Fit Split

Fit Split is Cathe‘s newest fitness program, similar to her 4 Day Split and Cross Train Express programs. Fit Split contains 4 workouts. Each workout is part cardio, part strength. It also contains a bonus core workout and lots of premixes so you can approach these workouts in different ways. The workouts are not sold separately. It comes in a single clamshell DVD case that holds 4 DVDs. Here is the Fit Spilt Users Guide (it is a PDF file). The User’s Guide contains 3 workout rotations: a one month rotation that is all Fit Split, a one month rotation that mixes Fit Split with Ripped with HIIT and a 2 month rotation that mixes Fit Split with Xtrain. The user’s guide also has each workout broken down, a list of all of the premixes and workout cards for the strength workouts.

Before I post this review I plan to do all of the workouts at least twice. I want to approach them in different ways. First I want to do the workouts as presented–the cardio is done first then strength second. Then I want to do the premixes that restructure the workouts the way I prefer to workout–the strength done first and the cardio second. There is a lot of research on this and the consensus is if you want to build muscle, do strength first, cardio second. If your goal is to burn fat, do cardio first and strength second. Cathe has even written more than one blog post about this and yet all of her workouts always put the cardio first, so I can only assume that must be what she thinks the exercisers she is targeting want (and yet she created STS…? A serious muscle building program.). (I cannot find all of her blog posts about this btw–there is no search function on her blog and she has thousands of posts but I know that over the years I have read more than one post on this subject in her newsletter (which is a collection of her most recent blog posts). Here is her most recent post discussing it and here is a good article about it from Daily Burn, plus googling it brings up hundreds more articles about it. ***After posting this, I found Cathe’s search function–at the very bottom of the page, so here are two more of her posts about it: Post 1 and Post 2). Personally, I want both–fat burning and muscle building which is why I love metabolic workouts but I do prioritize preserving and building muscle over burning fat. Finally, I also wanted to do one of the premixes that combines Push Day and Pull Day for an hour long total body strength workout. Once I try the all of the workouts in these different ways, I will post this review with my thoughts.

1/19/18 I have now been done all of the workouts once–as they are presented (no premixes)–and I love them. Yet another excellent set of workouts from Cathe. My favorite is Boxing Bootcamp / Legs & Glutes with Mixed Impact Cardio / Pull Day close behind. But I love them all. Cathe has created a lot of workouts (100s of DVDs + well over 100 Live workouts) so I imagine it is really challenging to create new exercises that aren’t weird or awkward. I hate it when trainers want to be unique and different, and instead they just create exercises that are awkward and not nearly as effective as more common exercises. I want solid workouts that I don’t have a problem performing but that still challenge me, and Cathe delivers again. There are some new to me exercises in some of the workouts, but overall most of the moves are ones I have seen and done before in Cathe’s other workouts. Even though she does use exercises I am familiar with, she combines those familiar moves together in new ways and I love that. As always, Cathe’s strength work is solid and effective.

My only real disappointment with this series has to do with her premixes in comparison to 4 Day Split and Cross Train Express. With Cross Train Express you only get 2 premixes but all of the workouts are on two disks and well chaptered so you can create your own workouts from the chapter menu. 4 Day Split is on two disks, too, and it has an amazing amount of premixes, mixing the workouts up in every imaginable way. Fit Split, on the other hand, has mostly basic premixes (very crappy in comparison to 4 Day Split’s premixes) and the workouts are spread out over 4 disks rather than 2 so you cannot easily make your own workouts from the chapter menu like you can with Cross Train Express. I’m not sure why Cathe did this and I am disappointed. If I want a longer all cardio workout I have to either use a premix that just repeats the same cardio segment (double cardio) or change disks. Why not have premixes that combine 2 or 3 of the cardio segments together into a longer and more varied cardio workout? Part of me thinks it’s because of her Workout Blender. She would rather you pay $20 a month and make it yourself. Her latest newsletter even has an advertisement in it specifically encouraging you create your own Fit Split premixes in Workout Blender. /o: So…. yeah.

