Cathe Fans Part 5

lvnascar

Morning Ladies,

I did RWH LIHI Legs after work yesterday, and this morning was the MetaShred The Metaconda. BJ made me laugh with his description of the metaconda before the workout started. This one starts out really easy, and by the end you are sweating buckets. Each exercise is 30 seconds, and each round he does a different variation of the exercise. The rest periods start out at 30 sec., and by the end of the workout you are down to no rest. Workout #2 is a keeper also.

Laurel, Another great combo of workouts! I'm sure that you had a very relaxing time getting your hair de-aged.

Tami, Great job on the workout and your class. I know that shaky feeling you are speaking of. Hope you had an enjoyable evening with your friend and her daughter. If that lady liked crossfit, then she I really do hope that she comes back. Sounds like Katy is turning into Bob Harper, he has gone the crossfit route also. Usually I sit a lot during the day, but that day I was working on parts in a stockroom. One of those Intern projects that wasn't completed, and I found numerous mistakes. Oh well, I will have it finished by the end of this month.

Thelma, Awesome job on the BB workout! Congrats on the plank move! Another strength milestone for you to celebrate. Ouch on the knees, you are right you don't need more bruises. So far I wouldn't consider these workouts advanced, but I'm sure that as I progress through these workouts that thought will change. Thanks for the info on the InstantPot. It will be nice to be able to do a recipe that reduces the total cook time, can't wait.

Becky, Love that ICE workout, it has a lot of fun moves. Hope that you where able to get in some yoga. Oh I have my mornings when I really don't want to wake up and workout. The best thing for me is that my pup wants to go for his morning walk, so I then have no excuse. This morning my legs where pretty sore, so it was doubly hard to go downstairs to my workout space to try The Metaconda. I just can't get over these workout titles.

Have a great weekend!
Laurie

StiringWendel

Hi Ladies! I didn't have a Body Beast workout scheduled for today because I am modifying this last phase a bit from what is on the planned rotation. So I opted for something to, hopefully, help get me better prepared for P90X2......and that was Chisel Balance. I know Thelma will relate to,this, but I did not like this workout when I first started H&C this spring. But today.....I absolutely loved it!! That bodes well for me going into X2, that's for sure. But it is still tough! I was not happy with Autumn at the end of those Pistol Squats at the end, that's for sure. I followed it with 10 Minute Abs Chisel. For cardio, I opted for 'fun' and did Cathe's Party Rockin' Step 1 74-minute premix.

Tami, sounds like another good Katy class. Sorry to,hear about the shaky hungry though. It could be the change-up in your workouts cUsing that......or the change in seasons (or both). Hope you had a great time with your friend. I can't believe her baby is going to be 3!! How did that happen?

Thelma, sounds like a great workout. Congratulations on the planks!! And that isn't an easy move at all! Great job! Oh boy......if I had a dollar for every time I hit myself with a dumbbell, I would be a rich woman. Or tripped over my weights. That's another habit of mine.....put a weight on the floor then almost immediately trip on it. Grace is NOT my middle name. Hope you didn't bruise yourself too badly though!

Becky, great workout! Yes, I workout for about two hours a day. I remember so well my working days when I would do anything to be able to get home with enough time to get a 45-60 minute workout in before making dinner......and wishing for a day when I could do long, leisurely workouts. So, since I have those days now, I try to take full advantage of them while I can. Before 2009, I always did cardio before weights because I liked to be warmed up for my strength training and I felt my cardio suffered if I had exhausted my muscles with weights first. 2009 is when I lost my 50lbs, and it is also when I did Cathe's STS program for the first time. Based on Cathe's recommendations for the program (from her message board), I shifted to doing strength training first and cardio second. She recommended it that way so as not to exhaust the muscles with cardio before strength training. Perhaps it is because of the results I had from that program (I won $100 from Cathe for being a STS Success Story!) but I now view strength training as more crucial to my fitness than cardio.......so I do my strength training first. As with all things fitness, I don't think there is a firm right and wrong about this though.

Laurie, sounds like another good MetaShred workout. I was surprised to see you say you don't view them as advanced workouts, though. If you had to compare them in intensity to something, what would it be? Just curious.....because I thought they looked pretty tough!

Enjoy the weekend!

Laurel

2BLean

Hi Ladies and Happy Friday! Last night was super fun with my friend and her little girl. By the end of the evening it was bedtime and she stripped down only to her angel wings and ran around the house. It was HILARIOUS. The Turkey Lettuce Wraps were so good. …. I am now craving more and will probably make some for the weekend. DH will not be making it home. So I will be getting in some good workouts and Sunday is our 5K Run/Walk for Cancer . . . "Walkers for Knockers" is our team name; a group from our office is doing. Fingers crossed for no rain. It is in the forecast for Sunday. We have 3 breast cancer survivors so it will be really neat to do it with them; 2 were just in this last year if you ladies remember. So that will be fun. Today’s workout RWH Lift It HiiT It Legs and tonight I may head home for a workout instead of Spinning. We will see.

Thelma: Great job getting in ICE LI Sweat as a warm-up into BB Bulk Back. WOOHOO on the planking! I bet it feels great, yet another strength gain. I knew you would get there. LOL on the wacking with the weights, I cannot tell you how many times I have done that with my BowFlex weights; and then laugh at myself later wondering where the bruise came from.

