Guide Review: Cathe Friedrich's Low Impact Circuit

The Bottom Line

This is an excellent video offering tons of variety and a great low-impact workout that doesn't fall short on intensity. The circuit-style workout includes 3 cycles, each including an aerobic step segment, a high-intensity segment and a series of strength moves for both the upper and lower body. There are also a variety of pre-mixed workouts available on the DVD as well, so you never run out of options for changing things up. Overall, this is a great choice for intermediate/advanced exercisers who want a total body workout and intensity without the impact.

This total body circuit workout is about 80 minutes long and includes 3 circuit cycles, an ab workout, stretching and a bonus cardio segment. Each circuit includes:

• A low-impact step combo repeated 2-3 times
• A low-impact step blast to raise the heart rate
• A legs/cardio segment
• 3 to 4 upper body exercises

The Step Combos

The step segments are my favorites of the entire video. The music is great, the combos are fun and the Cathe's cueing is spot on. If you're familiar with Cathe, you'll recognize many of the moves here like v-steps on the step and on the floor, scoops, knees around the world, shuffles around the step and more. What I like about the combos is that they flow well, each move going seamlessly to the next so that you're constantly moving. The intensity may be a little low, especially for the first combo, but it's easy to add jumps for more intensity.

The Step Blasts

I also liked the step blasts -- Cathe somehow manages to get your heart rate up (say, to medium-high range) with no impact but lots of arm and leg movements. For example, in the first blast, you go around the step with side kicks and side knees, keeping the intensity up by adding big arm movements. Many of the other blasts have you repeating step kicks or step knees -- all very basic but repeated enough that you really feel the burn. Again, you can always add jumps if you want more of a challenge.

The bonus cardio is another longer step routine along with a step blast that you can add on. You'll also find the bonus cardio is included in some of the premixes.

After the cardio segments, each circuit also includes a legs/cardio exercise. All that means is that you do a lower body exercise designed to keep the heart rate up while working the muscles. These segments last anywhere from 3-5 minutes and include some interesting and dynamic moves. For example, in the first cycle you do a pulsing lunge for 3 counts and then press up into a knee-up with an overhead press using light weights. This is followed by single side lunges pushing up to a one-armed press, repeating this on both sides. Challenging and kind of fun in an odd way.

Upper Body Exercises

The upper body moves are also focused on endurance and Cathe includes a lot of tempo changes for traditional moves like lateral raises, overhead presses, kickbacks and more. She also uses a band for lat pulls, rows and retractions, which is a nice change, and she puts a new spin on some old moves, such as with pushups straddling the step. I wasn't always impressed with the intensity of the upper body moves -- some seemed very hard (the pushups and straddle pushups), while others seemed a little too easy. You may need to make weight adjustments to find just the right level of intensity.

What I've always loved about Cathe's DVDs is that she includes so many options for the workouts. On this one, the premixes include

• Cardio Blast Timesaver (48 min)
• Lower Body Circuit (55 min)
• Upper Body Circuit (55 min)
• Upper Body Sculpt (31 min)
• Total Body Sculpt (47 min)
• All 4 Blasts (9.5 min) - This one is an add-on if you want extra cardio.

As with all her premixes, each of these circuits is a mix and match of the exercises presented in the full workout. The circuit workouts focus more on endurance while the sculpting workouts focus more on strength.

Abs

The ab workout includes plenty of challenging moves requiring no equipment. Some of the exercises involve holding the legs straight out over the floor and then doing reverse crunches. She also includes regular crunches, reverse rollbacks, side jackknife crunches, crossover crunches, oblique lifts, pulsing crunches and what she calls "banana holds" where you lift the legs and head off the floor and hold. Overall, a challenging ab workout, but tough to get through if you've made it through the circuit workout.

Stretch

The stretch is always the best part of any workout and this is no exception. She does stretches for the entire body and most of the stretches are done from a seated position -- a good thing since standing up seems like a lot of work at that point.

I was a bit skeptical when I got this video because I'm not a huge fan of low-impact workouts. But this has turned out to be one of my favorites of Cathe's videos. The combos and blasts include moves that keep that heart rate up even without any jumping, but there are plenty of opportunities to add intensity if you want it. I have to admit I'm also not a fan of circuit workouts - I like to keep my cardio together and my strength training moves together as well. It's very easy to do that with the great premixes Cathe offers.

I also really liked the music in this one, more than the music she used in other videos in this series. I find this a great choice for those days when I want to get a good workout, but I don't feel like working too hard at it.

I think this one would be suitable for intermediate and advanced exercisers, but you'll definitely want to have some stepping experience.