Now, I make that petulant complaint with the full knowledge that few trainers take the time to create premixes like Cathe does and the ones that do rarely do as good of a job as she does. So I am not unhappy with this program. I love every workout and I am very happy with my purchase. No buyers regret. In fact, I am thrilled there are two premixes that combine Push Day and Pull Day! That is a big bonus for me. My only real complaint about this program is the lack of premixes that combine cardio segments. There is a lot I love about 4 Day Split but one of the things I return to it the most for is the premix that combines two of the cardio segments into a single 55 minute workout: Cardio Power (Kickbox + Bootcamp cardio). She does the same thing with the two step cardio segments in 4 Day Split but since I hate both of those I never bother with that premix. That is another bonus about this program–I love all of the cardio segments. In 4 Day Split, I only liked 2 of the 4 cardio segments. I just wish there were premixes that combined the cardio segments this program.

This morning (1/22/18) I did the Pull Day + Push Day premix (65:30 minutes) (Pull Day warm up, Pull Day, Push Day, Pull Day stretch). This was an excellent total body strength workout. I absolutely loved it. Plus, it doesn’t have to be 65:30 minutes long. Push Day has a pretty decent short stretch at the end of the strength work so if you want to end it there (and skip the 4 minute Pull Day stretch) then the workout is 61:40 minutes–which works better for me on a work day. At the very beginning of this workout, during the overhand row w/ resistance loop around wrists, there was some bad editing. But that is the only part of the premix that had a problem. I am not sure why there was any editing problem at all since all they are doing is slapping two workouts together back to back, but it’s there. It might not be present in the Push Day + Pull Day premix but I prefer to do Pull Day first so I probably won’t ever bother with that premix (I prefer my back muscles get the best work so I want them the freshest, plus Pull Day doesn’t have the great mini stretch at the end like Push Day does).

1/26/18 I have now done all of the workouts at least 2x and my opinion has not changed. I love these workouts! I also know that in the future when I do them I will do the premixes that swap the cardio and strength segments so you do the strength work first. That was much preferable for me. I can see lots of ways that I will use these workouts in the future. The full workouts, the shorter premixes for doubles workouts and the Pull Day + Push Day premix for a total body strength workout. This is a winner!

Now that I have been through most of my new programs (Jessica Smith’s Walk Strong 1 and Walk Strong 3, and Kelly Coffey-Meyer’s Build & Burn) I have already started creating a 6 week rotation that that combines Jessica’s, Kelly’s and Cathe’s Fit Split. I know many people also bought all of these programs and might find a rotation that combines them all useful, so I plan to post it eventually. I really want to do the rotation myself before I post it, but I do have a list of other workouts I want to do first, so we’ll see.

Low Impact Cardio/Metabolic Conditioning is 48 minutes long; 4:30 minute warm up and 5 minute stretch. Low Impact Cardio is 18 minutes long and Metabolic Conditioning is 20:30 minutes long. Equipment: dumbbells and sliding device. Bonus Abs (reviewed at the bottom) is included on this disk. This is the first workout in the program I did and I really enjoyed it. The Low Impact Cardio was fun and pretty intense–not HIIT level intense, but a vigorous cardio workout. She introduces a few new and fun exercises and also used familiar exercises but adds a twist to them and/or approached them in a novel way. I also really enjoyed the Metabolic Conditioning. I didn’t find it as cardiovascularly intense as some of her other metabolic workouts, but it was a solid total body workout and it did keep my heart rate elevated after doing the cardio. Since this is the shortest workout in the program, both times I did this workout I followed it with the Bonus Abs (below). There is a lot of plank-based work in this workout and in the Bonus Abs. By the end of the workout (so at the end of Bonus Abs since that finished my workout) my wrists were hurting. Now, I do have chronic wrist and thumb joint (CMC joints) problems. My CMC hasn’t given me much problem since I got a steroid injection several months ago, so the amount of pain I felt really surprised me. Just an FYI. The first time I did this workout I did it as presented–with the cardio first. The second time I did it, I did the premix that swapped that order, so you do the Metabolic Conditioning first and finish with the Low Impact Cardio. As expected, I like doing the workout that way much better. My muscles are fresh and have more energy when doing the strength work. Also, though my wrists/CMC joints still ached afterward it wasn’t nearly as bad as the first time. I don’t know if that had anything to do with swapping the order of the segments or if that was just a better day for my wrists/CMCs.