Becky: Fantastic job this week with your ICE workouts! Hopefully you were able to get in your Yoga class. I usually have a snack in the car right before I go in if I didn’t get a chance at work prior to the gym; but it just wasn’t quite enough I suppose. I do sometimes leave a little bag of almonds or something in my car “just in case” but didn’t have any. Plateau Buster is such a great workout (in my opinion)  it is with Kelley Coffey Meyer, I have quite a few of her workouts. This one in particular has a format of:
Includes two different 30 minute workouts and multiple pre-mixes. During each 30 minute workout, Kelly alternates sections of strength training with sections of cardio. The strength sections use both lighter and heavier weights. Kelly tells you to make sure the weight is heavy enough to make you feel like you're working hard. Each strength section includes multiple exercises that work on both lower and upper body. Following each strength section, you move into a cardio section that includes multiple moves to get your heart rate up, for example a one legged jump with an arm raise followed by knee repeaters. A lot of the cardio is higher impact, but Kelly has one of her workout partners presenting modifications.

Laurie: Again the same wave length for workouts … LOL! We have been in sync forsure this week. Great job with the workout and again this a.m. Sounds like a fun batch of workouts! Glad they are becoming keepers into the library. Yes, hate that shaky feeling, I always have a little something before class but sometimes it just isn’t enough or whatever; just plain ol fatigue from all the sprints. Glad you finished up the project but too bad it had to be “re done” from the intern.

Laurel: Fabulous job on Chisel Balance! That is one of my favorites in the Chisel series; and Chisel Cardio. Way to go. I can’t believe her little girl is 3 either. She has just started discovering being a little bit “sassy” so mom and I had to turn our heads a couple times to not show here we were laughing. So funny. I think maybe I just didn’t enough of a snack or just fatigue from all the sprints. I should remember to put a little something in my bag so when that happens I have a little something for my drive home.

Have a great weekend ladies! Tami

ThelmaSW

Hi Ladies! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. We had a good Saturday and today has been very busy. DH and I went to the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum. It's a beautiful place. I loved the art and antique furniture she collected from around the world. The landscape in the courtyard is beautiful.
I had to redo my rotation because that hybrid rotation tool didn't do a good job distributing the workouts to allow upper/lower body rest in between.
On Friday I did ICE Metabolic Total Body w/u, BB Bulk Shoulders, Icy Core 1, on Saturday I was hoping for an easy workout because the rotation was having me do BB Total body for the 2nd time in a week. I a premix from ICE Metabolic Total Body which includes the warm up, blizzard blast, chest muscle meltdown. The chest meltdown was very effective. Cathe was using 12lbs. I used 15 on set 1, 12.5 on set 2 and 10 lb on set #3 for the flat and inclined flies. I also did the inclined push ups using the bench. Those contributed to the pretty good pec DOMS I'm feeling today! I took today off because my body was physically tired.

Becky, great job with the ICE rotation!
Thanks so much on congratulating me on my improvements. I think you would also love the Body Beast program. Boby Beast has a rotation (schedule) and each workout a has a workout sheet with columns for the exercise names, number of reps and weight used. I never used to record my weights until I started doing programs such as BB and Cathe's STS which offer workout sheets. It's awesome to see your own progress as you advance through the program. The STS worksheets I made my own using excel because I didn't like the ones Cathe provided.
You may need to think about your next program now so you have your next rotation ready.
Cathe publishes a rotation every month using her different workout DVD's.

Laurel, great job with your rotation and for modifying the rotation! I remember not liking that Chisel Balance workout in the beginning but I loved it at the end. Those pistol squats can be hard!
I'm glad I'm not the only one who hits her knees with the dumbbells! No bruises from the flies.

Tami, great workouts. So glad you had a wonderful time with your friend and her little girl!
How did you ladies do on the run/walk for cancer?
It feels great to be able to do planks It is too to hit yourself with those giant dumbbells! LOL

Good night ladies!!!
Thelma

smile_laughter

Good morning ladies - this will be a quick message today - I asked Thelma and Laurel the following question, but I should ask the entire group. When I am done with ICE, what do you recommend for my next dvd set to order? I was thinking about STS, but am a little nervous about it. I'd like to stick with Cathe for awhile then move onto other dvds like BB.

Thelma - Great job on the workouts this weekend......sounds like the chest routine was tough and good. Glad you got a chance to get out and enjoy the museum. I will definitely look into new rotations. When I am done with ICE, what do you recommend I should try next from Cathe?

Tami - I hope you had a great weekend and got some good workouts in. Love the story of the little girl and angel wings.....made me laugh. It's moments like that where I am thankful I haven't killed my kids, yet. So, Kelly Meyer sounds like another investment I may need to look into.....I like the quick 30 minute workouts when I am short on time. Thanks for the info on her.

Laurel - That is great that you went from hating to loving a workout. Love your fun workout of step aerobics. That is absolutely amazing that you won an award from Cathe. WOW! Did you have the pleasure of meeting Cathe? As I told Thelma, I am thinking about making the STS my next rotation when I am done with ICE. I am going to save some money for the program and hopefully order it next month.

Laurie - Great job on your leg and Metashred workouts. I like the 30 second exercise with rest in-between.....They are tough yet effective. Hopefully you had a great weekend.

