Cathe Fans Part 5

Hi Ladies! Well, I tried one of the new Fit Tower workouts today. I haven't received my DVDs yet, but since the workouts are on Cathe's On Demand site.....and I have time in my scheduled rotation this week for a couple.....I decided to give it a go. The workout I did today was Legs, Glutes and Core. This workout is like LIS Turbo Barre but much shorter and more endurable/enjoyable. I still have some lingering DOMS from my Monday leg workout, but even with that, this workout wasn't too challenging. I'm not saying I didn't feel it, because I did. But it didn't have that 'will this ever end?' feel I get from Turbo Barre. The workout was about 45 minutes long, with about 10 minutes of core work. The core work was good. Not S&S tough, but unique in its use of the tower and how that requires more body control. I would say this workout is a nice-add on or a lighter workout on a 'tired' day. I will be curious if I feel it tomorrow. For cardio, I did Drill Max Ultra Cardio premix and topped it all of with Stretch Max 3/Resistance Band.

Tami, sounds like a great weekend. But I imagine those temps did feel hot to Bernie! Poor pup. My sisters in Colorado are enduring the same thing you and Laurie are this summer.......one day 90, the next day 60. No fun. We seem to be stuck at 70 with variable clouds/chance of rain. I wouldn't mind it being a bit warmer this time of year, but, all in all, I can't complain. Great workouts this weekend. Yes, that long stare at DVDs and thinking 'what do I want to do' drives me crazy. STS in this rotation does reduce that, for sure. Love that S&S BC workout!

Thelma, I am sorry to hear about your father. My mom suffered from edema related to her congestive heart failure, and she did learn to manage it quite well through proper diet/diuretics. I am glad you were able to get some money down there so he can get health care. Hopefully they can figure out the cause and get him some comfort. Sorry to hear about the sore hip flexors! Looks like a fun workout though!

Laurie, another great yoga workout. I bet your body is loving this! I am glad to hear your knee is doing okay despite the periodic 'oops'. As clumsy as I am, I have lots and lots of 'oops' moments! Honestly, right now, I have no plans to give up my Cathe subscription. I never imagined I would enjoy these live workouts this much. But I realized yesterday I am beginning to feel like a member of the class! I am sure there will come a time when I stop using it, but, once again, thank you for being the trial runner for this.....and reminding me about it before we moved. I have definitely gotten my money's worth these past three months.

See you tomorrow!

Laurel

Morning Ladies,

So the DOMS in my legs came a couple of days later. Guess I used the right amount of weight. After work I only had enough time to get in a short GHUTV Power Yoga workout. This morning I did TaeBo Basic #1. DH is home today, he is going to work on the deck. The forecast calls for rain.

Tami, Great workout, and very nice that your DH gave you that time for your workout. Hope the weather wasn't to hot for a walk, I'm sure that Bernie would love one. I do have that power yoga DVD, but the one that I like the most is this one https://amazon.com/Kristin-McGee-Power-Yoga-Mcgee/dp/B000HBKZ52/ref=sr_1_4?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1498655175&sr=1-4&keywords=kristin+mcgee I have both MTV workouts that she leads, they are a little strange as far as the set goes. The are a little more zen, so I don't do them as often. I'm hoping that there are premixes on these DVD's, but she hasn't said anything about premixes yet. I would imagine that if enough people ask about it, she might change her mind.

Laurel, How fun that you could try out the workouts before you got your DVD's. Glad to hear that it is a good workout, even though it is probably more intermediate than her other workouts. Got to love Drill Max Cardio also. Doing this amount of yoga, and all the vinyasa flows, I'm really getting so much better doing tricep push-ups. I was shocked that I was able to do all the push-ups when I did the Burn Set Triceps. I don't think I have ever been able to do that in the past. Plus the fact that I'm stretching out all those tight places. I thing that I will need a long stretch for the legs this evening, was surprised that the DOMS took so long to activate. You start seeing familiar faces in the group, wait until you do the workout with Al in it. He does leave the class at some point, because you don't see him at the end of the workout.

