Saundra

Cathe's 2020 series is Perfect 30.  The series has six 30-minutes main workouts and several bonus workouts.The workouts are spread across three DVDs if you bought the DVD option. You can also get the series as a download.  There is also a user guide that you can download from the Cathe webiste. Perfect Pump contains the following workouts: Upper Body Lower Body Upper Body Bonus Lower Body Bonus Core Bonus Extended Stretch Bonus  I did Lower Body and Lower Body Bonus first. Lower Body clocked in at 30:48 and the Lower Body Bonus clocks in at 7:39. The workout moves quickly. Cathe uses heavier weight than normal on several of the exercises.  With the exception of the calf raises, the reps for each exercise were between 10 and 12 reps.  Along with dumbbells, a high step, weighted plates and dixie cups were used.  The plates were used just to elevate your toes.  I enjoyed this workout.  I think this is going to be a favorite Cathe lower body workout...

30 Minutes to Fitness BoxFit is lead by Kelly Coffey Meyer. In the Intro, Kelly states that "BoxFit is your trim down and get strong workout". BoxFix is similar to Kelly's earlier workout Cardio Pump in that your have a cardio session that features shadow boxing and a pump session consisting of sculpting with dumbbells.  I like the boxing weight combination style workouts. DVD Menu Intro Workout 1:  Boxing (33:35) Workout 2:  Weights (35:55) Workout 3: Box and Pump (special premix 53:10) Premixes     30 Minutes or Les          No Legs - 31 min          Quick Fix Legs - 16 min          Push Triceps + Chest - 21 min          Pull Back, Biceps + Shoulders - 26 min     Doubles          Box Combos with Back, Triceps, Bicep, Shoulders, Chest - 54 min          Three Box Combos with Legs - 35 min    ...

Strong & Lean is a Kelly Coffey Meyer 30-Minute to Fitness workout. The DVD Menu Intro Workout 1: Weights (Strong) Workout 2: Kickboxing (Lean) Bonus Extension Premixes Credits Workout 1 is Weights  and it clocks in at 29  minutes. This workout is broken down into six groupings that focus on a particular body part.  There are three exercises per group.  One exercise uses a barbell,  the next will use dumbbells, and the last move uses resistance tubing. This is a timed workout in that you are working for a certain amount of time, not necessarily a certain amount of reps. The second workout is Kickboxing and it is your cardio/lean workout.  During this part of the workout, Kelly takes you through a series of kickboxing combos and drills for about 33 minutes. There are lots of premixes on this DVD. Strong Premixes Barbell Only ~14 min Dumbbell Only ~14 min Tubing Only ~14 min No Shoulder Moves ~25 min No Leg Moves ~25 min No Barbel...

I have long seen Stephanie as a background exerciser in several other videos that I owned and I was always impressed with her form. So when I saw that her two workouts were included in a 4 DVD Workout Set that was at a reduce price, I quickly picked up the set. The Ultimate Body Shaper clocks in at 70 minutes and it is a combo workout.  Combo meaning it combines cardio (in the form of Intensity Boost)  with strength training. Along with Stephanie there are two other cast members but there is not a beginner modifier. The DVD offers the following selections: Introduction Warm-up High Step Shaper Mat Shaper Full Workout Cool-Down V8 Bonus Abs What I like about the workout is the count down clock that appeared in each segment.  The warm up and cool down are 5 minutes each and the High Step Shaper and Mat Shaper are 30 minute segments. The High Step Shaper uses a high step.  During this portion you are performing moves standing and seated on the step. You ...

 Discount Workouts Advanced Strength Training Volume 2 workouts come with two 60 minute strength workouts.  The first workout is led by Ashlyn and the second workout is led by Ashley. Both workouts are similar to volume one.  You will do a barbell warm up and then you will hit each muscle group for about 5 minutes.  The exercises are the same for the most part with only the rep count being the only real variation within each set of workouts. Ashlyn and Ashley are okay as instructors. They demonstrated the moves and gave form pointers and encouragement as the workouts went on.  I thought Ashley (she led workout 2) could have cued better. Overall, I have liked the Discount Workouts Strength Training DVDs both the Beginner and Advance series. I give these two workout 3 & 1/2 stars .

