High Step Challenge is an awesome cardio + strength workout from Cathe. I love it! It was so much fun, it was intense and it did the job wonderfully—great strength work with fun cardio bursts. This is my favorite type of workout, when cardio and strength can be combined so that you get the best of both worlds and Cathe does it wonderfully here.
Equipment needed for this workout is a step adjustable to 6 inches, 8 inches and 14 inches, a flat 6 foot dynaband, barbell and dumbbells.
High Step Challenge is 68 minutes; 5 minute warm up, 57 minute training period and 6 minute stretch. 6 minutes of the 57 minute training period is core work.
The workout is set up circuit fashion. The circuits are very fast paced with little time between moves—or even between circuits. Even your set up time is more limited than what I’ve seen in other Cathe workouts—so it’s best to have equipment at the ready.
Circuit #1:
Cardio on the 6 inch step. The choreography is basic and I picked up on it quickly.
Leg press with band. (You need the step at 14 inches with the dynaband looped under it; you’ll have an end in each hand to add resistance as you climb the step.)
Tricep push ups off of high step.
Leg press on high step with overhead press. (Cathe only used 3 pound hand weights. I went heavier than this. This move was also a bit of a problem for me because my workout room does not have high ceilings so I couldn’t straighten my arms for the overhead press.)
Tricep dips off high step.
Side/one-arm tricep push ups.
Circuit #2:
Cardio on floor—tons of jumping jacks, plyo jacks, air jacks and tuck jumps.
Squats with barbell
Deadlifts with barbell
Barbell rows
Rows with band
Push ups
Circuit #3:
Cardio is a fun kickboxing routine with the 6 inch step.
Leg press with band
Hammer punch lunges (these double as a cardio move)
Barbell curls
Tricep overhead press with band
Circuit #4:
Cardio is jumping jacks and fast feet shuffles with the 6 inch step.
Plie squats with dumbbell
Seated lateral raise with dumbbells
T-Back squeeze with band
Isolation flies (sitting with band around feet)
Circuit #5:
Cardio move is zig zag hops on floor.
Calf raises off 8 inch step
Decline push ups (feet on 8 inch step)
Dumbbell upright rows
Dumbbell overhead presses
Rear delt fly with band
Hover squats with dumbbell
The workout ends with 6 minutes of core work and stretch. The ab/core wasn’t anything too interesting so in the future I will probably skip it to keep the workout around an hour (62 minutes).
I have a few very minor nitpicks, but they are so minor that I still think High Step Challenge may be one of my favorite cardio + strength workouts. The nitpicks are 1. Even though I like all of the cardio, the first cardio circuit and the third were less intense then the rest. I would prefer that they all be intense—nevertheless, they are all fun! And 2. Since the name of this workout is High Step Challenge, I expected more high step work. I love the high step and even though there was a decent amount of high step work, the title made me expect more.
Wonderful, wonderful fun workout. She hit every muscle and gave you a nice cardio workout in the process.
First off, I love your blog! I am a newer subscriber to Cathe’s OnDemand, so I always read your reviews of her workouts before trying a new one. That being said, I didn’t see a review yet for the Cathe Live High Step Legs and Core – have you tried it? I did it this morning and was sucking wind, but loved it so much. Curious what your thoughts are on it!! Cheers!
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Thanks! That is one of her newer workouts. I unsubscribed from Cathe Live in May and have not yet signed back up. So anything from May onward I have not done. I have too many new workouts to try that I cannot justify the monthly fee right now. I will sign up again eventually and have a lot of new-to-me workouts to try when I do! But for now, my rotation calendar is booked through the end of October with non-Cathe Live workouts. So maybe in November I’ll be thinking about signing up again.
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