Cathe Live Review: Cardio & Weights (Upper Body) (#4)
Cardio & Weights (Upper Body) is an amazing cardio and strength workout focused on the upper body and core. I absolutely love this routine. There are so few of this type of workout on Cathe Live and even on the DVDs there are only a few that focus on cardio and just upper body. So it’s really great to have such a fun and challenging one. This reminded me slightly of Ripped with Hiit Upper Body Circuit – another one I love.
The workout is a mix of cardio blasts and upper body strength moves, and ends with a short core section on the floor. The whole workout is very metabolic and cardio focused so my heart rate was pretty elevated throughout. You will definitely be breathing hard in places and feeling the challenge. It is such a fun routine too so the time just flies by and I was a little bit disappointed that it ended so soon even though it is 54 minutes long!
The cardio blasts are a mix of more steady state cardio and high impact Hiit drills. These often involve a little sequence of moves, for the more steady state sections, or several drills, one after the other, for the Hiit moves. None of these are done for too long but are just enough to really get that heart rate up. You then move immediately into metabolic strength exercises for the upper body. However, many of these also involve the lower body, whether it’s doing lunges, squats, kicks or shuffles while you do the upper body exercise. This, combined with the fact that there is little rest between the different moves, really keeps it more cardio focused throughout. The upper body moves are generally not using heavy weights, as Cathe keeps it a bit lighter here as you are already fairly fatigued from the cardio. I did increase my weights on a few of the moves, which are noted below, but it’s difficult to go too heavy as you are moving quickly, the pace of some of the moves is very fast (e.g. the alternating overhead presses) and the reps are sometimes quite high. Many of the moves also involve the use of resistance tubing or your own bodyweight so this provided variety to the different exercises and worked the muscles in different ways. This is not comprehensive strength training but Cathe does hit each muscle group at least once. I particularly found the two sets of 16 push-ups challenging as they were so fast it was difficult to keep good form.
The workout ends with a short core section that starts with supermans. This was a nice mix of a few different exercises. It definitely wasn’t the toughest core section but did work the area effectively.
Overall, this is a high energy, cardio and metabolic strength workout for the upper body and core. I love this format and got a great workout. This is definitely one I will return to very frequently, as it’s both a fun and effective routine.
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The Workout
Cardio & Weights (Upper Body) is a cardio and metabolic strength workout focused on the upper body. The routine ends with a short core section on the floor.
What You Need to Know
(Rating scale – 1= lowest & 5 = highest).
The Moves
Cardio & Weights (Upper Body) is 54 minutes long and originally aired on 29th May 2014 (#4). The workout starts with a 4 minute warm-up, before moving straight into the first cardio section. Cardio moves shown in bold italics below.
Jacks (turning) / fast scissors / jump ropes
Jack & jab / jacks (different arm patterns) / plyo jacks / twist hops
Squat press – two 10# Dbs – 16 reps
Front raise - one 10# Dbs – 14 reps
Squat press - two 10# Dbs – 14 reps
Front raise - one 10# Db – 12 reps
Shuffle to side x4 then jump up x2 – 14 reps
Quarter turn jump squats – 10 reps
Shuffle to side x4 then jump up x2 – 8 reps
Quarter turn jump squats (other side) – 12 reps
Plie squat & upright row - two 10# Dbs (I used 12’s) – 24 reps
Rear delt flys - two 10# Dbs – 12 reps
Plie squat & upright row - two 10# Dbs (I used 12’s) – 16 reps
Rear delt flys - two 10# Dbs – 10 reps
Double hops / butt kick runs / pendulums / jog & high knee runs / jump rope
Double scissors / fast scissors / power scissors
Jump ropes & jacks
Rear pulse lunge x3 / rear lunge & 3 hammer curls – two 10# Dbs – 12x lunge only & 6x lunge / hammer
Rear lunge & 3 hammer curls / sweeper curls – two 8# Dbs (I used 10’s) – 10x lunge / hammer, 10x sweeper, 12x lunge / hammer & 8x sweeper
Bicep isometric hold & front kicks (hold Dbs halfway then add alternating front kicks) – two 8# Dbs (I used 10’s) – 32 reps
External rotations w/ boxer shuffles – resistance tubing – 56 reps
Jog & high knee runs (lay band on floor as a marker; jog around it 2x then high knee run behind it) – resistance tubing
3 power hops forward & 4 jacks (turning to other direction) – resistance tubing – 8 sets
Ice breakers – 16 reps
1 Arm rows – Cathe holds two 12# Dbs in one hand (I used 1x 20) – 16 reps each side
Alternating overhead press (fast) – two 12# Dbs– 32 reps
1 Arm rows – Cathe holds two 12# Dbs in one hand (I used 1x 20) – 16 reps each side
Alternating overhead press (fast) – two 12# Dbs – 32 reps
Band hops (front, back, front, front, back, front, back, back - traveling the length of the band and back) – resistance tubing
Fast scissors over band – resistance tubing
Wide band pull hold & back lunge & front kick – resistance tubing – 16 reps each side
Push-ups (fast) – mat – 2 sets of 16 reps
Shuffle, shuffle, drop - 12 sets
Lateral skates – 24 reps
Shuffle, shuffle, drop - 20 sets
Lateral skates – 32 reps
Overhead tricep extensions – resistance tubing – 13 reps (2/2 count)
Tricep dips – mat – 24 reps
Scorpion presses on knees (tricep push up w/ leg lift) – mat – 10 reps
Overhead tricep extensions – resistance tubing – 8 reps (2/2 count)
Tricep dips – mat – 24 reps
Scorpion presses on toes – mat – 7 reps
Quick water break & upper body stretch at 44:55 minutes
Core on mat at 46 minutes
Supermans – mat – 24 reps (goal post arms) & 24 reps (straight arms out)
Butterfly sit-ups (lay on back, soles of feet together) – mat – 8 reps (arms straight) & 12 reps (hands behind head)
Sit-ups w 2 punches at top / sit-ups w speed bag arms - mat
Reverse crunches – mat – slower then faster
The workout ends with a 2:30 minute cool down and stretch.
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If you liked this workout, check out my review of Cathe Live: Upper Body Circuit w Hiit (#216) – HERE.
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