What's best for me?

[joss]

Hi,

I would really like to know if I should pay attention to body type when exercising or just forget about it and get on with it?
I am 5'2 and carry most of my weight in the lower part of the body(waist down). Are there certain Cathe DVD's that I should be doing?
I want to get real serious about strength training, now that I'm no longer working and would like to know if I should not train my lower half for fear of looking too big.
I enjoy step and was wondering if that would be enough for the lower parts and do weights for the upper three times a week. Would doing step two times a week be okay, say up to 60 min?
I'm thinking of ordering the Pyramid and S&H DVD's. I've read that the pyramid way of training was most effective.
Thanks for any advice.

Joss

 

[JT]

Hello Joss.
Happy Thanksgiving!!
It sounds like you and me are built alot alike. In my Cathe library, I literally own most of her workouts. Since I also carry my weight in the lower part of my body, I do alot of step to burn fat and ab/core work to tone up the mid section.
Leges & Glutes that's with KPC is great. Both workouts tone and sculpt and have donw good for me.
Butt & Gutts is another good toner too. The firewalkers are great!
What I'm currently doing is Step (2-3 times per week) and strength twice per week. And, the 2006 series totally.
I do have PUB/PLB and always do them together in one workout.
Others will post here too, so you should be able to make a decision that works best for you.

 

[Aquajock]

Hi, Joss!

I'll leave it to others to suggest the best strength training workouts. However, I do think it would be a good idea for you to find a at least one other floor-only cardio format to vary with your step work, understanding that step is your favorite. The problem is, usually when you focus on one format to the exclusion of others, your body becomes overly efficient at that format, AND the same muscles are recruited in the same way. That can often take the keenest edge off of your cardio and lower body workload.

There are many Cathe workouts that offer kickbox (usually "kickbox" is mentioned in the title of the DVD so you can search for these yourself), boot camp style athletic drills (original Boot Camp, 4-Day Split Boot Camp, and Drill Max), and hi/lo (which, although an "older" format is still very, very effective). I personally love Kick Punch Crunch kickbox AND I am now really enjoying 4DS's Kickbox workout; I also like Kick Max's Blast Challenge segment. I also personally love love Cathe's hi/lo, including the first two cycles from Circuit Max, the hi/lo portion of Maximum Intensity Cardio (MIC), and the hi/lo from Cross Train Express's (CTX's) "10-10-10" workout. Not to mention Step Jump Pump hi/lo.

Not to mention as well the boot-camp style workouts mentioned above.

I am 5'3", and am fairly solidly built. I find that when I do a lot of step, my butt muscles and thigh muscles mass up a lot. Don't get me wrong, the cardio challenge is there, but that's the body composition effect I experience.

HTH -

A-Jock

 

[dcat]

Hi Joss,
Aquajock is right on about your body getting accustomed to step workouts to the exclusion of others. You might want to consider adding more circuit style workouts to your fitness regimen. I like circuit workouts that are more cardio focused and two of my favorites from Cathe like that are Circuit Max and Cardio & Weights. Both have enjoyable step routines. Circuit Max also has some hi/lo and kickbox. Also, I find that High Step Training and Boot Camp (from the IS) really keep my heart rate up and make me sweat as if I did 60 mins of just cardio! If you want to keep stepping every cardio workout, you could try mixing it up by doing 30 mins of step then add 30 mins of kickbox, intervals or cardio drills. For example, do the cardio from HIS and then do the cardio drills from Drill Max. I'm doing more and more of this to help shed the last 5-7lbs of stubborn post-pregnancy weight and finding that it's also pushing my cardio endurance way up.
Diana