Have a wonderful day - Becky

lvnascar

Morning Ladies,

Saturday was a rest day for me, so I got in some neglected housework. Sunday I did RWH LIHI Back, Shoulders & Biceps. I did the premix with the abs instead of finishers. I have been having some issues with slight PF in my right foot (same foot that I stubbed my toe), so I'm going to have to take the cardio down a little before I start X2. I'm going to concentrate on weight workouts, and low impact for then next few weeks. This morning I did X10 Low Impact. Good opportunity to get in some good stretching, PiYo and Yoga into my morning routine.

Laurel, Great job on the workouts, and who wouldn't be upset with Autumn for those pistol squats (done twice!) I might have that view of the MetaShred workouts if I had done the advanced moves for the workout, I tried most of the advanced moves, but some of them I'm just not able to do. So that might be why I viewed it as not super advanced. I felt TapoutXT was more advanced than these two workouts where. You also do not do tons of jumping around, so that might be why I felt that way. I was sweating buckets though. Once I get this foot feeling better, I will be getting back to them. May feel differently about them once I am not feeling pain.

Tami, Do hope that you had some nice weather for the run/walk, but I'm sure if it wasn't great weather you still had fun being with those ladies. I do remember you talking about those ladies, and I'm glad to hear that they participated in the event. Those MetaShred workouts will be keepers, and I think that I can use them during the X2 rotation pretty easily.

Thelma, Great job on your workouts. I have found that the workout scheduler site does do that with the workouts. Nice job on readjusting your rotation to make it work for you. Have to love a workout that gives you such great DOMS.

Becky, Boy that is a great question. STS is a great set, but I would wait for it to be the Deal of the Day to get the best price. Cathe does put that one as the deal every once in a while. I would say STS, Ripped with HiiT and the Gym Style workouts, if you are looking for awesome weight work. Like ICE, Ripped with HiiT has a great variety of workouts. STS is all strength, and of course you can choose just the Gym Style weight workouts, it that is what you want. Not all of the Hardcore workouts are on my all time favorite list, so I wouldn't say that "set" is the best. Have fun with choosing what set you want to try next.

Have a great day!
Laurie

StiringWendel

Hi Ladies! Hope you all had a good weekend. We did with no rain (finally!) and warm temps. We golfed both days and I think yesterday was one of the hottest golfing days we have had this summer due to the high humidity and no breeze. I was questioning our intelligence about walking instead of using a golf cart by the 9th hole but, thankfully, there was some more cloud cover on the back nine which made it much more bearable. Could use a little autumn in the air though!

Saturday was a day off from the workouts, which was much needed. Yesterday I did Body Beast Build Chest and Tri's, followed by a good cardio combo of Cathe's HiiT Double Wave Pyramid right into the cardio-only premix from Cardio Core Circuit. Really good! I decided to focus on Cathe's core work from her Intensity series this week, so, for core, I did the ab work from Cardio and Weights. Today was Build Legs--and I did take the weights up quite a bit on this one this time, which felt really good. For cardio, I did IMAX2 and, for core, I did the ab work from Muscle Endurance. Love that one.

Tami, sounds like your friend's daughter is growing up quickly. She sounds adorable. Hope everything went okay with the run this weekend and weather didn't impact it too much. Do you have a recipe for the lettuce wraps? Just curious....but they sound so good!

Thelma, sounds like you had a nice weekend. Great job with the workout. I think Metabolic Total Body was a great sub for Body Beast Total Body. The Muscle Meltdowns are really good, aren't they? I am looking forward to doing them again with P90X2 soon. Glad you took a day off from the workouts if you were feeling tired. Your body, no doubt, appreciates that.

Becky, that's a tough question! To kind of touch on what Laurie said, I think a lot depends on what you are looking for. STS is a fantastic strength training program, and if that is what you are looking for, it gets my vote. There are three workouts per week, but they do range from 50-70 minutes.....and more if you add Cathe's extended stretch from the program or core work.....so it is time-intensive. But it does allow you a lot of flexibility when it comes to what you do on the others days in the week. If you are looking for another cardio/strength training combo program like ICE, like Laurie, I would suggest Ripped With HiiT, but just know some of the cardio is very high impact (her Plyo HiiT workouts in particular). Another series would be Cathe's XTrain series. I prefer the strength training work in XTrain because of the variety and Cathe's pace. She gets a little fast for me at times in the RWH series, but, that being said, I do think the RWH strength work is more challenging (because of the pace and higher weights). The cardio in XTrain isn't quite as intense as it is in RWH, but it is still mostly high impact. Why are you nervous about STS? Just curious.

Laurie, sorry to hear about the foot. After struggling for the past 9 months with my left foot and PF (which is finally easing up), you have my sympathies. Hopefully taking it easy for a couple of weeks will do the trick. Thanks for the additional information on MetaShred, especially as it compares to Tapout XT. That's exactly what I needed to know, so thank you!

See you tomorrow.

Laurel

ThelmaSW

Hi Ladies! tonight I did XT10 w/u, H&C Total Body Hammer, Stretching.