Low Impact Cardio:

1. Lunges w/ jump shot
2. Swinging elbow to knee lunges
3. Woodchop attacks
4. Walk out/walk in planks
5. 4 Ice beakers + 4 long reach lunges
6. 4 Squat digs + 4 galloping jacks
7. Dynamic lunges (alternating side lunges w/ a hop in the middle)
8. Circle squats (each time you squat you turn 1/4 to side using sliding device)+ slider jacks
9. Walk out to plank, slide knees in 2x, walk back to standing  and do 4 sliding jacks
10. Rapid slide outs (rapid side slide lunges)
11. Fred Astaires (glide style)
12. Sliding mountain climbers

Metabolic Conditioning:

1. 6 alternating upright rows + one deadlift; ends w/ just double arm upright rows (15# DBs)
2. Rear lunge w/ curl to overhead press (10# DBs)
3. Push press (squat w/ overhead press) (10# DBs)
4. Squat thrust + plank push ups jacks w/ sliding disks
5. Rear lunge lateral raise/rear flys (8# DBs)
6. Bonus burn rear flys (8# DBs)
7. Dragging planks/moguls (gliding device)
8. Curl press tricep extensions (12# DBs)
9. Cross back lunge curls (8# DBs)
10. W curls (10# DBs)
11. Single leg deadlift iron cross (Cathe used 5# DBs; I used 8# DBs)
12. Deadlifts (Cathe used 15# DBs; I used 25# DBs)
13. Plank tricep kickbacks (one 10# DB)
14. Tricep push ups
15. Chest fly and pullovers (Cathe starts w/ 15# DBs then drops to 10# DBs; I used 15# DBs the entire time)
16. Monster walk core exercise (lay on back, legs straight, sit up while raising one leg and touching foot w/ opposite hand, alternate sides)

Premixes: Basic

• Main Program plus Bonus Abs 60:46
• Metabolic Conditioning First 48:23
• Metabolic Conditioning First plus Abs 60:46

Timesaver

• Just Low Impact Cardio 27:18
• Just Low Impact Cardio plus Abs 39:41
• Just Metabolic Conditioning 29:53
• Just Metabolic Conditioning plus Abs 42:16

Scrambled

• Double Low Impact Cardio 44:04
• Double Metabolic Conditioning 50:28
• Double Low Impact Cardio plus Metabolic Conditioning 64:39
• Low Impact Cardio plus Double Metabolic Conditioning 67:14

Boxing Bootcamp/Legs & Glutes is 57 minutes long; 12 minute warm up and 3:30 minute stretch. Boxing Bootcamp is 19 minutes long and the Legs & Glutes is 22:30 minutes long. Bonus Abs (reviewed at the bottom) is included on this disk. Equipment: boxing gloves (I wore 2 pound weighted gloves), square step @ 10 inches (3 risers), sliding devices and dumbbells. Wow! This is an incredible workout! It has a very long and thorough warm up (lower intensity kickboxing) then it launches into Boxing Bootcamp which consists of 3 boxing combos separated by intense cardio bursts. Then you move into a fast paced and therefore very metabolic lower body workout that was also super intense! I was working very hard during Legs & Glutes. The weights listed below are what I lifted. With the exception of #13 below, I lifted heavier than Cathe on everything so the weights listed below are what I used. Though I do love combining kickboxing with lower body strength work, at only 22:30 minutes long I can see lots of other/additional ways to use Legs & Glutes. What an awesome add on to other workouts! Short, intense and to the point. Plus I could really seriously kick up the burn with a weighted vest. I like the look of some of the premixes, too–more than most of the premixes on the other workout DVDs. The second time I did this workout, I did the premix that swapped the sections–so, after the long warm up you do Legs & Glutes then Boxing Bootcamp and end with the stretch. I really prefer doing it this way. The long warm up really prepped me for the intense lower body work and I was able to come to the lower body work fresh and ready to work hard–which I did! Then when I did Boxing Bootcamp I really felt those kicks in my glutes and hamstrings more than usual since they were already fried from the strength work. And wow–those push dips off the step (#8) are brutal! Brutal!

