Perfect 30: Perfect HIIT

Perfect HIIT is part of Cathe‘s newest workout series, Perfect 30. It contains two 30 minute cardio interval workouts. One is a high impact HIIT workout and the other is a low impact HIIT workout. This DVD also includes two bonuses: a Pyramid HIIT Bonus (high impact) and an extended stretch bonus. Almost all of my cardio in the past 6 months has been done on my rebounder so I was dreading the high impact workouts. I have noticed that when I do plyometrics now I feel like a ton of bricks slamming into the floor. The rebounder makes impact so very, very joint friendly (and fun). However, I was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed the bonus Pyramid HIIT a lot. High Impact HIIT was a very good workout. Not as hard as I expected it to be but still an intense workout. Compared to some of Cathe’s other HIIT workouts I’ve done (Ripped with HIIT, Tabatacise, Shock Cardio HIIT), this was easier and definitely had more of a fun factor. But it was still a lot of impact and I do not see myself returning to it very often. I just don’t see the point anymore now that I own a rebounder. Finally, I have always been a fan of Cathe’s low impact workouts but I didn’t love Low Impact HIIT like I expected to. I did like it and I did get a good and intense cardio workout (though not nearly as intense as High Impact HIIT). But I wasn’t crazy about a lot of the exercises–starting from exercises in the warm up. But this has happened before with some of Cathe’s cardio workouts and they ended up growing on me. Maybe this one will, too. I wish Cathe would create premixes that mixed the two workouts up better. As in, creating an hour long cardio workout that alternates a high impact HIIT exercise with a low impact HIIT exercise. I think I would really enjoy that. Oh, and I love, love, love Cathe’s extended stretches. They are always welcome.

High Impact HIIT is 30:30 minutes; 4:30 minute warm up and 3 minute stretch. You will repeat every exercise listed below at least 2 times, a few 3 and 4 times. This was an intense and fun plyometric HIIT cardio workout. What I really liked about this workout is that, even though there are a lot of squat thrusts, tuck jumps and air jacks, Cathe doesn’t rep you out with any of them. Nearly everything is done combo style. So you don’t just do 8 or 12 or 16 burpees or tuck jumps in a row. You do a combo that might include all 3, plus a few other easier exercises and you only repeat it 4 or 6 or sometimes 8 times. And there are also some recovery level moves. The recovery moves have impact but are not plyometric. An excellent and intense workout. Oh, and no snowboarders! Anyone else sick of doing 5,000 snowboarders in a row in every Cathe HIIT workout? Not one snowboarder in this workout. According to my FitBit I burned 253 calories and I was in my peak heart rate zone 58% of the workout.

1. 8 jacks + 8 jump ropes + 4 galloping jacks
2. Squat thrust + plank jack + one regular jack + 2 touch down jacks + line taps
3. 2 lateral taps each side + plyo jack + air jack + tuck jump
4. Squat thrust + surfer jumps + 2 jump rope hops
5. Explosive X jacks + twist hop
6. Pencil shoots (jumps reaching arms straight overhead)
7. Wide stance football runs/Competition burpee (lower body to floor at bottom of burpee)
8. Power scissors with lateral arms (bring straight arms from thighs to overhead as you jump)
9. Squat thrust + forward jump 2x + one regular jack + one air jack + jump rope back 4x
10. Lateral hop in a box + 4 later hops with a tuck jump
11. Wide stance squat thrusts into 2 heel clicks
12. Sports conditioning complex: 4 long jumps + 8 battle ropes (jump while flinging arms up and down as if flinging ropes) + 8 plie jacks
13. 4 seal jacks + 8 high knee runs
14. Slow mogul plank thrusts + one air jack + lateral shuffles

Low Impact HIIT is 30:30 minutes; 5 minute warm up and 4 minute cool down/stretch. Each exercise is repeated twice, a few 3 and 4 times. Like most of Cathe’s low impact workouts, what she really means is lower impact than her high impact workouts. There is hopping. She does a lot of her “low impact hops” that are actually very difficult for me. It’s not a hard move, but if I am going to hop, my entire foot naturally comes off the floor, not just my heels. So for me, there was a lot of hopping. Not a big deal, I don’t mind hopping but for someone with joint issues, this really isn’t joint friendly unless just raising your heels feels normal/natural. According to my FitBit I burned 237 calories and I was in my cardio heart rate zone 53% of the workout. I was only in my peak heart rate zone 25% of the workout. But I did feel like I got an intense cardio workout.

