Cathe Live: 426 PHA Strength: Heavy Weight Express

When Cathe had her 2024 Black Friday Sale, I decided to peruse her Live workouts and see if any looked interesting. There were quite a few! She has a lot of PHA workouts, which I love. So when I saw “heavy weight” in the title of this one, it went into my shopping cart. PHA stands for Peripheral Heart Action. What this means in training terms is you alternate between upper and lower body resistance exercises, allowing as little rest as possible between each movement. The lack of rest and recovery keeps your heart rate elevated for cardiovascular and fat burning benefits, while switching between upper and lower body exercises maximizes blood flow to all parts of the body and reduces build up of lactic acid. What this generally translates to, when done properly, is a total body metabolic strength workout with a high calorie burn.

This was an excellent total body strength exercise. Though I generally like longer workouts, I like the length of this one because it can be combined with another workout. This morning I did one of her 30 minute (live) cardio workouts after I finished this. Though it was short, my muscles still felt well worked. And because it is metabolic I burned 274 calories in just under 34 minutes while also getting a total body strength workout. Cathe was having shoulder problems so she used light weights for a few of the exercises and for some exercises she did not lift at all, just coached us.

Here is a clip of this workout. You can do this workout by subscribing to Cathe Live or purchasing it as a download.

PHA Strength: Heavy Weights is 33:48 minutes; 7:10 minute warm up and 2 minute stretch. Equipment: full step at 14 inches (5 risers), light barbell plates and dumbbells. The barbell plates are to lift your toes during one exercise. I used heel wedges to elevate my toes. You will use 10, 12 and 15 pound dumbbells for the warm up. For the main workout (not the extended warm up) each exercise is done for 12 reps. I listed the weights Cathe used as well as the weights I used. If only the weight is listed then I used the same weight as Cathe did.

Last 4:25 minutes of warm up:

1. Tricep dips off step
2. Bicep curls (10# DBs)
3. Push ups to various tempos
4. Squats (10# DBs)
5. Repeat #4 w/ heavier DBs (12# DBs)
6. Repeat #5 w/ heavier DBs (15# DBs)

Circuit 1:

1. Sumo squats (stand with legs wide and toes turned out, hold one heavy DB by bar w/ both hands) (Cathe is using one 45# DB, I used one 60# DB)
2. Pullovers (Cathe is using 10# DBs, I used one 40# DB)
3. Deadlift (Cathe is using 30# DBs, I used 35# DBs)
4. Overhead shoulder press (Cathe coached, I used 20# DBs)
5. Alternating reverse lunges (20# DBs)
6. Close grip chest press (narrow tricep press–arms are kept close to sides w/ palms facing each other) (Cathe is using 10# DBs, I used 20# DBs)
7. Alternating side lunges (20# DBs)
8. Bicep curls (done to different tempos) (Cathe is using 10# DBs, I used 16.5# DBs)

1:45 minute rest

Circuit 2:

1. Front squats (hold one DB in both hands in front of chest) (Cathe is using one 25# DB, I used 30# DBs)
2. Single arm row (one knee and same side hand rest on step) (Cathe did not reveal her DB weight, I used one 40# DB)
3. Deadlifts with toes elevated (toes are elevated on barbell plates) (Cathe is using 30# DBs, I used a heel wedge for my toes and 35# DBs)
4. Alternating overhead shoulder press (Cathe coached, I used 20# DBs)
5. Rear lunges, 12 on one leg then 12 on the other (20# DBs)
6. Chest flys (Cathe coached, I used 20# DBs)
7. Side lunges, 12 to one side then 12 to the other side (hold one DB in both hands at chest) (Cathe is using one 25# DB, I used one 30# DB)
8. Bicep curls (done to different tempos) (Cathe is using 10# DBs, I used 16.5# DB)