Cathe Live Review: Fit Tower Inferno
Fit Tower Inferno is a Cathe Live workout using the Fit Tower. It is a tough total body workout that will keep your muscles challenged all the way though. And yes you can do it without the Fit Tower with just a few modifications.
The Fit Tower is a piece of exercise equipment from Cathe Friedrich, which has an adjustable crossbar that can be adjusted across 10 levels, to make it higher or lower, to assist you in performing both upper and lower body exercises. The Fit Tower also doubles as a squat rack for your barbell too, if you have one.
This was an excellent workout that worked my whole body effectively. I really felt this workout, particularly in my lower body. Fit Tower Inferno is a metabolic strength workout with a few cardio blasts included in order to keep that heart rate up. The lower body exercises are all barre-type moves using the Fit Tower. You work one side of the body and then the other. I found that the cardio blasts, in between, were a good way to let your lower body recover a little bit, before you repeat all of the exercises on the other side. They are all fairly standard cardio drills that Cathe often uses with her barre workouts – jacks, power scissors, sumo squat jumps etc and they really elevated my heart rate nicely. I was definitely breathing harder during a lot of this workout, as it moves quickly from one thing to the next and the some of the moves are very challenging. My legs were physically shaking on some of the high hip pulses (which seemed to go on forever!) and I really had to push myself to finish all of the reps. The routine is fairly high rep throughout – particularly the lower body sections so you will definitely be feeling the challenge.
The upper body section uses the Fit Tower, a resistance loop and 10# dumbbells to get the job done. Initially, I was a little sceptical of just 10# dumbbells but actually for the few exercises they are used for they worked pretty well. This is mainly because your upper body is fairly fatigued from all the other exercises and you are often incorporating it into a compound move, for example, bicep curls and calf raises. (Also I did use 15’s, in this workout, but only during the modified moves where Cathe was using the Fit Tower for Chin Ups / Pull ups).
I don’t own a Fit Tower, so I did this whole workout without one and still got a great total body challenge. I have completed all of Cathe’s Fit Tower workouts, (except the beginner / intermediate workouts that come with the Fit Tower) as she has 3 advanced DVDs and 5 Live Fit Tower workouts (plus numerous Live Barre workouts and a number of DVD workouts / bonus add-ons that use the barre) using a chair and sometimes a full size step to modify. The only real challenge in replicating the moves are for chin-ups / pull-ups and I just substitute moves that work the same muscle groups for those. All of the other moves you can just modify the same move that Cathe is doing. So I have included details below on exactly how you can modify this workout, to be able to enjoy and benefit from it, even if you don’t have that piece of equipment. So don’t let the fact that you don’t own a Fit Tower keep you from experiencing all of the Cathe’s Fit Tower / Barre workouts, as I for one certainly don’t have space for such a large piece of equipment.
Overall, I really enjoyed this workout – it was challenging but fun at the same time and the hour just flew by. So if you have been on fence about whether to try it if you don’t have a Fit Tower – give it a try!
(In case you are not familiar with Cathe Live – it is a streaming service from veteran fitness professional Cathe Friedrich, where she provides access to her live classes filmed at her gym in Jersey. Currently, there are over 200 workouts available in the archive, which you can access at any time and a new class is recorded nearly every week. More details are provided at the end of this article).
The Workout
Fit Tower Inferno is a total body strength workout with a few cardio blasts added in after the lower body sections. The routine is divided into two main sections – lower body and upper body. It starts with lower body barre work, working one side of the body, followed by a few cardio blasts before you move on to the other side of the body. You then repeat the cardio blasts before moving into pure strength training for the upper body, including a few core exercises at the end. To do this workout, you will need a medium tension band and dumbbells, plus the Fit Tower or a chair / step for modifications. More details on the modifications are provided below.
What You Need To Know
(Rating scale – 1= lowest & 5 = highest).
The Moves
Fit Tower Inferno is 61 minutes long and originally aired on 15th November 2018. The workout starts with a 5 minute warm up done on the floor – not using the Fit Tower.
Lower Body – Left Side
Cathe and class use the Fit Tower for all of the lower body exercises (with the bar at hole number 8). However, if you don’t have a Fit Tower you can do all of these moves easily using a chair instead – no modification required).