Beckie, my first thought on what to do next would be Ripped with Hiit. Great series but like Laurel says there is some high impact involved but once you learn to modify you can make it work for you. STS is a great series but you would need to invest in weights if you don't have enough weights to grow into. There is also a big time commitment. The DVD's are long and the actual time it takes to finish a workout is even longer. I think I would do Body Beast before doing STS. That is how I did it and I feel that I learned proper form from Sagi. Again, you would need more weights if you don't have a big selection.
Here is a website where you can go look at KCM's videos

https://www.totalfitnessdvds.com/

Laurie, great workouts! Sorry about your foot! For plantar fasciitis you need to stretch and deep massage your calves. I would also massage my foot with a lacrosse ball or a golf ball. I just had a PF flare up last week and I'm fine now. My recipe: Stretch, deep massage calves with lacrosse ball, step on a lacrosse ball, apply a little pressure to massage foot, apply a little heat. I'm fine now.
I won't be using that workout scheduler tool blindly anymore!

Laurel, awesome job with your workouts! Glad you were able to play golf! Don't know how you do it under those hot conditions though.
Those muscle meltdowns are really good. My pecs are still feeling the pec work I did on Saturday!

Hi Tami!

Good night ladies!!!
Thelma

lvnascar

Morning Ladies,

Had a visit from our oldest dd after work, so I wasn't able to get in my workout. This morning was PiYo Align: The Fundamentals. I can already feel the difference in my foot, but it still hurts when I get up in the morning a little. I think it might have something to do with standing to much in my steel toed shoes, and then doing high impact cardio. Probably running had something to do with starting it up again.

Laurel, Great combo of workouts, and very nice that you had a chance to get out to golf. To bad that it was so hot though, I can see why you where questioning the non cart. Humidity is something that I have a horrible time with, so I'm impressed that you both went out in that humidity. I remember being down in FL at the beginning of Sept, and the bus we where on had water streaming down the windows from the ac/humidity combo. I'm wearing more sturdy steel toed shoes this week, and hopefully I won't be standing for endless hours. I think that just doing weight and PiYo might be a fun combo, we will see. Can't hurt my core any doing this combo.

Thelma, Nice workout! I just did that X10 warm up yesterday, and it really is a good one. Thanks for the info on the treatment. Since I have tennis balls all over the floor (per Rocket), it shouldn't be hard to fit that in while I watch some TV. I had thought about that yesterday while I was at work, but with the dd coming over forgot all about it. The PiYo is helping with the stretching, but will remember to get those calf muscles stretched a little more.

Tami & Becky, Hope you both are having an awesome week.

Have a great day!
Laurie

smile_laughter

Good Morning Ladies - I hope everyone is doing well so far. Yesterday, I did the ICE Chiseled Lower Body workout. I enjoyed it, but was very disappointed in my leg strength. I thought my legs were getting stronger, but I had to stop a couple of times to rest them. Ughhh.....I know I am getting stronger, but I thought I'd be able to do most of the leg workout. On the plus side, I am down 2 more lbs! My son has baseball practice tonight, so I will be walking the park this evening while he has practice (it ends up being a 90 minute walk, so that's pretty good).

As for STS and why I am nervous about the program - it has to do with what I mentioned above.....I am not as strong as I used to be. The STS program is quite intense, and I am worried about my time commitment. Also, anything high impact is quite hard on my groin/joints/knee areas. So, I keep having to modify any jumping movements. I absolutely love Power Hour, so I'd like to get something that is primarily weight training and not cardio (I get enough cardio in with all my walking and swimming). But, maybe STS is exactly what I need since it is weight training......hmmmmm......I will look into the Ripped with Hiit, too. This has been mentioned several times, too. Well....and BB, too. So many options!

Laurie - I hope you had a wonderful visit with you DD. Be careful with your foot.....don't re-injure it. Nice job on getting your workouts in (RWH LIHI Back, Shoulders & Biceps, X10 Low Impact. and PiYo). Looks like these were great all over body workouts these last few days. Thanks for your suggestions on what I should do next. I have plenty of time to figure it out......just being proactive and doing my research.

Thelma - Great job on getting XT10 w/u, H&C Total Body Hammer and stretching done. Thanks for your suggestion on Ripped with Hiit. Also, thanks very much for the website about BB. I will definitely check it out.

Laurel - So glad you got some golf time in. Wonderful job on your Sunday workouts. I am looking forward to the days when I can get a 2 hour workout in without kids running around, but at the same time....I am not ready for my kids to grow up! Thanks for the info about the above programs and Xtrain.

Tami - I hope you are doing well and getting some workout time in for yourself.

Have a wonderful day - Becky

StiringWendel

Hi Ladies! Enjoyed a good workout today. I started with Body Beast Build Back and Bi's, which always gives me such a good, burning feeling in my arms. Love this one. For cardio, I felt like a longer workout, so I did the ICE Rock'm Sock'm premix that has you do the main routine twice. This clocks in at 81 minutes, but it is 81 minutes of pure workout enjoyment for me, that's for sure.

Thelma, great workout! I love that X10 warm up. One of Cathe's best in my opinion.

Laurie, glad to hear your foot is improving. I think your workout plan heading into X2 is perfect! The humidity has been really high these past few weeks (since around when the hurricane hit) because we are getting so much rain. Yesterday we got another 3 inches in a couple of hours. The ground is completely saturated.....and so is the air! I am trying not to complain too much because after the dry summer, the rain is much needed. But I am getting tired of my clothes sticking to me within seconds of leaving the house!

