Cathe Live Review: Bootcamp Circuit (#157)
Bootcamp Circuit is a cardio and strength workout consisting of six rounds. This is an excellent bootcamp workout that worked a little bit of everything!
Each round consists of a cardio drill, on the step, followed by three or four strength moves targeting the lower, upper body and core. Many of the strength moves are also compound so this helps to keep the heart rate elevated throughout. The lower body moves are often done using the step, such as, elevated lunges or rear lunge off the step with lateral raise. The upper body moves often incorporate the use of a stability ball and this also acts to engage the core further too. The strength exercises are done using moderate weights and are often reasonably high rep. Sometimes I did feel the work here but it certainly was not as tough as some of Cathe’s strength work.
The cardio drills on the step are all straight forward moves, such as, plunge lunges so there is no choreography involved. Cathe also mentioned various modifications for some of the higher impact moves, like straddle jumps and wide box jumps, in order to lower the intensity or if you didn’t want to use the step. These drills worked me nicely and got me breathing a bit harder. They are not the most intense drills but they did give a nice little cardio effect.
Overall, this was a nice cardio and strength bootcamp style workout that I really enjoyed. It is not necessarily the most intense workout but does work the body nicely and is one I will be returning to frequently.
(On a slight aside, for the Cathletes out there, Cede, from Cathe’s earlier DVDs, is also in this class – off to the left of Cathe so that was really nice to see her again!)
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The Workout
Bootcamp Circuit is a cardio and strength workout consisting of six rounds. Each round has a step cardio blast and a number of strength exercises targeting the lower and upper body. The routine uses a full size step, with two risers each side, a stability ball and various weighted dumbbells.
What You Need to Know
(Rating scale – 1= lowest & 5 = highest).
The Moves
Bootcamp Circuit is 48 minutes long and originally aired on 6th July 2017 (#157). The workout starts with a fairly active 6 minute warm-up. The step is set up horizontally in front of you, at the start of the workout, and is used in the warm-up for toe taps and to rest your hands on for some of the stretches. As the cardio drills are done on the step, along with some of the lower body moves, you will need to make sure that there is room behind and to the sides of your step. Cardio moves are shown in bold italics below.
Circuit 1
Plunge lunges –step – 64 reps (2 x8 are low impact)
Elevated Lunges with 1 arm press – one 10# dumbbell & step – 16 reps
Kettlebell front swing & double arm pull down – two 10# dumbbells – 8 reps & then 4 reps of swing only
Push-ups on the ball – stability ball – 2 sets of 8 reps
Ball jumping jacks & heels forward – stability ball – 2 sets of 32 reps
Circuit 2
Straddle jumps – step - 2 sets of 12 reps
Squats & deadlifts – two 15# dumbbells (I used 20’s) – 4 sets (4x squats & 2x deadlifts)
Incline arcs on the ball – two 8# dumbbells & stability ball – 12 reps
Incline front raises on ball – two 8# dumbbells & stability ball – 8 & 4 reps (single & both arms)
Side plank with 1 arm snatch – one 10# dumbbell & mat – 12 reps
Circuit 3
Swim lunges on step – 10 sets of 8 reps (swim, high & low)
Rear lunges with lateral raise – two 8# dumbbells & step – 16 reps & 24 reps
Incline hammer curls on ball – two 12# dumbbells & stability ball – 10 sets (single & double arms)
Incline sweeping curls – two 12# dumbbells & stability ball – 6 reps
Incline straight bicep curls – two 12# dumbbells & stability ball – 7 reps
Rollouts on the ball – stability ball – 8 reps then ball circles each way
Circuit 4
Power 15's – step – 4 sets
Rear lunges with hammer curls. Changes to curl and overhead press – two 10# dumbbells & step – 4x 3’s, 8x overhead & 4x singles
1 arm row – one 10 & one 15# dumbbell (I used 1x20) & stability ball – 16 reps
Tricep kickbacks in plank – one 10# dumbbell – 16 reps
Circuit 5
Wide box jumps onto step & plyo jack on the floor – 2 sets of 8 reps (fast)
Side lunge (setting down & picking up db) – two 12# dumbbells – 34 reps
Chest flys on the ball – two 15# dumbbells (I used 20’s) & stability ball – 20 reps
Tricep dips – step – 40 reps & 24 reps
Circuit 6
Knee off the side and lateral hop across step lengthwise (x 6) – step – 4 sets
Incline tricep push-ups – step & mat – 5 sets & 4 sets
Preacher curls on the ball – two 12# dumbbells & stability ball – 14 reps & 8 reps
Pullovers on the ball – two 12# dumbbells (I used 15’s) & stability ball – 16 reps
The workout ends with a 2:30 minute cool down and stretch using the stability ball.
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