1. Outer thigh lifts – straight leg lifting out to the side
2. High & tight – feet close together & raise on toes then pulse down
3. High hip pulses – leg bent out to the side & pulse. Starts pulsing in place and then moves forward & back
4. Side leg raises with corresponding arm raising & lowering towards lifting leg
5. Hold leg out to the side & kick out and in
6. Side leg raise with arm out
Quick stretch
7. Straight leg raise in front of you – pulsing with toes pointed and flexed
8. Inner thigh lifts with toes pointing outwards
9. Push dips – facing the Fit Tower or chair stand on one leg and pulse down whilst holding the other leg in the air behind you. This is done for various counts – pulsing, slow count up & down, pulse 3 down & up on 1, low ends and 3x low ends. One 10# db. (This sequence is done on both sides of the body – so left then right).
Quick stretch
Cardio Blasts (at 15 minutes into the workout)
Jumping jacks
Power scissors holding the Fit Tower / chair – 3 sets of 16 reps
Pulsing sumo squat jumps – raising & lowering 1 arm – 32 reps
Jumping sumo squat to lunge – raising & lowering arm – 16 reps
Lower Body – Right Side
All of the moves 1-9 above are repeated on the right side.
After the push dips (on both sides of the body) there is a slightly more comprehensive stretch before going into the cardio blasts.
Cardio Blasts (at 29:40 minutes into the workout)
All of the cardio blast moves above are repeated for the same number of reps.
Upper Body (at 33 minutes into the workout)
1. Incline push-ups on the toes – with hands on the Fit Tower (bar at hole number 4). I used a step with 3 risers or you can just do them on the floor. (16 straight reps then 8 reps of down 1 & up 3 then 8 reps of down 3 & up 1).
2. Tricep dips with hands on the Fit Tower. I again used my step but you could do these on the floor or a chair. 3 sets. (Various reps & tempos are used here – including fast pulsing, down 3 & up 1, down 2 up 2).
3. Band pull downs – with band looped over the top of the Fit Tower & pull both arms straight back. I did straight arm tricep kickbacks whilst standing on the band.
4. Lying on the floor with one heel resting on the bar of the Fit Tower (bar at hole number 4) – raise & lower other leg as you do chest flys. Two 10# dbs. (I just hovered one leg a few inches off the floor & raised and lowered the other leg whilst doing the chest flys. For this I used 15# dbs. However, you could also just keep your feet on the floor & just do the chest flys if you are not comfortable with the leg movement).
5. Chin-ups using the Fit Tower (bar at hole number 9). I did bent-over rows with two 15#dbs.
6. Bicep curls with calf raises. This ends with just calf raises. Two 10#dbs.
7. Sweeping curls then calf raises and then repeat both again. Two 10#dbs.
8. Hammer curls with calf raises. Two 10#dbs.
9. Overhand grip pull-ups using the Fit Tower (hands to the outside of the bar. The bar is set at hole number 9). I substituted renegade rows here (in straight arm plank – row one arm then the other – using dumbbells (I used 10# dbs) but you could do bicep curls, bicep planks etc.
10. Underhand grip T-pulls – loop band around the bar of Fit Tower (bar set at hole number 2) & one leg on the bar. Do T-pulls from there. I just did standard T-pulls sitting on the floor with the band around my feet.
11. External rotations with the band – holding the band between both hands and elbows tucked in to the sides – do quick pulls out.
12. Front raises – one 10# db
13. Band back pulls – with about 18” of space between your hands – hold the band and open / close the hands.
14. Repeat 12 & 13 above.
Core
1. ‘Climb the rope’ – with the band looped over the top of the Fit Tower sit on the floor & lean back and ‘climb’ up the band (hand over hand – 2 up / 2 down). I did these on the floor without the band – from lying position hover the shoulders and upper back off the floor and mimic the same movement pattern.
2. Seated rows with the band (sitting on the floor and leaning back slightly). Fold the band in half and hold it between both hands with straight arms – row to one side whilst lifting the same leg. Then change sides.
3. Leg thrusters – sitting on the floor with hands on the ground behind you - lean back and thrust the legs in and out
4. Straight arm plank – tapping toes in to touch the floor. Cathe does this with her hands on the Fit Tower bar (bar set at hole number 3). I did these on the floor – standard straight arm plank.
The workout ends with a 3 minute cool down and stretch to open up the body (with the Fit Tower set at number 8). You can just use your chair for this if you don’t have a Fit Tower.
Take Action
Try it today! Cathe Live is a streaming service available from Cathe.com – you can subscribe to monthly ($9.99 pm), six monthly or yearly plans and has over 200 live workouts in the archive for you to access at any time.
If you liked this workout, check out Cathe's Live: Lower Body Upper Body Dumbbell Challenge by clicking HERE.
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