Tami and Becky, hope you are well!

See you tomorrow.

Laurel

2BLean

Hi Ladies ~ Another very busy Monday so I missed you all, worked straight through, eating at my desk. Weekend was good. Saturday was an absolute downpour of rain all day long, I was a little worried it would keep on through Sunday a.m. but it didn’t, the sun came out for our Cancer Walk!!!! It was perfect weather. Nearly everyone from the office turned out to support our ladies, it was really neat. So workouts have been:
Saturday’s workout was Lift It HiiT It Back/Bis/Shoulders Xtreme premix, Sunday was our 5K walk and then when I got home I decided to get my workout in, which ended up being KCM Lean Body Circuits, it was perfect. Yesterday was BootCamp with Katy and we ended up doing a “normal” pace class of 4-minute rounds. Cardio-Weights-Weights-Abs, then onto another round. Insane X is tonight after work.

Laurel: Fantastic job (as always) with your workout over the weekend, yesterday and today as well! Glad you were able to get in some golf time with your hubby. The recipe I am going to use for those lettuce wraps is super easy and I can give you the exact measurements if you would like?!?! It has Lean Gr Turkey, Water Chestnuts, Hoisin Sauce, Green Onions, Fresh Ginger, Garlic, Soy Sauce and a few other things, but pretty simple and YUM! I buy those mini romaine lettuce heads at Costco and use for everything but they work perfectly for this too! Let me know if you want and I will post the exact recipe for all of you. I saw you mentioned to Laurie about your foot finally easing up, I am glad. Not fun. I still have some on again, off again achillies tenderness, mostly when I have ran a bunch .... that eve and next a.m. it is sore but then fine.

Becky: Great job with your workouts and I am so happy to hear you are liking ICE so much you are already planning ahead! That’s how it starts …. This DVD Cathe Addiction we have here! LOL I have read all the advice from the ladies and agree whole heartedly. If you are looking to go into a strength base program then STS is SOOOOO good and definitely one to go with; but like Thelma mentioned you need some weight equipment, bench, mat for all those workouts. If you are looking to do something similar to ICE that provides a lot of variety, including strength but also cardio and you don’t need the as much equipment other than some hand weights, XTrain or Ripped with HiiT are both fantastic. I am currently doing several of the RWH workouts just because I missed them. My next rotation will have a little bit of all of the above, so looking forward to it. Another one, not to fill your head with even more choices but Cathe’s Low Impact Series is a good way to go too.
You’re welcome on the Kelley Coffey-Meyer workouts recommendation. I have several of hers and I love the variety in them; I usually do a pre-mix that includes both 30-min workouts but she does always have (2) 30 minute workouts and then some other pre-mixes that can be shorter or again, longer OR just KickBoxing, Just legs, just cardio, Just upper, you get the picture. But another good mix that I go to once in a while for a change and always get a great burn from her workouts.

Thelma: Sounds like a wonderful weekend. I love how many fun things you seem to do with your hubby, that is great. Great job with the workouts and adjusting your rotation to fit your needs. I kind of had to do that with the one I was working off of this summer, that I just completed. Due to the repetitiveness of some of the workouts and/or wanting to change up body parts. But for me, getting a good base for a rotation helps and then adjusting from there works for me!

Laurie: Looks like we did the same workout AGAIN over the weekend with that RWH one. Really liking them right now; the pace, etc. Thank you for the well wishes on our event, it was a lot of fun and good to support them. So nice that your oldest stopped by last night, I bet that was fun. Great job getting in PiYo this a.m. and I am sorry your foot is still bothering you. Dang it. I know my achillies continues to flair up off and on when we do a lot of running and it is always right when I step out of bed but after I stretch and get weight on it it feels better.


Have a great afternoon/evening ladies ~ until tomorrow!
Tami

ThelmaSW

Hi Ladies! tonight I did ICE Rock'm Sock'm w/u, BB Bulk Shoulders, Icy Core 1, Stretching. I actually went heavier on my shoulder weights from last week. I can't believe it!

Laurie, I hope you had fun with your dd last night. Glad your foot is feeling better and that PiYo is helping with the stretching! About the foot tightness in the morning... I have a set of foot exercises I do every day before I get out of bed because they helped me a lot when my PF was really bad. Another thing my foot surgeon told me is to always wear shoes like sneakers, clogs when you have a PF flare up. This applies to shoes around the house too. Bare foot = not good!

Beckie, I'm glad you liked the Chiseled Lower Body workout. If you were doing the same leg exercise for a while then it may not have been challenging you anymore. Muscles get used to the same moves. this ICE leg workout is working muscles differently hence the challenge you faced.

STS has 3 (out of 36 workouts) Plyo leg workouts and that's it for high impact. The other workouts are about weight lifting.
Go to Cathe's website to take a look at clips from the STS series
http://shop.cathe.com/workout-routines-shock-cardio-s/83.htm

If STS is too much for you now then definitely consider BB. You can go to youtube.com
Just sear for body beast

Laurel, fabulous combo!! Agree with you on the X10 w/u being one of the best.

Tami, wonderful workouts! So glad you had a nice day for the walk!
DH and I have done a lot of fun things this summer that is for sure. I'm not sure he thought the museum was fun though! LOL. I could've been there for hours looking at all the furniture that place has, paintings, etc. I felt rushed.
The rotation tool did give me a base for my rotation. I thought I could trust the tool to do a good job so I didn't look at the rotation closely.