The second workout on Discounts Workouts Advanced Strength Training Volume 1 Workout 2 clocks in at just under 60 minutes. It is lead by Jen and follows a similar pattern as workout 1. Many of the exercises are the same and Jen may very the rep pattern and number of sets as you proceed through the workout. This workouts uses mostly the barbell, but a pair of dumbbells, a step, and mat are also used. A little bit more about the DVD. You can select either workout 1 or workout 2.  That's it for your selection. The workouts themselves have 5 minute chapter points built in.  So you can jump around within the workout. However, doing so may land you right in the middle of a track. In other words each chapter point doesn't necessarily start at the beginning of each exercise. I like these workouts.  Solid sculpting, decent background music and Jen is pretty good. 3 & 3/4 stars

 Discount Workouts Advanced Strength Training Volume 1 Workout 1 is a 60 minute total body sculpting workout and it is led by an instructor name Jen.  Jen doesn't say what her last name is and she is the only cast member. Jen also lead one of the Discount Workouts Beginner Strength Training workouts. The only real difference that I can see between the beginner and advanced workouts are that the beginner workouts are 30 minutes and the advance workouts are 60 minutes. The workout is really decent.  It starts with a barbell warm up which I typically don't like. I don't like warming up with weights. Each muscle group is set to a particular track. Often the music to the track would end and Jen would still be doing reps.  Speaking of reps; expect a lot of them. You have a decent rest period as you move from one muscle group to the next.  During this time Jen is  setting up the equipment and explaining the next exercise.   Jen uses a barbell wi...

  Pyramid Lower + Upper Body Combo Premix is a premix that comes on  the Pyramid Lower Body and Pyramid Upper Body DVD.  The premix is called Bonus Combo and it is 54 minutes in length. The Bonus Combo workouts features the "Up" pyramid exercises from the two workouts. In the main two workouts, Cathe takes you up the pyramid where you do less reps and more weight.  She then takes you back down the pyramid where you do more reps and less weight. I like the two main workout a lot.  This is the first time that I have tried the Bonus Combo Premix and I like this one as well. In this premix, Cathe does two lower body exercises before moving on to do one to two upper body exercises. I noticed that I wasn't as efficient as Cathe and crew in changing out my barbell weight.  There were a couple of times when I messed reps and had to reverse the DVD.  Cathe repeats the Leg Press exercises twice and the Bonus Combo does not include any floor work....

  FlexTrain is a mixture of compound metabolic high rep weight training and heavy weight work. It clocks in at just under 57 minutes.  The metabolic exercises move from one exercise to the next, whereas with the Heavy weight work, you are often doing these exercises for multiple sets so the workout slows a bit during this portion. Overall Cathe goes from exercise to exercise not resting much.  I created a worksheet for the exercises and most of them are traditional moves that we have seen before.  It is one of those workouts you can just jump in and do.  While I thought the music a bit funky, I did like this workout.   Speaking of the music, sometimes Cathe work with the beat and sometimes she did not. The workout has three premixes: Timesaver #1 - No Core/Abs 47:48 Timesaver #2 - No Disc + No Firewalkers 47:49 Timesaver #3 - No Disc + No Firewalkers + No Core/Abs - 39:00 Equipment used:  band, loop band, dumbbells, discs, mats 3 & 3...

Extremely Ripped & Chiseled is a compound and isolation exercise workout. The DVD menu offers the following options: Introduction Complete Workout (78:10) 30 Minute Workouts - Lower Body (45:20) - Upper Body (42:35) Each of the workouts includes a 6 & 1/2 minute warm up and a 5 & 1/2 minute cool down.  The warm up is quite energetic and the cool down is relaxing. I like both of these segments. The workout alternates isolation exercises with compound exercises and there are a lot of reps and multiple sets for each exercise performed.  I definitely felt the burn towards the end of some of the sets. What annoyed me is that Jari identified Workout 1 as Lower Body and Workout 2 as Upper Body.  Yet the lower body workout had quite a bit of upper body work.  However, what is excellent  is the chaptering. Each exercise is a chapter point so you can skip different segments easily if you want.  Also, there is a 30 second countdown clock that ...

