits your schedule.

Then if you also got the Pyramid DVD, you could use the premixes (pyramid up only, pyramid down only) and they make good 30 minute workouts. There's also some great floorwork for legs on PLB, and stability ball abs on PUB. I like the Pyramids because I can really see my progress as I up the weights.

Cathe does a great job of cuing and you'll catch on to her choreography quicker than you think. Doing it in small doses at first is the key.

Please tell us (and you too, Wendy!) what you choose!

Diane
 
Diane,

TY so much for that suggestion. I didn't think the workouts would be that long, so was staying away from the compilations. They both sound like great suggestions!

On a side note....I just did Body Fusion for the first time. I am really impressed!!!! I loved the step and only had to rewind it once during the lunges/swims around the world. Mannnnnnnn.....my heart rate was up there! According to my HRM (another new Christmas toy...lol) I burned 472 calories during 55 mins. of this workout! Yippee!!!

I think I'm headed to ponder more dvds....lol

~Stephanie~

"Happiness is knowing what you are doing next without me saying it!" - Cathe
 
Stephanie~

I love the quote at the bottom of your posts! I recognized it as soon as I read it! :)

~Wendy~

We don't stop laughing because we grow old; We grow old because we stop laughing...Put more laughter into your life.
 
Stephanie, If you are undecided between Body Blast and Intensity series, I am going to recommend Intensity Series. I just love it! That is the one I bought when converting from a Firmite to a Catheite! Intensity Series has workouts that are similar to those from the BSI and BSII, but so much more intense and challenging! As soon as I saw that Cathe does leg press, I clicked "buy now" :D ! You can use the fanny lifter as the "high step" that Cathe uses.

Also, if you have FitTV, you can see her 3 times a day. View the workouts there and decide which ones you would like to buy.

Hope this helps!
 
I think Timesaver would be great for you, too. It has 5 workouts from 38 minutes to 48 minutes and a very nice variety of strength, cardio, and kickbox all from the Body Blast series. Then, after you've done these a few times, you would know what you like and could spend the rest of your money on the other DVDs of the same type. The Intensity series has Timesaver premixes on there, so if it seemed too hard at first, you just do easier premixes and work your way up to doing the full workouts.
I hope the journey is fun for you and full of great results!
Amy
 
Stephanie,

Glad to see you are getting some great suggestions. I knew people here would be able to help. I can't guide you too much because, unlike you, I am choreographically challenged and the only step I have been able to do at all is Basic Step, and even that I mess up. I workout by doing all of my cardio at the gym on the treadmill, and then using Cathe exclusively for strength training. Also, I don't like combining cardio and strength for some reason. But you sure came to the right place for step cardio and circuit training! Congratulations on all your progress!!:D
-Nancy
 
I just have to say, one of the reasons Cathe's work outs intimidate me is because of the step choreography! I am not the quickest to pick up on a step combo either x( but I bought Basic Step and Body Fusion and I have been doing rather well!:)I'm actually impressed with my progress so far! In a few days after I get a little more comfy with the Body Fusion step (which I get tripped up on a little at times right now), I will be moving on to one of the Cardio Hits work outs...now THAT should be interesting! LMAO! I may need some moral support from you gals to keep me from giving up on it!

~Wendy~


We don't stop laughing because we grow old; We grow old because we stop laughing...Put more laughter into your life.
 
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