Good night ladies!!!
Thelma

lvnascar

Morning Ladies,

After work I did Gym Style Legs, that one is longer, but oh so good. Will be doing all the Gym Style workouts, then I'm moving on to XTrain weight work. Has been fun switching up the workouts. This morning was PiYo Define Lower Body, really felt great after all that leg work yesterday.

Laurel, Nice workout combo, and glad that you enjoyed that long cardio workout. I keep forgetting that these PiYo workouts are really great for core work, so that is a bonus for heading into X2. Can't believe that we are going to be doing those workouts in just 1-1/2 weeks. I'm actually looking forward to it, because I really want to increase my core strength. Just will make other workouts so much better. Sounds like a lot of us are getting drenched with rain. While Rocket and I where walking this morning, we had a light show. Good thing it didn't start raining until after we got home.

Tami, Love all the workouts! Glad to hear that Katy tamed the class a little bit this week. The turkey wrap ingredients sound good, so yes do provide the recipe for us. They sound perfect for lunch. The visit with the oldest was good and not so good. Her fiance has a little growing up to do, and she was asking advice. We will see what comes of the conversation that DH and I had with her. Sometimes she stresses out to much, but this time I can really understand her concern. Nothing horrible, just young men mature at a different pace than young women.

Thelma, Great job on the workout, and awesome news on the shoulder! After all the problems you have had with shoulder/back, that must make you feel accomplished. I so love to walk around in bare feet, and go out in the grass to play with Rocket. I do have my sneaker type steel toe shoes on today, so we will see how that goes. Major problem with a lot of these types of shoes, they can get super heavy because of the metal. These sneakers have a plastic toe, so they are much lighter.

Becky, Hope you week is going well.

Have a great day!
Laurie

StiringWendel

Hi Ladies. Today's workout started with Build Shoulders and despite the fact my body felt really fatigued this morning, I managed to go heavier in weight. Always a challenge for me on shoulders, so that made me happy. For core, I did the ab work from Pyramid Upper Body, which is so tough for me. For cardio, I took it down a notch in length amd impact and did a nice combo starting with RWH Low Impact HiiT One into XT All Out Low Impact HiiT. Felt perfect on this tired body!

Becky, don't know how I missed your post yesterday but it didn't show up at all! Anyhow, sorry about that. Don't worry about the tiredness you felt with Chiseled Lower Body. As Thelma pointed out--it is a very different workout for the legs than the standard Cathe leg routine. Mixing in those cardio drills with weights really is fatiguing, so it may take a few times for it to feel better. Congratulations on the weight loss!! That is fantastic. Since you indicated you are more interested in strength training than cardio, if you want to stick with Cathe (as you indicated, though Thelma brings up some good points about Body Beast), I have to stick with the STS recommendation. Don't worry about your fitness level with it!! When I started STS, I was just getting back to strength training after a 3 year break caused by dislocating my left shoulder which resulted in me not being able to use my left arm for many months. When I started STS, I used significantly different weights for my left arm than my right and had to modify the program to heck and back because I still had significantly limited range of motion in my left arm (for example, I couldn't do overhead triceps extensions). I couldn't do a single push-up on my toes. And I was 40lbs over weight!! One of the reasons I love STS so much is because it took me from a very limited place in my fitness regime and completely transformed me. Thelma had a similar experience with Body Beast. So don't think of these programs as being only for people who are in peak physical condition. The time concern........that is an entirely different matter, though. A plus for Body Beast is all the workouts are under an hour and some are closer to 30 minutes.

Tami, so glad you were able to get the walk in on Sunday. Sounds like rain is definitely hitting some of us hard right now! Great workouts this weekend. I bet the BC class was relieved to have a relatively normal (Katy-normal that is) class this week. The lettuce wraps do sounds good. I see Laurie is interested in the recipe too, so if you don't mind posting it, I would appreciate it greatly. Looking for all kinds of new and easy options with DH coming off Nutrisystems soon. He is down 30lbs!! Just a few more pounds to hit his goal. I am so happy for him!

Thelma, great workout and congratulations on upping your weights. Since you and I have similar shoulder issues, I know what it means to be able to increase the weight on shoulder workouts!

Laurie, love that Gym Style workout. I am really looking forward to starting X2 as well. You are so right about how a strong core makes all workouts better. Glad you didn't get drenched this morning. Not a great way to start the day. I think it speak volumes about you and your DH as parents that your DD came to you to share her concerns about her fiancé. Hope everything works out for them, but I think it is such a good sign that she is thinking about things.....and willing to talk about things. That bodes so well for their future.

See you tomorrow.

Laurel

2BLean

Hi Ladies ~ Last night was yet another “tamer” class from Katy for our Insane-X. We started out with a warm-up that included several laps of stair running, then divided up into a 4-team group to go through every station at 90 seconds each; again I was paired with one of them men in class. LOL Rowing, Pull-ups, Push-ups on a dumbbell, switch to other side, push-up, box jumps, weight plate pushes across the gym, KB swings, jump squats, wall balls and I think that’s it. So eventhough it was tough stuff and we had to move through fast, start-stop it was good. She did give us 60 second rests after 4 rounds. OH, and the lady I told you about that I knew from my old job that came and had “the worst first day ever” came back!!! Good for her. I congratulated her and after last night I think she will continue to come back; since it was a little bit tamer. I guess last week she could hardly move the next day. YIPES! This a.m. I pulled out one of my semi-older favorites, AfterBurn & tonight I will head to Spinning.

