So what makes a workout “puke-worthy” you ask?

Well – none of you really *asked* this question, but I’m gonna answer it anyway!

(and part of me is surprised nobody asked what I meant by that in my random post the other day, but then again – you’re all just as crazy as me so it kinda makes sense, scarily so!)

A workout just *may* be puke-worthy if it involves…

• …your crazy – but favorite – spin instructor urging you to turn that resistance up higher than you thought you were capable of climbing at. And then pushed you to turn it up even more.
• …double-wave loads (hello STS!). As in six, yes six, sets of one exercise done with 5% increased weights after each set. So for example: one set of chest presses at 20 lbs for 12 reps; set two at 22.5 lbs for 10 reps; set three at 25 lbs at 8 reps. Repeat series once from the beginning.
• …multiple rounds of double-wave loads. As in three in one workout. One for chest press. One for shoulder presses. One for tricep extensions. Oof. Oof. Oof.
• …the coldest run you’ve done in awhile, complete with husband yelling at you to run as hard as you can, and that yes, your chest should be aching or you’re not running hard enough. <ahem>
• …HiiT work (as in high intensity interval series). But not just any HiiT work. A round of true HiiT work (as in high intensity the entire time) followed by a round of low-impact HiiT work (much of the same intensity, just done with less wear on those joints).

And yes, these are all workouts I’ve done as recently as today, if not this past week.

And it’s been awesome.

JUST what this self professed workout-a-holic has been craving since the cold weather has hit. Lots of variety, lots of fun, lots of, um…near-puke moments? And I mean that in the best possible way, of course. 😉

But now I gotta know – what was your last workout that left you gasping for air and praying for a reprieve??

And while I eagerly await your responses (hehe), I’ll go back to searching for my inner Type A-…I’m sure it’s around here somewhere….

 

It’s (new) Cathe workout review time: Intensity

Well kids, Christmas came early for me this year.

I got all four of Cathe Friedrich’s new workouts on pre-order (which I ordered wayyyy back in July after the Cathe Road Trip!) and they arrived in the mail just before Thanksgiving. Happy turkey day to me. 😉

As a reminder, her four new workouts are: Intensity, High Reps, Lower Body Blast and STS Total Body.

While I am totally excited to try them all, the first one I tried was Intensity. Mainly because the other workouts are weight oriented and I haven’t quite figured out how or where I’ll fit them into my current STS rotation (I am probably rotating in STS Total Body as a fourth weight workout during the week I think, though). Plus, I needed a good cardio workout to burn off some of that holiday cheer. 😉

I have to say, when I popped the DVD in, I was slightly apprehensive. Mostly because I haven’t done any sort of step workout since the Cathe Road Trip and I’m one of those love-to-hate-t0-love HiiT workouts. Since this workout would be mainly step and Hiit, I wasn’t sure if I’d love it or not. But I went in with an open mind – this IS a Cathe workout afterall, how could it disappoint, right??

And it didn’t.

Intensity is definitely Cathe’s best cardio workout of her newer cardio-based workouts, in my opinion. The step moves were not overly intricate so even this rusty stepper could keep up. And it mixed in some fun plyo moves to keep the heart rate pumping. It also broke up the step moves nicely (another plus for this fair weather stepper!). And the HiiT work? Well, I’ll get there in a minute.

First – let me tell you how this workout breaks down:

The first quarter of the workout is all step work – again, nothing overly complicated, lots of fun moves and mostly moves that even a rusty stepper would remember.

The second quarter was step mixed with some plyo work in between each step routine to keep the heart rate up which I love, love, love.

The third quarter was high-impact HiiT, or the more traditional HiiT work we all know and hate love. I have to say – I loved this section more than I anticipated i would. It worked me hard – especially in my legs which are already SO sore from STS legs yesterday (note to self: do not attempt Intensity as a means to “stretch” sore STS legs, it doesn’t work LOL).

The final quarter was low impact HiiT which I LOVED and appreciated that Cathe thought to add this to the mix. I appreciated it especially since some of the higher-impact HiiT work can be tough on knees and joints (though I will say, despite my recent knee issues, none of the high-impact stuff bothered them, hooray!) so the fact that Cathe mixed in lower impact HiiT was awesome. I’m sure my fellow Cathletes will agree with me. 🙂

Whew. Now THAT is kickass cardio workout, is it not??

What I loved about this workout most is how FAST the hour flew by. Each section was well-chore0graphed, fun and effective as a calorie-burner and can easily be broken down for shorter workouts, too (Cathe is great at developing solid premixes too – this one has a handful of them I’m dying to try when I’m tight on time). I really just loved that this was Cathe in her element – she has always been my go-to for cardio work when running outside or a group fitness class isn’t an option or I’m just looking for something different. She just kills it in this workout and I LOVED seeing her back and rocking the cardio work. Totally brought me back to the Road Trip this summer, too – this is exactly the kind of stuff we did for the whole weekend with her. Uh, intense much?? 😉

So anyway, this is an awesome, awesome, awesome workout and I highly recommend it! I hope you’ll give it a whirl – even if you’re not a Cathlete…yet. 😉