Thelma, Glad to hear that you Dad is doing so much better, who would have thought the shoes would be such an issue. Those type of sandals really don't breath very well, and add to that really hot weather and sweat! Sorry to hear about you eyes, and the dry mouth. Hope the compresses work so you don't have to do the drops. Your welcome with the KCM info, I will post more if I hear about it.

Have a great day!
Laurie

Hi Ladies! Had another good workout today. My Fit Tower DVDs arrived yesterday, so I did another one of those. Today I did Total Body with the bonus abs. This was a really good workout. Early on I felt it was a little light, but Cathe packed on the intensity. I will probably adjust my weights a bit, but using Cathe's weights, I felt well worked out at the end. May be able to push it a little more, but not too much. This is more of a metabolic workout than a strength workout, even though some of the weights are heavier (45lb barbell, 20lb dumbbells, for example). But she moves very quickly between exercises. It is structured much like Flex Train. There was one time I needed to pause the workout to change weights on my barbell (because I don't have her kind of barbell), but, other than that, I did keep up. She did change the height of the bar a quite a few times during the workout, and I don't know how that will work with the older tower, where I believe it is a bit different to change bar heights. The other thing is I am happy I am Cathe's height because she tells us where she is putting the bar based on her height, which makes it easy for me. For you taller ladies, you will want to take it up a notch. But it was an enjoyable workout that flew by. The bonus ab section was also good. Not too tough, but different moves made me like it.

Thelma, sorry to hear about the long day. I am happy your dad is doing better. Hopefully he continues to take care of himself. I am sorry about the dry eye/dry mouth situation. That has to be frustrating. But it sounds like you know what you need to do to help it.

Laurie, those sneaky DOMS can do that, especially with those STS Leg workouts. I am sure the gardening this weekend is also a contributing factor. I was going to ask you what results you were having with this rotation you are doing, especially with more focus on yoga. So thank you for sharing!! I continue to think I need to start considering tempering my workouts a bit. I am hoping this winter's plan of at least weekly yoga will help me see the benefits of workouts with less impact. I am an intensity junkie, for sure. But at 52, I think I might want to start varying my intensity a bit more than I am. And if I can do that and see improvements, like you have, all the more incentive to do it. Al was in the Lift It HiiT It Live class last week! I admit, it is kind of fun to see some of the Cathe DVD workout partners in her class.......fumbling around like the rest of us. I must admit, I am hugely inspired by some of Cathe's class members, many of whom have quite a few years on all of us. But they keep plugging away doing what they can do. It says something about Cathe and the environment she has created at her gym.

Crazypotato, welcome!! You are more than welcome to join our group!!!! Feel free to introduce yourself to us. We all post here when we can, sharing our workouts, thoughts about workouts, some recipes, and, of course, just things about life. I will share a little bit about myself. I have been working out with Cathe for 20(!) years. I own almost all of her workouts (just missing a few stretching DVDs). Back in early 2009, I joined myfitnesspal.com, which helped me lose 50lbs. With the help of these wonderful friends on here, I have managed to keep the weight off. I have some serious 'addictions' to chocolate and peanut butter (alone or combined ) that I counter with my addiction to working out. Hope to hear more from you!

Off to the DMV to register the car and become an Alaskan resident......for the second time! See you tomorrow.

Laurel

Hi Ladies, a quick check in. Another long day at work. I didn't workout. Was too exhausted when I finally made it home. My meetings started at 9 and ended at 4 today. Add to that dealing with a difficult employee in my team. I just want to cry.

DH is taking my car to the dealership tomorrow to get the new radio installed. Not sure this will solve my issue though.

Great job with your workouts ladies! Laurel, I can't believe you already got the new FitTower DVD's!

Crazypotato welcome to the group! What is your name?

