Cathe Fans Part 5

Hi Ladies! Today’s workout was a fun but tough combo. I started with a short kickboxing session from Cathe Live Kickboxing and Barre, which I used as my warm-up for S&S PHA. After the PHA workout, I went right into Cathe’s live class from yesterday which was Metabolic Core. This was a completely different class to anything Cathe has done and I loved it. It was a good combo of functional fitness moves and some standard core moves. It was enough to get a good sweat on and the heart rate up enough, but not so much that the focus in the core was lost. It was 45 minutes long and flew by. I hope to be able to add this one on time to time through the next rotation, despite its length. I love this type of core training.

Thelma, great workouts. I don’t know about there, but our humidity has been pretty high this week so every workout I finished drenched. Thankfully that is a feeling I enjoy. I don’t know if the storms predicted here tonight are supposed to go through your area but if so....stay safe. What a spring it has been for storms.

Laurie, that sounds like another great workout. I hope you enjoy the new rotation. It looks like she has put a lot of thought into making some unique and challenging workouts for it. That is interesting about the barbell not being comfortable on bicep curls. I am finding I much prefer some exercises with the barbell (like lying tricep extensions) but some, like bicep curls, I still prefer dumbbells. All of that is because of my forearms and/or elbows. I am just so glad I have the barbell option these days. It’s hard for me to believe that I didn’t until just a few years ago!

Enjoy the weekend!

Laurel

Morning Ladies,

Well all those plans to start working out on Sunday went out the window. I was so busy that it didn't happen. We helped a friend of ours move on Saturday, and after that we just didn't want to do anything. On Sunday I got busy quilting the quilt that I'm giving to my niece. I'm not really pleased with what I created, so I'm planning on taking that apart tonight. Oh well. This morning my workout was RAW Upper Body Blast. Really really liked this one, because my upper body is feeling it right now. It was a superset with tabata intervals. So we did four sets of a chest exercise for 25 sec, and then four sets of shoulder work. Each superset included two exercises for each muscle.

Laurel, Great job on the workouts! I'm liking the sound of that core workout, it sure does sound a lot more fun than her CCC workout. The problem I have with the barbell and biceps are my elbows. It just hurts. This mornings workout incorporated the barbell, but it was only used for chest, back and triceps. I think that the exercises that she used the barbell with where perfect. I love my barbell too.

Thelma, Love the workouts! Nice that you where able to go out on Friday, and able to visit your friend. I'm sure that we will have to garden soon, but we had rain all weekend, so nothing was able to happen with that. Glad to hear that the hummingbirds have arrived, and will continue to give you both joy in seeing them. Our garden center doesn't have annuals yet, just to cold right now. Sorry to hear that yours was picked over so much. That is to bad that the garden center doesn't have that information about what attracts them to the flowers. Ours even says if they attract bumble bees or butterflies.

Have a great day!
Laurie

Hi Ladies, my workouts on Monday were Peloton Beginner Advanced Ride, STS Disc 3/Legs and Ashtanga Yoga. It was a sweat fest between the Peloton ride and the leg workout. Wow!
We had a gorgeous sunny and windy day today. I think we hit 78 degrees.

Every year I get or make baskets of Calibrachoa (looks like a small Petunia) and Verbenas. Today I found out our local supermarket had flower baskets so DH and I rushed there during his lunch time. The baskets they had were Calibrachoa mixed with Verbenas. How lucky for me! I've been getting these flowers for as long as I can remember. The Hummingbirds love them and the Hummingbird Moth also loves the verbena. I hope I can get a moth here this year. I always got them in MA. My dwarf Lilac tree arrived today and it already has flowers! I got 5 baskets and I already had 4 plants. Our deck looks beautiful with all our plants BUT the pollen! OMG! Everything is yellow.

Laurie, sounds like another great KCM workout! Good job! I think you did good by not working out on Sunday after you helped someone move the day before.
Sorry you weren't pleased with your quilting. I am sure you will come up with something great!