Laurel: Fabulous job! The combo you put together does sound perfect! Way to go. I think I will be starting up my new rotation about when you guys start X2. I have enjoyed doing a mix of circuit based style workouts and the RWH strength lately so will continue on next week, go fishing next weekend and be ready to start up on the 3rd. WOW!!!! Huge congrats to your husband. He has to feel amazing. That is so great. Good for him, 30 lbs is not easy to do. Here is the recipe below  hope you enjoy it.

Laurie: Way to go on the Gym Style Legs last night and PiYO this a.m. with your walk. Glad you didn’t get rained on. I’ve got that recipe below for everyone. Its truly simply and healthy, would do awesome for lunches as well! I think it is so awesome that your DD was getting her parents advice. So good and what a great relationship you all must have. Young men do have a tendency to grow up a little slower sometimes. Hope it all works out and just one of those things. But good she is being aware.

Thelma: Great workout last night …. You really put in some time there! Nicely done. Again, congrats on going heavier! Sometimes you don’t know how strong you are until you try …. Which you are finding out for yourself!

Becky: I forgot to answer your comment about being nervous about trying STS and/or BB. I agree with Laurel 100%, no matter what your fitness level or where you are strength wise, you can always modify the weights and do what you can do… building up as time goes by. The BB workouts are definitely shorter so that might be the way to go; Sagi does explain good form and technique as well, so a good thing forsure there.

Here is the recipe ladies … hope you enjoy. Again, I like using the small romaine lettuce heads that Costco sells, they are just the perfect size. But any lettuce will work.

Asian Turkey Lettuce Wraps:
• 1 1/4 lb Ground turkey, fat-free lean
• 12 Boston lettuce, leaves
• 1 clove Garlic
• 1/8 tsp Ginger, ground
• 4 Green onions
• 1 (8 oz) can Water chestnuts
• 3 tbsp Hoisin sauce
• 2 tbsp Lower-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tsp Red chili paste, roasted
• 1/8 tsp Salt
• 1 tbsp Olive oil
• 1 tbsp Rice vinegar
Heat 1 T oil in pan, add turkey, garlic and ginger. Until browned. Combine that mixture with onions and chopped water chestnuts in a large bowl, stir well. In another small bowl or cup whisk together the hoisin, soy, rice vinegar and chili paste mixture. Drizzle over turkey mixture. Add about ¼ to ½ cup into each lettuce cup.

Have a great afternoon/evening ladies

ThelmaSW

Hi Ladies! tonight I did ICE Low Impact Sweat Timesaver premix 1, BB Bulk Back, stretching. It was a great combo and was able to go on weights for a good number of the exercises which was great. I need to go back to the STS workouts where Cathe uses the tower to see how they do the pull ups. I'm not sure if I have the bar too high up. I do remember the legs but not bar placement. Bulk Legs tomorrow.

I forgot to tell you ladies that I found matching bruises on the outer/upper corner on both knees. You know where those came from right? The Bowflex dbells!

Laurie, great workouts! Funny you're doing the Gym Style workouts because I had them in my hands today thinking that I should do a Gym Style rotation sometime! I have 3 Gym Style DVD's. Are there more than 3 DVD's in this series? I'm thinking no because all the muscle groups where there. I just found this GS rotation and will look for others. I definitely can work with this rotation and make it my own.
http://cathe.com/forum/threads/gym-style-rotation-is-fabulous.249187/

My shoulders have come a long way that is for sure. Having been able to finish STS, BB and H&C are huge accomplishments for me. I hope your foot is better and that things between your DD and her fiance get better. So glad she asked you guys for advice and not kept it to herself!

Laurel, what an awesome combo! I was just looking in youtube at P90X2 and OMG you ladies are going to be in super physical shape after that program.

Wow Laurel, I can't believe you used different weights for each arm when you first started STS. I've considered doing that before but didn't dare.
I am so excited about my shoulders being stronger than ever before. They are still my weak spot so now I know I have to wait for the tense muscles to relax and it usually takes a couple of days. I massage, stretch and apply heat and shoulders get better.

Tami, I can't believe Katy went tame on you guys! Shame on her! LOL! Of course after your description of the routine I don't see tame anywhere! So glad that lady returned! I am not surprised she wasn't able to move after Katy's killer workout.
Thanks so much on the congrats on going heavier. I still can't believe I finished all the great programs I've done this year.

Hi Becky!

Good night ladies!!!
Thelma

lvnascar

Morning Ladies,

After work was Gym Style Chest & Triceps. I truly forget how good these workouts are for lifting. I may skip the XTrain workouts that I was going to do and keep with the GS workouts. I have DOMS in the chest and triceps going really good today, must be that 2-2 count or the 72 push ups. I might switch out the Leg workout with the PS Leg workout, because I really want to do that one before X2 starts. Will contemplate that today while I work. This morning was PiYo Define Upper Body, and it was really tough getting though those tricep push ups in that workout, should have probably thought that one out a little better.