Good night ladies!
Thelma

Hi Ladies! This was one of those mornings that I was using every excuse known to humans to avoid working out. You know.....like the plants needed to be watered right then, and the fridge needed cleaning out, and.......just one of those days. But when I finally convinced myself to get started......I didn't want to stop! Crazy! So today's workout started with STS Disc 6/Legs which I think I was dreading (hence the delay) but ended up really enjoying. For cardio, I planned something light (yesterday's cardio, which I forgot to mention, was Double Wave Pyramid HiiT into the cardio-only premix from Cardio Core Circuit). But I decided on something more challenging. I started with a Cathe Live class from early May called Quick Fix Cardio, which is a 30 HiiT-ish cardio workout. Then I went right into Fit Tower Bootcamp......the third and final Fit Tower workout for me!

To be honest, I don't think I can honestly give an assessment of the intensity of this Bootcamp workout since I had already done two tough workouts just prior. But I think it would fall into the intermediate category.......maybe intermediate/advanced because of some of the moves. But I liked it. It is six rounds, each with a cardio segment, a leg segment and then one round with more lower body, and five rounds with the upper body parts (two exercises for each body part). There are no weights.......just bands and the tower. She did a nice blend of lower body work with the bands and lower body work with the barre throughout, so not just one or the other. For upper body, it was band or bar, with some tough sections of pull-ups/chin-ups. That was, without doubt, the toughest part of the workout for me. I think it will take me some time to figure out how to use this workout in my normal schedule, but I did enjoy it quite a bit. It just doesn't quite fit into any 'tidy' category of cardio or strength that I normally gravitate towards. But tomorrow when I am trying to do an STS Upper Body workout, I may be rethinking what I said about the workout not being 'strength' today! I must admit......I am feeling it a bit right now.

Tami, sounds like a nice evening at home walking Bernie. Sounds like he enjoyed it too. Regarding the tower, I was reading a few comments on Cathe's site, and am not sure if they were referring to her earlier tower or another version of a tower altogether. But I do remember Cathe said one of the benefits to the new tower is how easy it is to change levels. And from reading the comments on Cathe's site, a few were having some issues identifying the right levels for the workout on their tower. So I just wanted to give you and Laurie a heads-up on that because I know you both have the STS tower......and she does change tower heights regularly and quickly throughout all of these workouts. Hopefully it won't be too much of an issue. It doesn't sound like it is from Cathe's site.....at least based on what I read. And, no doubt, you can do the Drill Max Ultra Cardio!! I don't think there is a workout you can't do to be honest!!

Thelma, I am sorry to hear about the long days. Please take care of yourself. I really hope things ease up soon.

Laurie, how exciting for your DD! Hopefully she can get rid of the animal smell. I find deep cleaning and fresh air can handle most of it. Good carpet cleaning (if she hads carpet), of course. Our biggest issue in this house was that even after professional carpet cleaning, there was just so much hair still in the carpeting. It has just taken regular vacuuming (especially around the room edges) to get rid of that. I still am picking up so much stuff from the carpets that I have to empty out my two vacuums weekly. Yes......this house was pretty disgusting. I hope your DD's isn't as bad! Anyhow, regarding the tower, I am not sure what they changed to make it easier, but, as I mentioned to Tami, Cathe said that easier level changes is a positive about the new tower. Reading some comments on her site has me thinking that is in relation to how many levels there are and how they are labeled more than anything. But I am not sure if that is referring to the STS tower or not. Thank you for the suggestion of a second barbell! Mine has the screw caps, which take forever to change. I have the room for another barbell in this house. Good thing there are no sports stores here in Fairbanks......but maybe Amazon would deliver one. Now you have me thinking!! Yep.....that first step can be a tough one. My worst time is in the evening. If I sit for any length of time in the evening, getting going again is getting harder and harder these days.