I'm sure you will be working on your garden soon. DH needs to get some soil so we'll be going to the Home Depot garden center tomorrow. Our soil is clay so every hole he digs has to be filled with a mixture of soil and cow manure. I'm sure I won't leave the store empty handed either! LOL
Sounds like your garden centers are very well organized! Here you have to read each plant's tags to see if they attract any pollinators!

Laurel, I'm glad you had a nice and productive weekend! I am sure you'll be able to keep those plants alive.
Great workouts!!

I think people went crazy buying plants now that it appears we are done with our winters! I hope I can find a couple of more plants tomorrow. Otherwise; we'll hit a nursery over the weekend.
I hope your hummingbirds will arrive soon. I bet the one you saw was on its way north. I saw our two fighting for the feeders today.

Good night ladies!
Thelma

Hi Ladies! I started today’s workout with STS Disc 2/Back and Triceps. Then, for cardio, I did a workout I haven’t done in several years....MMA:Fusion from Cathe’s Shock Cardio series. I was very disappointed in her MMA workouts from that series, so after trying them a few times, I pretty much shelved them. While I still don’t love this workout (it just moves a little too slowly for me, probably because I think she does too much break down and explanation), I really enjoyed it today and probably will try to work it in periodically throughout this STS rotation. The whole thing is really one great core workout, which is always good.

Thelma, great workouts. I am with you on the pollen! And since I like our windows open, we have yellow dust both inside and out. But the beautiful trees and flowers make up for it. Glad you found some great plants! Lilacs are one of my favorite plants, and I want to try to plant one here. We have two garden sections that the builder filled with the most unappealing plants for some unknown reason. So our hope is to eventually replace some of those plants. But I don’t think that will be this year as we need to focus on fixing our grass and doing some other landscaping where the builder just let our yard blend into the nature area behind us. That nature area tries very hard to take over our yard! So we are going to tackle that this summer, though we don’t quite know how yet.

Laurie, great workout. I hope you don’t get a freeze, especially since your flowers are just coming up. All our tulips and daffodils are done, except when I was watering today, I noticed one brand new intrepid daffodil in bloom. It made me smile. I am glad the moving went smoothly. That is a very fast time to I last a truck!

See you tomorrow.

Laurel

Morning Ladies,

This morning was 30MTF Trim Down Workout 1. It has been a while since I have done this one, and it was fun to revisit. Tomorrow is a heavy weight workout, and I'm going to be trying out her new RAW boxing finisher. This is just 15 min. of boxing moves, I'm looking forward to it.

Laurel, Great job on the workouts! That is the exact reaction that I had to those Shock Cardio workouts. The fusion one was my least favorite, so glad to hear that you enjoyed it today. I's opt for that instead of the CCC workout in that same series. I'm guessing that you probably have that one scheduled in you STS rotation? We had temps in the 30's today, but didn't see any frost. Hopefully none of the plants have been damaged.

Thelma, Dang on the injury from pickleball. Great job on your workouts though. Bummer on the plants, but I'm sure that you will have success at the garden center. I'm getting antsy to get some plants, but have to be patient. It was really hard to put that winter coat on this morning, but it was just so dang cold. Glad to hear that you are able to go outdoors without to many problems. I noticed that our pear tree has blossoms on it, that is the part that is so pretty. I'm sure that the lilac will smell better once it has a season to grow.

Have a great day!
Laurie

Hi Ladies, My workouts on Wednesday were a Gina B. Low Impact cardio, abs and a lot of stretching/massage. I felt that I had to take it easy because my lower back was hurting. I felt like I was out of alignment. I continued to ice and stretch during the day and by the end of the day my flexibility was almost back to normal. I think that everything I've done to nurse the injury has helped tremendously with the healing process.

Our Thursday trip to the nursery got canceled. We will be going to the Lowe's garden center 30 minutes south of BR.

Laurie, great workout and I love your plan for Thursday!