 Jari Love’s Revved to the Max consist of two 30 minute compound  weight workouts. The workout uses an optional step, dumbbells, and a mat.  In almost all exercise besides the abdominal, Jari first works the right side and then the left. Jari also came up with some funky staggered counting that felt out of sync with the exercises she was performing.  So there were a couple of moves in which I  counted to my own rhythm while performing the exercise. The set is dark.  There are overhead spotlights that are shining down on the participants.  I could see everyone just fine.  There were some cast members who were showing variations on how to perform an exercise. In the second workout, Jari turns over the teaching to Adam who leads two tracks. The music is okay.  For the most part it felt as if you were doing each rep to the beat of the music. Essentially you are performing 6 sets of each compound exercise group. The only time I felt...

Beginner Strength Training Vol 1 is a Gymbox Discount Workouts. This DVD contains two 30 minute Strength workouts. Both workouts are led by an instructor name Chrissie and while they  call the workout beginner, I don't necessarily think they are beginner so much as they are shorter in length than their "Advance" workouts. Both workouts are similar in that there are not any background exercisers.  It is just Chrissie. I am assuming this is how she spells her name as their are no credits.  I thought both workouts were decent workouts. I like that they gave you a complete total body workout - hitting all the major muscle groups - in just 30 minutes.  I did find Chrissie a bit annoying in the second weight workout because she would say we were "done" but she would tack on several more reps.  When she kept doing this, I was like "just don't say anything". In all the exercises, Chrissie plays with the rep count, 2-2, single, pulses, 4-4, 3-1 -...

30 Minutes To Fitness Body Shop consist of two 30 minute compound sculpting workouts.  The only equipment needed are a set of light and heavy dumbbells; and a mat. The DVD menu gives you the following options: Introduction Body Shop Workout #1 Body Shop Workout #2 Premixes Credits Music On/Off option There are nine premixes ranging in time from 16 minutes up to 62 minutes. For the most part, both workouts follow the same pattern.  Kelly does one compound  exercise for the upper body.  She follows this with one compound exercise for the lower body.   She then combines elements of both exercises into a super compound move working both the lower and upper body.  Usually you are doing several sets for the individual compound work but only one set for the super compound exercise.  It all adds up to lots of reps. Throughout both workouts, Kelly throws in dynamic body weight exercises that have a cardio element in between all the multi-joint e...

 Les Mills Pump and Shred clocks in at 45:43.  This workout is very similar to Pump and Burn,  except, this workout contains two extra sections. One for legs that feature a combination of the lunge and squat.  The other track is a shoulder track and that features a variety of shoulder exercises. There are seven instructors on stage with I think five different instructors alternating teaching the different tracks. There is a beginner modifier. During each segment you get a brief break towards the end of the track.  This allows you to make that final push to complete all the reps.  There are also built in breaks between tracks which allows you to change the weights and set up for the next exercise. Equipment used is a weighted bar and weighted plates.  A step is optional. I like the sound track in this one.  All the songs really seem to fit the vibe of the workout.  Fun and full of energy. There is a count down timer in the corner an...

  Les Mills Pump and Burn clocks in at 33:21.  It features a variety of instructors that change in and out teaching a particular track.  There is one cast member that shows beginner modification moves. Pump and Burn is a sculpting weight workout that utilizes a principal they call the "Rep Effect".  Simply put, it means you are doing a ton of reps per track.  The workout is broken down into tracks.  Each track concentrates on a particular body parts or parts.  Mostly you are doing one exercise at various tempos for the length of the track. You are given a brief rest within the track. This usually occurs when you have just over a minute left.  However, between the tracks there is plenty of time to recover because the music stops and you are setting up for the next track.  The instructors also take this time to demonstrate and explain what is coming next.  This is also a time to stretch the muscles. The music is okay. I like s...

