Low Impact Step + Total Body Sculpting

After doing the two easy Cathe workouts I’ve had laying around for years (Basic Step and High Step Circuit) I decided to buy her other beginner level workouts that I’d seen but not bothered with. Cathe doesn’t have a ton of beginner level workouts but she does have a few and now I own all of the ones that are available on DVD. They will all be reviewed over the the next few weeks. Two workouts came on this DVD: Low Impact Step and Total Body Sculpting. There are also 3 premixes on this DVD combining the two workouts.

I am so glad I bought this DVD. These workouts (plus Basic Step and High Step Circuit) are perfect for me while I am going through chemo. They are also perfect for beginners or someone recovering from an injury or illness. Low Impact Step is a moderate intensity low impact cardio step workout and Total Body Sculpting is a total body strength workout.

Low Impact Step is 37: 30 minutes long; 7:30 minute warm up and 4 minute stretch. It is done on a 6 inch step and it is a really small–bigger than the square high step, but shorter than the full length step Cathe uses in her advanced workouts that I am familiar with. I used my full length club step and it worked just fine. Low Impact Step consists of 2 step combos separated by 2 “blasts.” Below are the finished combos but Cathe builds and layers them. Combo #2 is more complex than Combo #1 but I had no problems following the step choreography–and I do have a problem with complex step choreography.

I loved this workout. LOVED it! It is basically a shorter and easier Low Max! And I love Low Max! This workout is perfect for me right now. It gave me an excellent cardio workout, didn’t tear me down, and gave me the perfect amount of challenge. And it was fun! I can definitely see returning to this one frequently during treatment. ***7/04/18 update: I did the Lower Body Cardio Blast premix this morning and it definitely increases the level of this workout–and fried my legs! Excellent premix!

Combo #1: mambo cha-cha’s w/ pivots (on the floor); over facing over; outer thigh lift w/ drop squat into pendulum; step knee + step kick + insole.

Blast #1: Dynamic outer thigh lifts; changes to dynamic outer thigh in around the world pattern; changes to corner to corner front kicks; power 7 + power 3s; repeat blast

Combo #2: step insole on step + one insole to the back (floor); L step w/ heel tap w/ bow and arrow arms; over the top laterally; 6 count pendulum; abduction repeater; one knee, circle step w/ a skip; step onto step then lunge to each side and exit step off back.

Blast #2: step off side of step and push up, lifting outside leg straight to side and pushing arms overhead; one leg on step, slightly bent in partial squat, tap other leg on and off step; squat pulse 4x (one foot still on step) then lift up, raising outside straight leg to side (changes to 2 squat pulses, then singles); repeat blast on other leg

Total Body Sculpting is 28 minutes long; 3 minute warm up and 45 second stretch. However, Cathe stretches your muscles out well between most of the exercises. Equipment: stability ball and dumbbells. This is actually a pretty solid total body beginner level workout. Use the right dumbbells and Cathe burns your muscles out on some of the upper body exercises. I used this as an after chemo workout and it did the trick. It didn’t run me into the ground or overwork me but gave me a nice total body conditioning workout so that I was doing something even when I wasn’t at 100%. You only do one set of most of the exercises, so if you want to get an even better workout, do the premix in which you do two sets of each exercise. Cathe and crew were using 3 pound dumbbells. Listed below are the weights I used for each exercise. I do want to add that pre-chemo this workout would never have been sufficient for me and even now on my good days I do more advanced and thorough strength training, but for what this is–beginner level total body–it does the job nicely. And as I mentioned, it is exactly what I need after an infusion.

1. Squats holding stability ball; add pressing ball overhead when standing; add 3 pulses when squatting; return to singles but instead of pressing ball overhead when you stand, you toss it overhead; changes to 3 pulse squats holding the ball in front of you
2. Front lunge, twisting ball to side and pulsing 3x
3. Lay abdomen on stability ball, place one palm over the other hand under chin, elbows out to side and raise and lower head/chest/arms
4. Sit on ball and hinge forward at hips, do a wide row (10# DBs)
5. Push ups w/ hips on ball; walk forward so shins are on ball and do more push ups
6. Seated on the ball, do front raises; changes to pulling DBs back to shoulders after raising them straight in front of you (6# DBs)
7. Bent arm side lateral raises; ends w/ pulses at top of move (5# DBs)
8. Lying overhead tricep extensions (head/shoulders on ball w/ hips raises) (8# DBs)
9. Lay belly on ball and do tricep kickbacks (5# DBs)
10. Preacher curls (behind ball, chest on ball, back of arms on ball, do bicep curls); first you do full curls then partials; ends with full curls (9# DBs)
11. Hammer curls seated on the ball (9# DBs)
12. Modified side plank w/ side leaning on ball, bottom leg bent w/ knee on floor and top leg straight, raise and lower straight leg; changes to pulses at top of lift
13. Lay on back w/ calves on ball, heels close together and toes turned out, and raise hips, roll ball in and out
14. Basic crunches w/ feet/calves on ball
15. Lay on back, knees bent and feet on floor, holding ball between hands overhead, alternate raising one knee and doing a crunch, raising ball to knee
16. Sit up, legs extended in front of you w/ knees slightly bent, holding ball between both hands, twist ball side to side, pulsing each side

Premixes:

Cardio & Weight Circuit 69:30 minutes (step warm up and cool down, step combos/blasts alternated with strength work)

Solid Sculpting 45:30 minutes (2 sets of most of the exercises from Total Body Sculpting)

Lower Body Cardio Blast 49 minutes (step warm up, step combos/blasts alternated with lower body strength work, lower body stretch; after each step combo you do both blasts, one right after the other, so each blast is done twice; after the first combo/blast you only do the standing legs portion once, after the second combo/blast you do the standing legs again then you do the floor work–you repeat #13 immediately with no rest)