Definitely a bummer with my injury but it is much better and I feel hopeful about a speedy recovery. Our local HD just doesn't have a good garden department. Clearly it is poorly managed.
Sorry you had to wear a winter coat! I hope it warms up soon. You really need to be patient with your plants with that cold weather.
I sat out on the deck for about 15 minutes. I eventually notice that my phone was covered in pollen so I went back inside. I sniffed and sniffed my lilac flowers and I barely detected a faint scent but I doubt it will be very fragrant. It's a dwarf bush so it probably means dwarf scent! LOL

Laurel, great workouts! I'll have to check out the Peloton Pilates workouts! I wanted to do a spin class so bad but I was worried about my inner thigh so went super low impact. Maybe tomorrow or Friday!

I am definitely feeling better. I felt that side to side movements are a bit of a problem right now. I can almost do a standing forward fold and touch my toes without bending my knees. The forward fold while seated is better but not back to my usual.

I've given up on our local HD garden center. It clearly is poorly managed. Maybe they're under staffed like the local businesses in this area. For some reason people keep quitting their jobs. They just don't stick around. Restaurants are having to close some days during the week due to the lack of staff. Some fast food places are down to drive-through service only as a result. It's crazy.
You won't believe this but I saw two hummingbirds feeding side by side this morning. One was feeding when the other one landed right next to it and they both drank away! Amazing! I'd never seen that. It made my day! LOL

Good night ladies!
Thelma

Hi Ladies! Today’s workout was STS Disc 3/Legs, the STS Extended Stretch and then, for cardio, Cathe Live Cardio Crush. And then a long walk in the sunshine.

Thelma, I am glad you are feeling better. Good choice on the workouts. I definitely would shy away from spin until you feel that inner thigh feels better. That is one area I definitely feel when I spin. I hope you have better luck finding plants at Lowe’s. I am amazed you had two hummingbirds on your feeder at once! Ours always chase each other away. Still no more sightings here. I am beginning to think we won’t see them until late summer....sadly. That is interesting about your businesses not being able to keep staff. We have noticed a lot of places looking for staff here, but I haven’t heard of anything having to partially shut due to lack of personnel. But, then again, we are in a much larger city, so I suppose that is to be expected.

Laurie, great workouts! I am glad you liked that Boxing Finisher. I think I would probably be adding that to all my workouts. I really can talk myself out of doing some things anymore by convincing myself I am too old to do them.....so it was probably good for me to pull out a workout I had completely forgotten and have to do the moves in it because of no pre-thought alternative....like rolling from back to push-ups. Because you are right that it is important to keep the body moving in a variety of ways, and that is one of them. But I will never love that move!

See you tomorrow.

Laurel

Morning Ladies,

This morning my workout was 30MTF Muscle Up W2. The workout felt great, and I went as heavy as I could handle. Usually I'm not a big fan of these workouts, but that is probably because I wasn't using the right weights to make the workout effective. Change of my mindset has been working really well for me during this rotation.

Laurel, Very nice workouts, and getting in a long walk. I have to start looking at a lot of my workouts, because I think that there are some boxing premixes that I could be using. I don't want to get bored with this finisher, so I might have to do some research. I don't want to do anything that is longer than 15 min. though. I would have to do a lot of convincing to do one of those workouts, but you are right they probably would be good for me to do again. Of course realizing that I probably will be a lot slower than everyone on the DVD. Another thing that I have been able to resign myself to, just not as fast as I once was even though I think I am.

Thelma, Great job on getting in your stretching, but so sorry to hear that your back is still sore. I'm sure that you will take very good care of it. We actually had frost this morning. I'm sure that it will start getting warmer soon, to bad that we had some of those warm temps earlier this month to tempt us. Enjoy your weekend, it sounds like you have some great things to look forward to. The dd's and I are going to my nieces bridal shower tomorrow, so that will be an all day thing. It is about a 4 hour drive there and back. Like Laurel, our Lowe's has a better selection, but it is a little to far away. We do have a garden center that is about 2 miles from us, so we opt to go there instead.