Don't know if I will be checking in tomorrow. DH and I are headed to the southern part of the state to see what should be some great Alaskan scenery. So looking forward to it! So if I don't check in, I hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July!!

Laurel

Thank you all for the warm welcome! Sadly, today I am not working out...grr, sinus infection messes with my balance and when I did Cathe's workout on Monday despite the headache, I nearly missed landing on the step a couple of times during those box jump portions of To the Max. So I know it is not smart to try again until this clears up.

Anyway, I had never tried her workouts before this April, when I started To the Max. Thought I was going to die in fifteen minutes. Definitely the hardest workout DVD I had ever attempted. I have slowly worked my way from just the warmup and 30/20 HIIT part with no step riser to the warmup through 30/20 HIIT with the riser (32 minutes including warmup) or 30-40 minutes of premixes that include the compound legs and the bonus portions. I feel like the ab part at the end is just way too challenging and instead have started using a Tamilee Webb DVD (I Want That Body) to work my abs. It gives me DOMS in my midsection like no other ab workout ever has.

I alternate the Cathe video right now with Jillian's Ripped in 30 and am now on Level 3. I can feel definition popping out in my quads now, probably because of those bear crawls and duck walks! But I am giving some serious thought to starting either BJ Gaddour or Mark Lauren's bodyweight programs very soon. The only equipment I will need is a TRX or Woss suspension trainer. I think I can get one online and tie it to a beam in my kitchen.

I am 36 years old, 5'6 and 155 lbs. I want first to get back into my size 8s that I was wearing a few years ago, and take it from there. That is the smallest I have ever been. Currently I exercise four days per week but I am looking at how I can up it to five, and I usually don't have more than 30 minutes or so to do it. I will add that I have no car and do a LOT of walking where I live, and a lot of it is uphill on uneven terrain, as you can see in my profile pic.

I started this take-better-care-of-myself lifestyle at the end of February after I had been really ill with influenza, and I was 164 lbs then. I am trying to fill half of my plate with veggies at lunch and dinner and snack on fruit, nuts, string cheese and light yogurt in between meals. Can't give up breakfast cereal but I have half a bowl now and two eggs at breakfast. I log faithfully but not here because MFP requires an Internet connection for logging, and much of the day I am trekking up dusty hillsides or in an office in a cell dead zone...so I use LoseIt! to track. Haven't missed a single day since I started 4 months ago. LoseIt! set my calorie target to 1550, so long as I do those planned workouts. Honestly I am too hungry to eat less than that...at 1400 for instance I get cranky.

Last but not least... I ordered a Fitbit so I can track just how much walking I actually do, and it should arrive next week. I hope it helps me!

Oh...and...my name is Amy, and I live in a remote region of southern Mexico that no one has ever heard of. Not close to any big cities...or the beach...or anything at all! No fast food restaurants, or movie theater, or Starbucks or health-food stores. But what you CAN find is plenty of fresh fruit and veggies, cheap. No conveniences so you have to wash and chop everything yourself, no shortcuts, but it is fresh and very good quality. You just have to avoid the corner stores with the soft drinks and cookies and chips, the bread peddlers, the ice cream peddlers, the "aguas frescas" (fruit that has been put in a blender with ice but with a TON of added sugar to make a refreshing drink) and the fact that NO restaurant serves anything remotely healthy, ever. I think that about covers it!

Morning Ladies,

I got home later than I wanted to, so DD was at the house when I got home. All the invites are addressed, and she just needs to go to USPS to weigh them. Hopefully it isn't to heavy and only requires a forever stamp. I'm leaving early today, so I'm going to workout when I get home. It will be Burn Sets Chest & Back, and then I will follow that up with a yoga routine. Not sure which one, but probably one of the shorter ones that Chris has on her site.

