For more information on Cathe’s Ripped with HIIT program see the overview post.
Lift It Hit It Chest, Triceps & Shoulders humbled me. That workout was brutal. This was the final workout that I tried in the Ripped with HIIT program and I apparently saved the killer for last. I found a lot of the Ripped with HIIT workouts extremely hard and challenging (HIIT Lower Body Circuit and Plyo HIIT 1 come to mind…) but I was able to keep up with Cathe and match her weights–I even had some up arrows to go heavier the next time I did the workouts. Not so in Chest, Triceps & Shoulders. Cathe is a beast. I did try to match her weights on every exercise and I will say I was successful 75% of the time, but there are also some down arrows. In addition–the finishers! OMG. But I am getting ahead of myself.
Lift It Hit It Chest, Triceps & Shoulders is a split series strength only workout that uses contrast training. And it uses it brutally for the chest work. Contrast training is where you perform a heavy loaded exercise, then follow it with an unloaded explosive equivalent of the same (or similar) movement pattern. This makes sense with lower body work–a lower body exercise followed by a plyometric move (weighted squats followed immediately by tuck jumps is one example). For upper body contrast training, Cathe uses something she calls “finishers” after each exercise. You do 3 heavy sets of each exercise (usually 10-12 reps) then you finish the exercise off with a finisher, which is a different exercise that hits the same muscle group, burning it out completely. In this workout the finishers for chest are different types of push ups. And they were killer. For one, my chest was already burning out and I was always close to failure by the 12th rep of the 3rd set–then to go immediately to a push up for 15 reps? Well, I won’t lie, I dropped to my knees every time. I started on my toes, but halfway through I couldn’t stay there. Even on my knees I was struggling to push them out!
I also really like how both of the upper body workouts work your shoulders–but different areas of it. In Back, Biceps & Shoulders you are working your posterior delts, which makes sense since you are working your back in the same workout. In this workout you work the anterior and lateral delts. I like the way she splits the shoulder work up.
Lift It Hit It Chest, Triceps & Shoulders is 40 minutes long with a 2:30 minute warm up, 35 minute training time and 2 minute stretch. For this workout you need dumbbells, a barbell and a step at 12 inches (4 risers on each side). The weights listed below are what I used.
Flat Bench Press (3 sets) (30# DBs); Finisher: Push Ups
Incline Bench Press (3 sets) (25# DBs); Finisher: Tricep Push Ups
Incline Fly (3 sets) (25# DBs); Finisher: Decline Push Ups
Super Set: Barbell Overhead Press/Upright Row (3 sets) (35# BB); Finisher: Scarecrows (5# DBs)
Super Set: Lateral Raise (10# DBs) and Front Raise (one 15# DB) (3 sets); Finisher: External Rotation Lateral Raises (5# DBs)
Overhead Tricep Extensions (3 sets) (one 30# DB); Finisher: Tricep Dips
Barbell Lying Tricep Extensions (3 sets) (30# BB); Finisher: Tricep Kickbacks (10# DBs
All of the Ripped with HIIT workouts included two Bonus Ab workouts:
Bonus Abs 1 is 10 minutes. I really enjoyed this abs workout. Lots of fun–I love how it starts standing. You will need an 8 pound dumbbell and a mat for this bonus. The workout starts standing, holding one 8 pound dumbbell. 1. Standing Oblique Crunches, 2. Alternating Oblique Crunches with Knee Lift, 3. Lay on mat, still holding one 8 pound dumbbell. Seated Lean Back Crunches, 4. Pullover Sit Ups with a Twist, 5. Pullover Heel Tap Extended Crunches, 6. Set dumbbells aside for this move; High Low Planks with plank Jacks.
Bonus Abs 2 is 13 minutes long. Bonus Abs 2 is much more challenging than Bonus Abs 1 and not nearly as fun. But still, very effective–I really felt it! 1. Seated One Arm V-Ups, 2. Ankle Grabber Sit Ups, 3. Bent Leg/Straight Leg Bike Maneuver, 4. Banana Holds, 5. Alternating Leg Forward Crunches, 6. Hip Lifts into Balancing Snow Angels, 7. Supermans into Swimmers
Premixes:
I’m wondering what you prefer out of the Lift It Hit It / Gym Styles Upper Body workouts since the workouts seem to be so similar and each is focused on the same area although she puts shoulders in with chest/triceps in LIHI instead of just chest/triceps as with Gym Styles. In other words, is there much point (beyond the bonus abs workouts) in getting the LIHI if I already have the GS Upper Body? Thanks! Value your reviews.
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I personally think they are different. They contain some of the same exercises but they also both have different exercises. Gym Styles is straight sets whereas LIHI has finishers, which I really like. After doing all the exercises for a muscle group, Cathe finishes that muscle group off with a high rep/light weight exercise. In addition, I also like the way LIHI splits up the shoulder muscle groups between workouts. So I definitely think there is a point but that’s just my opinion.
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Great points and thanks! Yes she sort of has ‘finishers’ in Gym Styles too but they’re different – she goes to bands a lot as finishers in the GS series or varies hand positions (from memory) as opposed to numbers of reps. I think I will give those two LIHI ones a try – they’re both available as used copies inexpensively – not sure if I want to go the full HIIT series for $100 just yet – so many other programs to get through first! I actually do really like what she does with bands on GS and it inspired me to scale up from my medium/blue band to a heavier black band with more tension/more weight.
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