Have a great weekend!
Laurie

Hi Ladies, I hope you had a nice weekend. We had a nice and busy weekend. My haircut went well and dinner with our friends was fun.

The weather was very nice too but we're about to go into 'blackberry' winter. I think. On Wednesday and Thursday night temps will drop into the low 30's. We'll also have cooler temps during the day. Thank God my annuals are all in planters as we'll have to put them in the garage.
DH planted my Peony tubers but they didn't look good. He waited too long and the new growth was dried up in a couple of them. He still planted them but who knows if they will survive. At least three of them looked ok. My little pollinator garden is definitely attracting all kinds of bees and the hummingbirds.

Lowe's had the plant I've been looking for but nothing to pair it with that I liked. I didn't get it because now that it is available, it will be available for a while. Lowe's plants looked great. No dead plants around and they do water their plants!
DH has tomorrow off as it is Patriot's Day in MA so we'll be going to the plant nursery. I can't wait!

My back is pretty much back to normal but my thigh injury is still there. It's a little tight but better. I hope I can carefully play a little pickleball this week.

On Friday I did Zumba and a lot of stretching as my back was still sore. Saturday we worked on our little garden. On Sunday I did a short Gina B Low Impact workout as a warm up and STS Disc 2 Back & Triceps which I couldn't do last week. I will do two muscle groups one day this week to catch up.

Laurie, great workout on Friday! I'm glad you figured out that the right weight was key in order to enjoy it!

I'm still nursing my injury but it's definitely better. Sorry you had frost. People in NH and MA had snow on Friday! We may just have a frost on Wed night! it's always so hard in cold climates to get a taste of warm temps just to fall back to cold ones again.

I hope you and your DD's had a great time at your niece's bridal shower!

Laurel, great workouts on Friday!

The wind was definitely cold last week. Are you also going to have cold temps at night this week?

Good night ladies!
Thelma

Hi Ladies! Hope you enjoyed the weekend. Mine was quiet as DH headed off to Alaska on Saturday. It looks like he is going to be changing jobs in a few weeks (which is a good thing) so this may be his last trip to Alaska until we go back up there on a vacation. Anyhow, I spent my weekend doing some chores, taking care of some of our plants, and then reading and working on a puzzle. It was very relaxing.

For workouts, on Saturday I took a long walk with DH before he got on the plane, and then did 30 minutes of power yoga with Kristin McGee. Yesterday was STS Disc 1/Chest only, followed by an unusual combo for me because these are two workouts I rarely ever choose ‘just because’....I did X10 Step into RWH HiiT Circuit Lower Body and Abs 2. It felt tough, but it was good. Today was STS Disc 1/Shoulders followed by a 45 minute spin with Peloton and the ‘Basic Stretching’ segment from Cathe’s Total Body Stretch DVD.

Thelma, great workouts. I am glad you enjoyed your time with friends and that your Lowe’s has plants you like. Yes, we are in for those cold temperatures too. Like you, I will be able to move most of our plants inside. Some of our tomatoes, though, are going to have to rough it. I will, of course, cover them to keep the frost off of them. But we’ll see if they endure the temperature drop. At least it is still early in the season if we need to replace them. But it would make me sad to have to do that. I am glad your back is feeling better, and I hope your leg continues to improve.

Laurie, I am glad you enjoyed the bridal shower. I love the sound of the gift you gave your niece. It sounds so creative, and I love the idea of sharing her grandmother’s crafts with her that way. I am also glad you are happy with the progress on the quilt. Great workout. I had that feeling of not being able to lift my arms this morning after shoulders! It is a great feeling.

See you tomorrow.

Laurel

Hi Ladies, my workouts on Monday were Popsugar Kickboxing, STS Disc 1 Chest and Shoulders and Ashtanga Yoga.

My back is back to normal. I did the kickboxing workout to test my upper thigh injury. I could feel it but it made aware of it so I was careful. I was also careful during the yoga forward folds. I survived! Yessss!