Becky, I don't know how I missed your post! Great job on the Leg workout even though your legs where probably tired, and that is why your legs just didn't want to respond. I know that Cathe has stated that in some of her workouts. One day you can feel strong, and others are tough to get through a strength workout. I think that you would find STS & Body Best to be a great strength programs, that let you progress in strength, so you can grow with the programs. If you have the chance check out some reviews on the program, 2lazy4gym.com does awesome reviews on all the workouts. Those PiYo workouts are short, but they sure do work the core. It is nice to get in some yoga/pilates inspired workouts. No they are not yoga or pilates, but Chalene sure does make the time fly.

Laurel, Great job on the workouts! Shoulders are my weak spot also, so great job upping the weights when your body was tired. I was a little disappointed in not getting all those push-ups on my toes. Just couldn't do those last ones with the 2-2 and 4-4 count. The PiYo workout this morning surprised me with how shaky I was in some poses. Now I'm glad that I started including them into my rotation, they are deceptive workouts.

Tami, Awesome job on the workouts and your class. I'm glad to hear that your old co-worker came back to class, just to bad that she had to go through such major DOMS after that brutal class. I'm sure that she will have a different experience after yesterday, and of course the encouragement from people like you. That really does help, just like this thread. Got home last night, and my plan was to grill some chicken for dinner. Well that got washed out with the downpour that we had. We have gotten so much rain recently, that our lawn is full of mushrooms. I have never seen this many before. Thank you for the recipe, I'm going to try it next week for my lunches.

Thelma, Again congrats on upping your weights, and great job on the workout! Probably a great idea to go to one of the STS workouts and check out the bar placement. With my long arms, my bar was a bit higher. LOL on the matching bruises, that isn't fun to have those if you are going to be wearing a dress. That rotation does look like something that you can work with. Do you have Muscle Max also? That one is really good, but if you have another full body workout, that would be fine also. I like the band work in these workouts, and the 2-2 count that she uses. It really works the muscles in a different way, and I tend to forget that. After doing the Chest & Tricep workout last night I want to do them again.

Thank you all for the compliment on being good parents. DH and I are very proud of both our daughters. We have had our struggles with them, but they really are becoming wonderful young women. DH and I may not agree on ever choice they make, but we let them know that we will always be there, even if they have to learn a life lesson from their choices. Sometimes that is the most difficult thing to do, stand back and let them make the wrong choice. Like all of you stated, I'm just glad that they ask for our advice.

Have a great day!
Laurie

StiringWendel

Hi Ladies! Today's workout was Chisel Balance followed by Cathe's Intensity with the BC section at the end.

Tami, that description of your class doesn't sound tame at all! But I will take your word for it. I am glad your former co-worker came back. Kudos to her for enduring the DOMS and going back for more. Thank you so much for the recipe!! Just reading it has my mouth watering!

Thelma, another great workout! Sorry to hear about the bruises though. Hopefully they aren't painful. I think I will be joining you in reviewing how Cathe uses the pull-up bar again before Laurie and I start P90X2. There are definitely more pull-ups in that program than I have been doing and I want to make sure I get the most out of the move. X2 is no joke of a workout program, that's for sure. I think this will my fourth (maybe fifth) rotation of it and it is simultaneously one of the most frustrating and rewarding programs I have done. About the different weights for my arms......I don't know if it was wise or not, but it got me back into lifting weights. And it wasn't until 2011 (a full two years!) that I was able to lift equally on both sides! It's crazy to remember that! Seems like a different life time.

Laurie, great workout. That Gym Style Chest and Triceps is Cathe at her best. I agree that attempting more push-ups this morning may not have been the best plan. Glad you are enjoying the PiYo workouts. I think I am going to be in for a not-so-good surprise when we do X2 Yoga the first time. It has been months since I have done anything like that, and I think my body may pay for that! I just saw some pictures of some flooding up in Wisconsin. Boy, you all have had a lot of rain!! Hope you don't have any flooding where you are at.

Becky, hope you are well.

Until tomorrow.

Laurel

2BLean

Hi Ladies ~ Good Spinning last night, was another pretty full class but not packed. Today’s workout is RWH Upper Body Circuit.

Thelma: Great job with your BB Back workout and stretch. Bulk Legs is a good one …. Enjoy. OUCH on the bruises, hopefully you are getting the hang of the Bowflex dbells more and more and that will stop happening. I couldn’t believe it either with Katy; sometimes she surprises the heck out of me, but we will see what next week brings, always makes me nervous. LOL

Laurie: Awesome work with GS Chest/Tris. They really are a forgotten set that is so good! Great job getting in your PiYo workouts this week as well. I need to bring those out again one of these days . . . . so many choices, so little time. Thank you on the kudos. It actually felt good to complete a class again and it was still tough stuff, but not brutal, hence my friend coming back again most likely. LOL You’re welcome on the recipe, hope you enjoy it! I love the added Rice Vinegar into the recipe, gives a great flavor.

Laurel: WOWSA on the workout this a.m.! Way to work. Looks like you are getting your core all ready for X2! You’re welcome for the recipe, enjoy! Yes, the workout wasn’t exactly “tame” but compared to others it felt like it.

Hi Becky

Have a great evening ladies ~ Tami