Laurel, Well at least you got some household things done before you got such a great workout combo in! Cleaning out the fridge is one of those chores that I just can't stand, but has to be done. Awesome workout, and the live one sounds so good. It does sounds like the new workouts are Interm/Adv from you description. Probably right in my comfort zone. I had amazon deliver my barbell set, so I would hope they deliver to Fairbanks! I read that someone put thread sealing tape on the threads of their barbell so that they could use the clamps. I have not tried that trick yet, but it is very tempting. If I could use those clamps on either one of my bars, it would be so much faster to change weights. The house has all hardwood floors, and only one area that is carpeted. I will make sure that she cleans that carpeted area, because I think that she said the cats had a bed up in that area. She loves to vacuum, so I'm sure that will be the first thing she does tonight when they go to clean the stuff we didn't get to. Some of the colors in the bedrooms are horrible, and they will have to decide on a new color. That will probably happen after the wedding though, because they really don't have time to do those things yet. That is the feeling that I have had while getting out of bed, so you know what I'm talking about. It has improved a lot since I started doing the yoga. Hope you have a great time enjoying the scenery!

Tami, Glad your spin class was a good one. LOL about Katy needing you to come back to class, and that she understands your foot issues and running! I'm glad to hear that she misses you so much too, but to bad that she has had a decline in the participation. I will have to try out more of the Pilates options on GHUTV, maybe I will come to love Pilates and have to get the DVD. The kids are really excited about their new house purchase, it just is a lot all at once. I'm calling it the year of Cassie!

Amy, Great job with what you have accomplished! You have done a awesome job with To The Max, one of the workouts that I don't have actually. It just seemed to hi impact for me. Love Jillian, and I know what those bear crawls and duck walks are like. Are you thinking of BJ's Metashred? I have those, and they are great. Of course I would probably have to following the modifications at this point, but those are fun. It will be interesting to see how many steps you get in during the day with your new fitbit purchase, and what scenery you have . I have a fitbit, and love it. What type did you get? I'm a klutz when it comes to the step, so don't feel to bad that you have that problem with equilibrium and your sinuses. That has to be tough living where you don't have a lot of conveniences. Glad that you are able to do so well though. Nice that you have a way to track you food intake.

Thelma, I'm sorry to hear about you issues with dry mouth, not fun. Dang on that employee, he seems to be lost with what is required. Sorry that he tried your patience. With you not feeling 100%, that had to be factoring into it also. I'm glad to hear that the guys boss is dealing with the issue. Hope your extended weekend is wonderful!

Have a safe and Happy 4th of July weekend!
Laurie

Hi Ladies ~ End of the month craziness was on Friday so didn’t get to check in. Weekend was good, relaxing. DH spent the weekend getting ready for his first round of fishing in Central Washington area that he goes to every year; it is super HOT there. Where they have had the fire problem every year. Always over 100 degrees, plus we are getting into high 90’s this week so it will forsure be hot there. Our office is open today but only until 3:00, kind of a bummer to have the weekend, work, off then back to work, but I will take the early leave. So over the weekend I had a couple good days of workouts. Saturday I did the RWH Upper Body Circuit + one of the TimeSaver Pre-mixes from the new FitTower workouts: BootCamp and loved it; my old rack works good, just have to figure out the settings. Way more holes than the newer one. Yesterday I started the Heavy week with LIHI Chest/Shoul/Tri’s XT pre-mix. Today/this afternoon I am planning on LIHI Back/Bis.

Thelma: Great job getting in a walk on the treadmill on Friday, I bet it felt good. I hope you are enjoying some relief by now with your poor mouth symptoms, that does not sound fun at all. Hopefully enjoying some down time as well over the long weekend.
Laurie: Excellent work getting in your workout and yoga on Friday! Yay on getting all the invites out. Isn’t that funny about Katy wanting me to come back to class. Yes, the decline is due to her “intensity” level for many I am sure.

CP: Congrats on receiving your FitBit! I used to have a FitBit Alta and loved it but upgraded at Christmas time to a Iwatch, which I really love and use it for all my workouts too. I bet you were so happy to see those sweet potatoes. Enjoy some of those nice recipes!