We made to my new favorite nursery. I love that place! The plants are healthy and organized by type in different green houses. I bought more annuals, a beautiful fuchsia plant, bee balm, lantana. I hope I can keep the Fuchsia alive. I've yet to keep one alive. This one will be in the carport by a window and it will get plenty of indirect light. I am still looking for two other plants so we will hit another nursery tomorrow. We will be gardening on Saturday again!

Laurie, great workouts! I'm so glad you had a good time at the bridal shower. Your gift to your niece sounds beautiful and so very special! Good idea!
Good job with that quilt!

I hope my leg continues to improve and the big test will be playing pickleball. I will do a little lite cardio and stretching before we leave the house. The center is about 10 minutes from our house.
Peonies are very picky plants. They don't like to be disturbed. They do like sun. I hope the tuber we've yet to plant survives. I'll be happy if the the three we planted bloom some day! I hope you don't get too much snow.

Laurel, I hope your DH made it safely to Alaska. I'm sure you are both relieved that this may be his last business trip there. Is the new job for the same employer just a different role? I'm glad you had a relaxing weekend!

Awesome workouts! I'll get to the optional leg workout on Friday. I think I'll do the RWH Circuit Lower Body too! I hope to be able to get a little Barre in too.

I really thought we were done with the cold temps but it's still spring! I hope your tomato plants survive the cold temps.
Thanks for the good wishes for my back!

Hi Erika! I'm so glad you had a wonderful vacation in AZ!
Happy belated birthday and congrats on your son passing his drivers test! Sorry you didn't get the job you applied for. I hope your former manager is able to get that new position approved soon!

Congrats on finishing up your STS rotation! Laurel and I just started an STS rotation but we agreed to modifying it so that it's easier on our bodies. 1 week full STS workouts, 1 week single body parts each day, repeat, then a recovery week. Much, much easier on the body and mind!

We've really have been experiencing rollercoaster weather!

I've been having a lot of fun lately between pickleball, dinner with friends, gardening. Thank God we didn't have any rain damage. It does rain a lot here!

Good night ladies!
Thelma

Hi Ladies! Today’s workout started with STS Disc 1/Biceps followed by the core work from Butts and Guts. For cardio, I did ICE Rock’m Sock’m Knockout with the Blizzard Blast. That workout is always so much fun for me.

Erika, Happy Belated Birthday! I am so glad you enjoyed your vacation. And congratulations to your youngest now being a driver. I hope something turns up for you on the job front, but it definitely helps that a manager is pulling for you. Your new rotation sounds like another fun one.

Thelma, great workouts. I am so glad to hear you are feeling back to normal. I am also glad you enjoyed your trip to the nursery. Sounds like you bought some amazing plants. My DH will be changing companies. He is beginning to question the integrity of some of the leadership in his current job, and while their conduct isn’t criminal, they are misrepresenting themselves in the contracting process. And that does not work for my DH.....and it shouldn’t. The new company is working on his background check right now, and he should be good to start mid-May. He’s excited, and so am I. I am mostly excited that he is changing jobs and we aren’t having to move!

Laurie, great workout. I saw that update yesterday about Cathe’s new workouts, and this is what she was probably referring to last November at the Virtual Road Trip. I will definitely get them because I really want the bands, and I figure I can always use a good band workout. Sounds like you have some future projects lined up for your daughters and nieces.

See you tomorrow.

Laurel

Morning Ladies,

Dang it was cold this morning, we had high 20's. My workout was 30MTF Stepboxing 2 Workout 1, this was very enjoyable.

Laurel, Very good workouts, and nice that you where able to do one of your favorites. The new workouts look like they will be really good, and I'm glad that she is able to get some more filming done. I'm sure that she is behind the schedule that she has been wanting to accomplish from last year. I hope that your DH's new job will be awesome, and don't blame him at all for changing if he is uncomfortable with the code of conduct for the company. Of course the positive is not having to move again. I'm really looking forward to retiring, so that I have more time to do all my projects. I was in my basement yesterday doing some organization, since DH was having to deal with his Mom and her doctor's appt.