Legs & Glutes:

1. Slide back lunge
2. Side slide lunge
3. Sweeper lunge (hinge forward and slide foot in and out fast)
4. Deadlifts (30# DBs)
5. Squats (25# DBs)
6. Rear lunge off step (15# DBs)
7. Forward diagonal lunges (15# DBs)
8. Push dips off step (low lunges w/ back foot on step while hinging forward) (12# DBs)
9. Deadlift (30# DBs)
10. Cross back slide lunges (15# DBs)
11. Side slide lunges (one 20# DB)
12. Elevated lunges (lunges w/ back foot on step) (15# DBs)
13. Single leg deadlift (one 20# DB)

Premixes: Basic

• Main Program plus Bonus Abs 69:29
• Legs & Glutes First 57:06
• Legs & Glutes First plus Abs 69:29

Timesaver

• Just Kickboxing 34:26
• Just Kickboxing plus Abs 46:49
• Just Legs & Glutes 38:15
• Just Legs & Glutes plus Abs 49:36
• Cardio 2 Combos 61:49

Scrambled

• Double Kickbox 52:14
• Double Legs & Glutes 60:55
• Double Kickbox plus Legs & Glutes74:54
• Kickbox plus Double Legs & Glutes 79:46

Shred Cardio/Push Day is 55 minutes long; 4 minute warm up and 2:30 minute stretch. Shred Cardio is 22:30 minutes long and Push Day is 26 minutes long. Equipment: step @ 8 inches for cardio, step @ 10 inches for strength work, dumbbells and barbell. Shred Cardio is the most intense of the 4 cardio workouts in this program. It is composed of 12 “blasts.” Depending on your fitness level, those blasts could be HIIT level for you. Though I did find this intense cardio, it really wasn’t HIIT for me. Maybe a few of them were HIIT level. Still intense tho. There are no new moves in this workout–all things you have seen and done before in Cathe’s other cardio workouts, but she does combine them in new and fresh ways. I did enjoy it and I got an excellent and intense cardio workout. FYI–this is all high impact/plyometric cardio–no low impact, which is fine with me, I love Cathe’s plyo work, but I know some people avoid high impact cardio. Push Day complements Pull Day by working the opposing muscle groups. Since I like working my back much better than my chest, I obviously enjoyed Pull Day much more but this is still an excellent workout. I did notice a discrepancy during this workout. For Wide Grip Shoulder Press (#14 below) Cathe states she is using 12 pound dumbbells but the words along the bottom of the screen say she is using 15 pounds. I’m sure she is lifting what she said she was lifting and what appears along the bottom is a mistake. Since the same thing happens in Pull Day (below) it seems like maybe the editing was rushed and mistakes were made. In this workout I used the same weights as Cathe for everything. The second time I did this workout I did the premix that swapped the order of the segments–so strength first, cardio second. Again, I much prefer working out that way. I come to my strength work fresh and am able to perform better.

Shred Cardio:

1. Squat thrust on step + jump on/off step + alternating side lunges
2. Knee off side + 2 jacks + knee off back + plyo jack + jump on/over/on/over step + power 3
3. Salute squats / power 15
4. 4 wide box jumps + 1 narrow box jumps + squat thrust + 1 push up
5. 1 wide box jump + one 180 squat jump + power 3
6. Side jump + jump on/off step (alternate sides) / 3 lateral jumps + 1 tuck jump
7. Knee pulls off step/power 7s (she calls it jump shot but it looks like a power 7)/corner to corner knees
8. 3 power turns + hop in a box/ 3 shuffles on step and turn + side steps
9. Straddle squat hop on step
10. Alternating hop/toe taps on step + 2 squat jacks
11. Swim lunges off step
12. Long jump + side jump + 180 jump + tuck jump + step over step and back