Get Ripped is an approximately 55 minute sculpting workout. It features blocks that are based on either an exercise or a muscle group. Within the block the exercises are done back to back and you are doing several reps of each exercise. Within the squat section, you do traditional squats and plie squats. In the chest section, the exercises are push ups and chest press. Back - overhead pullover Triceps - Scull crushers and lying triceps press Lunges are done in the form of dips. Shoulder section contain lateral raise and frontal raise. I like this workout. The soundtrack is pretty good. Jari is quietly motivating and the exercises move at a nice pace. Along with Jari, there are three cast members. The cast members show variation by using either a different piece of equipment or either by modifying the exercise to make it harder or easier. Equipment - club step, dumbbells, barbell, exercise ball, stability ball, and mat.

Amy Bento's Drop Set Strength - well the workout is not 60 minutes long which is the approximate time listed on the back of the DVD cover. If you do the whole workout, we are talking about an almost 90 minute workout. The workout is chaptered and contains the following sections: warm up Legs Chest Back Shoulders Biceps Triceps Core Stretch. Drop sets - with the exception of the legs and core sections, you are performing one cycle for 3 sets of each exercise. The reps for set 1 is 8, set 2 is 10 and set 3 is 12. As you go up in the number of reps, you are suppose to decrease the amount of weight you are using. For some of the Leg exercises you perform two cycles (two times through) for 3 sets of each exercise or you are performing one cycle on the left leg and one cycle on the right. The core exercises are not performed in the Drop Set manner. Here you are doing 4 sets of each exercise. As you progress through the drop sets, Amy tweaks many of the exercises as you move along....

30 Minutes To Fitness Your Best Body is a muscle endurance sculpting workout. The Main Menu of the DVD looks like this: Introduction Warm-Up Workout One Workout Two Yoga/Stretch Premixes Chapters Credits The reason I tend to post what the DVD menu looks like with Kelly's workouts is because vary rarely can you just push play. There is no "Play All". You need to select the warm up and after the warm up the DVD takes you back to the menu where you can select Workout One or Two. So there is a bit of choppiness with it. When you combine the warm up, one of the workouts and the yoga/stretch segment which serves as the cool down, the workouts are each over 40 minutes on their own An extra 10 minutes is too long for a workout that is suppose to be 30-Minutes. I have gripe about this before so I won't do it here. The Workouts: Both workouts are very similar to each other. There are five rounds. In each of the five rounds you work an upper body muscle group, the legs, ...

High Reps is approximately 65 minutes long and it is a muscular endurance total body workout. The workout is set to ten songs. Each song is anywhere from 4 to 6 minutes and each song is dedicated to working a specific body part. You are working that specific body part for the entire length of the song, hence the name of the workout, High Reps, because you are doing a lot of reps for that body part within the song. Now Cathe does vary the exercise within each song and then you might get a 15 to 20 second break/rest but the reps are pretty much none stop and the only thing that varies is the tempo. For example you may start with a 4 count, then a 3 and 1 count then a 2/2 count followed by single counts and then there is a good chance you will repeat the sequence. This will be the pattern until Cathe either changes exercises or the song ends. The workouts uses dumbbells, a barbell, a mat, a gliding disc, and a band. Cathe does give you time to set up your equipment before each s...

Lots of images for you. Out of all the 3 day split series I have, Cathe's Gym Style series is my favorite. The workouts in the Gym Style series are Gym Style Chest & Triceps , Gym Style Legs , and Gym Style Back, Shoulder & Biceps . The two upper body workouts clock in at 48 and 50 minutes respectively and the Leg workout is approximately 64 minutes. Also these three workouts, as you can see, come as their own DVD. All three workouts featured traditional exercises with bonus burns thrown in at the end of the last set. The things that stood out to me: In Chest & Triceps, the workout starts off with drop set push ups counting down from 16 and subtracting two reps as you move down the pyramid . That was tough for me as push ups are not my favorite. In Back, Shoulder, & Biceps, their is an exercise called "Modified Back Extensions" that appear. It is similar to "super mans" but you are doing them off the step. I thought this a unique twist...