Thelma, Great job on your workouts. I hope that your efforts make your leg feel better and better. You need to be able to run around during pickleball. I think that you have found your garden center in the next town. I have three of the fabric bands, and the one that has the least tension moves a lot like the one that Cathe is using. Not that it is easy at all. I'm glad that they all are not getting married anytime soon, so I don't have to worry about making some more of the art.

Have a wonderful day!
Laurie

Hi Ladies, my workouts on Wednesday were a Peloton Low Impact ride and STS Disc3/Legs followed buy a long stretching/massage session.
The bike ride made me feel the inner thigh injury but I pushed through. I had to keep the leg exercises shallow and used lighter weights. The good thing is that the stretch/massage session and heat helped a lot.

We've had a super windy day. DH brought all the plants in planters into the garage. We were not going to cover the new perennials on the ground but at the last minute DH remembered that the last frost burned the new growth on my Rose of Sharon plants. He only had one tarp so that wouldn't work. Thankfully we need the wildlife and go through huge bags of deer and bird food. He saves some of the bags for trash. I went into the garage and saw that we still own tomato cages! I told him we could put them upside down and put the giant bags over them. He had to pock holes in the right places and it worked! I also had bought lawn staples last year to hold our bird bath stand securely and those things came in so handy tonight. Other plants we covered with plastic buckets.
We froze while doing this even though we were bundled up. It was great team work though.

Laurie, awesome and fun workout!
So far nursing my leg injury has really paid off. It was a scary injury for sure.

I have definitely found my new garden center. It really is a no brainer.
Do you think that fabric band can stretch enough to do standing rows? My bands are very wide. I'll have to test it out. I guess it's more about having the strength to stretch it out that much! LOL

It definitely is a good thing your nieces are not getting married any time soon but it's good to know what their gifts will be!

Laurel, great workouts! I was feeling tired today and procrastinated for a while before doing my workouts. Like you, I also felt better after the workouts.

I just can't believe that Alabama gets so cold! You pretty much have the same temps we have here in BR. I had to turn the heat back on today.
Happy 31st wedding anniversary. I hope you had a chance to celebrate before your husband left for Alaska.

My warm up strategy pre-pickleball was really effective. I will do the same tomorrow. Thanks so much for the kudos!

I totally understand your husband sense of responsibility for his current job. I had to get kicked out of the building on my last day of work because I kept working! LOL

I hope you managed to cover all your plants!

Good night ladies!
Thelma

Hi Ladies! Today’s workout was STS Disc 2/Triceps followed by Laurie’s favorite workout.....Shock Cardio Cardio Core Circuit. I did the latter as a last minute decision, and actually enjoyed it today. And I didn’t do any substitute moves. But it still amazes me how Cathe could put together a work out like that which is entirely without any ‘fun’ factor. It felt good today, though. And then I moved all our plants back outside and mowed the lawn.

Thelma, great workouts. I am glad the spin didn’t seem to do any lasting damage on your inner thigh. I am glad you got your plants covered. I froze when trying to get the tomatoes covered last evening. But they seem to have weathered it well. We had no frost here, so I decided to put our plants out again even though it is still supposed to be chilly tonight. The sun is shining bright and it is a beautiful day so I hated keep them inside. After tonight it warms up significantly, so I think they’ll be okay for now. I hope.

Laurie, yikes on the weather. It seems the snow doesn’t want to stop yet this year. I know both of my sisters in Colorado have had more than enough of snow. No doubt you are feeling the same thing. Hopefully your plants survived. I am sorry your parents are having insurance difficulties, but I am not sure there are any other types of experiences with insurance. Hopefully he gets moved closer to your mom....and they do effective PT with him. That must be so frustrating.

See you tomorrow.

Laurel