Success Story Spotlight: Cathe for Life by Ellie from Italy

My fight against obesity goes back to 1999. I weighted 74 kilos, I was in my twenties and studying at University. I decided I had to do something to lose weight, so started to correct my diet and lost 12-14 kilos, but stayed overweight for a long time. The scale was stuck, I thought that a clean diet was all I had to do and exercise was something I thought I could not fit in my daily routine.

Eight years ago I started to work-out, at first with Kathy Smith, dropped some other kilos, the scale reached 55 but still I had good layer of fat around my body. Then I got pregnant and during pregnancy I started think about my fitness level and what was not working with me. I did a lot of exercise but still had no good results and this made me very disappointed. Then, surfing the net, I discovered Cathe Friedrich and her website with so many tools: a forum, monthly rotations, a lot of information about fitness, nutrition and so on. And above all, a wide variety of workout I could easily download and try immediately.

I resumed working out 2 months after delivery, in July 2010 ( picture above is of that period). This time I decided to follow Cathe. My first digital downloads were Low max, Power Max and Step fit. I loved this woman since the first time I pressed the play button on my remote control. She was so energetic, encouraging, and the workouts were so much fun! I start ed to see results: my post-partum belly was going away and I was getting back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I started to buy other dvds,such as Intensity, Lower Body Blast, Butts and Guts, Imax 2 and Imax 3, Gym Style legs… and one by one, I think I have bought most of her dvds. Obviously I started to discover the beauty of lifting weights. I was no more scared of dumbbells and barbells also because my muscles were toning and I liked my new shape.

I followed many of Cathe’s rotations until 2 years ago, when I decided to resume running ( I had started to run just before getting pregnant). I think I wouldn’t have been able to do that first run of 5k if my body hadn’t been conditioned by Cathe. I was so happy about the fitness level I had gained through the years! That first run was followed by many others, now I run 30-35 miles per week but Cathe is always an important part of my routine. I stopped lifting for a while and discovered that I was gaining weight again despite all my hours of running, so I promptly came back to my beloved STS total body, Total body trisets, Muscle Max and Power Hour. And when I am short on time, I do love the X-train series which offers a great variety of workouts of different lengths. I try to dedicate to Cathe at least two days every week, I get inspired by her rotations and I am so happy beacause she targets my body in different ways, her metabolic /circuit workouts are really my favorite way of exercising, I love all of them even if I often reach for Afterburn or Supercuts or Flextrain.

She has done a lot for me also when I got injured this past spring and had to stop my runs for a while: I turned to LIS to keep cardiovascular conditioning and muscle tone and then increased the amount of stress on my muscle/joints moving through kickboxing ( 4DS kickbox and kick,punch and crunch from the Timesaver collection) and then stepping at a low impact level .I felt that my recovery was sped up by all those functional moves and she probably helped me to correct some muscles imbalance I had.

I still have some weight to loose, my “wide hips” are still my biggest problem, but I dropped 3 sizes since I started to workout with Cathe, and I am in the best shape of my life. Cathe has done a world of good to me and she will always play a major role in my fitness routine and in my life as well. And now…can’t wait to try those RWH workouts!!!!