Push Day:

1. Chest press, 10 reps (25# DBs)
2. Chest fly, 10 reps (20# DBs)
3. Repeat 1 & 2 for 8 reps 2x
4. Knee tap push ups, 1 set of 10 reps, 1 set of 8 reps
5. Plyo push ups, on knees w/ hands on step, hands narrow to wide
6. Alternating close grip bench press, 16 reps (20# DBs)
7. Lying overhead tricep extensions, 10 reps (30# BB)
8. Repeat 6 for 12 reps
9. Repeat 7 for 8 reps
10. Repeat 6 for 8 reps
11. Repeat 9
12. Tricep dips off step w/ BB on hips, 32 reps (30# BB)
13. Shoulder press (narrow grip), 10 reps (30# BB)
14. Shoulder press (wide grip), 10 reps (12# DBs)
15. Repeat 13 & 14 for 8 reps 2x
16. Front squat (heels raised on 5# DBs), 12 reps (40# BB)
17. High and tights (barre pulsing squat–raise on toes w/ spine straight, holding the step on its side for balance)
18. Repeat 16 & 17 2x
19. Calf raises, 50 reps (20# DBs)

Premixes: Basic

• Main Program (Pull Day instead of Push Day) 59:28
• Push Day First 54:44
• Push Day plus Pull Day 62:29

Timesaver

• Just Shred Cardio 29:01
• Just Push Day 32:02
• Just Pull Day 36:46
• Push Day Single Set 19:37
• Push Day Two Sets 22:39
• Shred Cardio Only 6 Blast 16:23

Scrambled

• Double Shred Cardio 50:15
• Double Shred Cardio plus Push Day 75:58
• Double Shred Cardio plus Pull Day 80:42
• Shred Cardio + Push Day plus Pull Day 85:10

Mixed Impact Cardio/Pull Day is 59 minutes long; 5:30 minute warm up and 4 minute stretch. Mixed Impact Cardio is 19 minutes and Pull Day is 30:30 minutes. Equipment: dumbbells, barbell, stability ball and resistance loop. I also wore 2 pound weighted gloves for the cardio portion. I really enjoyed this workout. The cardio is up and down–definitely intervals of high intensity alternated low intensity. Not a lot of new moves but she combined old moves in new ways. The strength work was excellent. She did a great job burning out whatever muscle group she was working and I loved the addition of the resistance loop to the upper body strength work. As mentioned above in Push Day, Pull Day complements Push Day by working the opposing muscle groups. I noticed another discrepancy during this workout. The first time you use the barbell is for deadlifts and the info along the bottom of the screen says Cathe is lifting a 45 pound barbell and Cathe also states she is lifting 45 pounds. Next is upright row, also done with the barbell. The words along the bottom of the screen say Cathe is lifting 45 pounds but Cathe removes plates from her barbell–remember, this is immediately after deadlifts. So she is not lifting 45 pounds for upright rows. She doesn’t say what she lowered the weight to tho. But then, the next time you use the barbell is for bicep curls. The words along the bottom say Cathe is lifting 35 pounds and she says she is going to “stay with 35 pounds”–which means it was at 35 pounds for upright rows (the last time the barbell was used). So just FYI, in case you are interested. The weights listed below are what I used tho I was frequently lifting the same weight as Cathe–at least I was the first time I did this workout. The second time I did this workout was when I did the Push Day/Pull Day premix and the 3rd time I did the premix that swaps the cardio with the strength–so you do Pull Day first and Mixed Impact Cardio second. I noticed two things. First, as expected, when I did the strength work first, I felt stronger and was able to lift heavier than I did the first time I did the workout. So the weights listed below are what I used the last two times I did the workout. And second, the cardio felt a bit more challenging when you do it after the strength. You have just finished that long set of stability ball hamstring roll ins, so your hamstrings are fried! Then you start jumping around with the cardio, and it felt more challenging when my hamstrings had just been well worked.