Hi Laurel – Hope you all have a nice 4th! I will check in on Wednesday.

Tami

Hi Ladies! I hope you all had a great weekend. DH and I had a great time in NH. We got to hike a challenging hike. My quads were killing me. It was a steep, rocky, wet trail. When we got to the top I forgot how much my quads were hurting. The descent was much easier. Thank God we started the loop on the difficult side! It took us 2 3/4 hours because I was going a little slow when my quads were killing me.
On Saturday Ice Rock'm Sock'm Kickbox, Sunday hiking. Monday was our travel day so I only walked. Today I made up for yesterday's Leg workout. So I did RWH Legs, Plyo warm ups, BB

Bulk Legs, and XT10 CBS/WU, BB Bulk Back, Walking on Treadmill. I went heavier on both legs and back. My legs are definitely feeling it! I wish I had more time to workout like this every day!
My mouth is feeling a little better. I still hv'

Laurie, great workout on Friday! So glad the wedding invitations!

Amy, congrats on the new fitbit! great job wiht your workouts!
I do have lupus and also Sjogren's syndrome. The mouth dryness is due to the Sjogren's syndrome.

Tami, awesome workouts! I can't believe you ladies already received the Fit Tower DVD's and I haven't! I was the first one to order them!

Hi Laurel!

Thelma

Hi Ladies! We enjoyed a very nice weekend seeing new parts of Alaska. The weather wasn't great but even with that, the scenery was stunning. We did get some nice walks in on Saturday, despite the rain, which was nice. We went to Valdez, which is about 350 miles south of us, and it was, by far, the prettiest place I have been in Alaska.....so far.

On Friday before we left, I did STS Disc 4/Chest, Shoulders and Biceps, followed by another Cathe Live class called 'Keep The Cardio Coming'. This one was filmed at Christmas and was an hour of some pretty tough cardio. Aside from the walks on Saturday, I didn't workout over the weekend. But we got home Sunday night, so I was back at it Monday. Monday was STS Disc 5/Back and Triceps, followed by Tabatacise and XT Core 1. Yesterday was STS Disc 6/Legs, followed by To The Max. Today was STS Disc 4/Chest, Shoulders and Biceps, followed by X10 Hi/Lo into Cathe Live Lift It HiiT It Live, which made for a great combo.

Amy, I live on the complete opposite end of North America from you......up near Fairbanks, AK! Looks like where you are at is beautiful but has its challenges. What an amazing experience it must be. Congratulations on accomplishing To The Max!!!! That is HUGE!! That one is, for me, one of Cathe toughest cardio workouts. So be very proud of the accomplishment. I hope you enjoy the Fitbit. I wore one for about two years, and it really helped encourage me to keep moving. I took it off a few months ago when my DH and I moved to Alaska, but I will probably put it on again this winter when it is nearly impossible to go outside and the cold/dark leads to a certain inertia I want to avoid as best as possible.

Tami, yowza on the warm temps up there. I really hope you don't get the same fires you did a couple years ago. That was horrible. I am glad Katy appealed to you and realized that the running was an issue. I know you love her classes, and I think it just says how good she is at her job that she realizes she might need to adjust some things for the class participants. Not everybody who signs up for a gym class is looking for long stretches of running outside. Sounds like things will be back to Katy-normal though, which is good. Great workouts, as always!

Thelma, I am sorry to hear about the continued problems with dryness. I suppose an appointment may not be a bad idea, even though it seems to be improving. Glad you enjoyed your trip to NH. Great job with the workouts this weekend!

Laurie, how fun that your DD is in her first home now. It is about six weeks until the wedding, right? Exciting times. Hope the invitations went out, and with only one stamp! We have had Christmas cards weigh too much for one stamp, which is crazy. So fingers crossed the invitations were within weight. Great workouts this weekend!

Until tomorrow.

Laurel