1. Scoop water out of pool (wide squat side to side while scooping arms forward)
2. Rear lunge into forward hop squat
3. Heisman rock and run (triple shuffle + knee raise 3x + 4 alternating wide high knee jogs)
4. Agility drill run front and back (fast feet forward and back)
5. Double hop into fighter stance (with hands in guard, 2 hops then turn to side into a sumo squat, alternate sides when sumo squatting)
6. Opposite hand to foot toe tap and explode (wide squat, reaching hand down to opposite foot then stand with low hop (only heels lifting off ground) while raising both arms overhead)
7. Grounded air jacks (circle arms with side leg raises, stationary leg does a low hop with only heel raising off ground)
8. Agility drill run out-out-in-in (fast feet run–wide to narrow)
9. Grounded star jacks (narrow squat crossing arms in front of you and when you straighten, lift one leg out to side while raising both arms out to side and doing a low jump with floor leg)
10. Double pulse insole snap ups (double pulse squat + insole tap)
11. Load and explode traveling shuffle squats (2 shuffle squats to side then raise arms overhead while raising one leg to side)
12. Halo slams (clasp hands, circle clasped hands from side to overhead then slam arms down as you squat, alternate sides)
13. Prisoner line taps with long reach lunges (prisoner line taps=hands behind head, shuffle squat side to side)
14. Puddle jumpers (wide and low side step + low hop raising only heels off ground)
15. Wind sprints (run forward and tap the ground then run back and tap the ground)

Bonuses:

Pyramid HIIT is 12 minutes. This bonus is high impact. Cathe is using an 8 inch step. One crew member is using a 6 inch step. During the last 10 seconds of each interval and recovery a countdown clock appears in the lower right hand corner of the screen counting down those final 10 seconds. What a fun little workout! The first time I did this, I did the 19 minute premix (#10 below) for a doubles workout (second workout of the day, at the end of my work day) for a burst of intensity. There are no new or unique moves in this. Just tried and true cardio moves done to timed intervals. Some are more intense than others but I still got an excellent little cardio workout. Pyramid in this workout means you start with shorter intervals, work your way up to longer intervals then work your way back down to short intervals. All in 12 minutes. Awesome little bonus!

1. Box jumps (20 seconds of work followed by 20 seconds of rest)
2. Repeat #1
3. Lateral step/leap across the top of step (25 seconds of work followed by 25 seconds of rest)
4. Repeat #3
5. Straddle jumps (start standing on top of the step, straddle jump off and when you jump back on step, hop 2x) (30 seconds of work followed by 30 seconds of rest)
6. Repeat #5
7. Fast feet shuffle (stand behind step, alternate hop-tapping feet to step in front of you) (35 seconds of work followed by 35 seconds of recovery)
8. Swim lunges (30 seconds of work followed by 30 seconds of rest)
9. Repeat #8
10. Long hop turns (stand beside step, facing step, put one foot on step and hop turn so that you end up on the other side of the step, continue alternating sides) (25 seconds of work followed by 25 seconds of rest)
11. Power turning squats (squat with one foot on step and one on floor, hop turn so leg positions are exchanged) (20 seconds of work followed by 20 seconds of rest)
12. Repeat #11

Extended Stretch is 8 minutes. There is nothing new in this extended stretch but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. I always love it when Cathe adds an extended stretch to her workouts and this is another feel good way to end one of her workouts. The stretch begins with Cathe and crew already sitting on the fitness mat. Roll onto back, pull knees into chest and hold; add small hip circles. Extend one leg to ceiling and hold calf. Figure 4 stretch (also called reclining pigeon). Lying spinal stretch (bent knees tilted to one side while arms reach to opposite side). Side lying quad stretch. Sit cross-leg on mat and hinge forward, stretching arms in front of you on floor/mat. Still seated, extend one leg straight in front of you, bend other knee and place foot on floor on outside of straight knee, twist torso to bent knee side, placing elbow against knee and other hand on floor behind you to deepen the strength. Seated straight leg forward fold. Cat/cow stretch. Child’s pose. Upward facing dog. Downward facing dog; add pedaling feet. Standing forward fold, hands clasping opposite elbow. Standing side stretches with arms extended overhead. Cross body shoulder stretch. Tricep stretch. Clasp hands behind back, reaching hands down toward glutes and bending neck forward. It ends with deep breath while reaching arms overhead.

Premixes:

1. Low Impact HiiT + Extended Stretch   36:06
2. High Impact HiiT + Extended Stretch   36:51
3. Low Impact HiiT + High Impact HiiT   52:55
4. High Impact HiiT + Low Impact HiiT   53:27
5. Low Impact HiiT + High Impact HiiT + Extended Stretch   58:56
6. High Impact HiiT + Low Impact HiiT + Extended Stretch   58:42
7. High Impact HiiT + Pyramid Cardio HiiT Bonus + Extended Stretch   48:11
8. Low Impact HiiT + Pyramid Cardio HiiT Bonus + Extended Stretch   47:08
9. Low Impact HiiT + High Impact HiiT + Pyramid Cardio HiiT Bonus + Extended Stretch   70:16
10. Pyramid Cardio HiiT Bonus   19:03
11. Double Pyramid Cardio HiiT Bonus   31:44
12. First Half of High Impact HiiT + Pyramid Cardio HiiT Bonus   30:30
13. Second Half of High Impact HiiT + Pyramid Cardio HiiT Bonus   30:43
14. Double Low Impact HiiT   52:15
15. Double High Impact HiiT   53:52
16. First Half of Low Impact HiiT + Last Half of High Impact HiiT + Pyramid Cardio HiiT Bonus   45:50
17. First Half of High Impact HiiT + Last Half of Low Impact HiiT + Pyramid Cardio HiiT Bonus   49:29