Mixed Impact Cardio:

1. Squat thrust leap forward and back
2. Shuffle to side w/ single arm speed bag then shuffle back
3. Power scissors + football run
4. Scoop forward slide back (skip forward and side step/hops back)
5. Lean back, volley forward + air jack
6. Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, knee pull, side leg raise, knee pull
7. 3 touch down jacks (squat jacks) + 2 tuck jumps
8. Walk forward and back + grapevine
9. 4 lateral jumps (fast then slow)
10. Jab-cross while walking forward and back
11. Squat jacks
12. Swing and go (3 taps side to side then shuffle to side while circling arms)
13. Squat in a box (box jumps + 2 squat jacks)
14. Windmill
15. Open close open knee jacks (jacks w/ cross knees)
16. Zig zag steps
17. Line taps
18. Hopping hips twists/side to side ponys

Pull Day:

1. One arm rows, one set of 12 reps, two sets of 10 reps (one 30# DB)
2. Pullovers on stability ball, one set 8 reps, two sets of 6 reps (all are done to slow 4 count tempo) (one 30# DB)
3. Overhand row w/ resistance loop around wrists, 3 sets of 10 reps (15# DBs)
4. Deadlifts, 2 sets of 10 reps to different tempos (70# BB)
5. Upright row, 10 reps (35# BB)
6. Rear delt fly, 10 reps (12# DBs)
7. Repeat 5 & 6 for 8 reps 2x
8. Lateral raise, 10 reps (9# DBs)
9. External rotation w/ loop around wrists, 10 reps (6# DBs)
10. Repeat #8  & 9 for 8 reps 2x
11. Barbell bicep curls, 10 reps (35# BB)
12. W curls, 10 reps (13# DBs)
13. Sweeper curls (supination curls), 10 reps (18# DBs)
14. Repeat 11-13 for 8 reps
15. Repeat 11-13 for 6 reps
16. Hamstring roll ins w/ stability ball, 16 reps (2 sets)
17. Hamstring roll ins w/ feet turned out, 16 reps
18. Hamstring roll ins, this time done slower and w/ hip lift and lower when feet are in, 8 reps
19. Hamstring roll ins, this time when feet are in pulse hips up 7x, 4 reps

Premixes: Basic

• Main Program (Push Day instead of Pull Day) 54:22
• Pull Day First 59:07
• Pull Day plus Push Day 65:35

Timesaver

• Just Mixed Impact 28:39
• Just Push Day 35:08
• Just Pull Day 39:52
• Pull Day Single Set 25:10
• Pull Day Two Sets 28:26

Scrambled

• Double Mixed Impact Cardio 46:36
• Double Mixed Impact Cardio plus Pull Day 77:04
• Double Mixed Impact Cardio plus Push Day 72:19
• Mixed Impact Cardio plus Pull Day plus Push Day 84:49

Bonus Abs is 12 minutes long. Equipment: gliding devices and resistance loop. This bonus is only included on two of the disks: Boxing Bootcamp/Legs & Glutes and Low Impact/Metabolic Conditioning. This was an excellent core workout! Wow! I felt this working my core in a big way. There is a lot of slider plank based work and the use of the firewalker loop also really adds a new aspect to the exercises, making them more challenging. It is pretty active, too, so it will keep your heart rate elevated and many of the exercises work more than your core. Excellent core bonus!

1. Crab kicks (tap toe w/ opposite hand then reach arms across opposite shoulders)
2. Bear crawls
3. Piston planks (one arm plank squats–bringing hips to heels) while pushing other arm in and out)
4. Sit up and pull foot in (loop around feet)
5. Bicycle maneuver w/ loop around feet
6. Side plank w/ hip lift
7. Straight arm plank toe tap (slow mountain climbers w/ lop around feet)
8. Mermaid (sliding arm in out)
9. Elbow to knee (in straight arm plank, bring elbow to knee under body) (sliding device under feet)
10. Plank moguls w/ sliding devices
11. Pike curls (start in plank w/ sliding devices under feet, slide feet in so you are in plank then open straight legs wide as you slide them back out to plank)