Cathe Live Review: Shock Circuit (#122)
Shock Circuit is an express cardio and strength circuit workout that will definitely get you moving and breathing harder.
The workout consists of nine circuits. Each circuit includes a cardio Hiit drill and two strength exercises. The cardio drills are high impact plyo moves repeated for a set number of reps, such as, burpees and power scissors. You usually do only one set of these unless you need to repeat them on other side of the body. They are not as high rep as Cathe sometimes does but are just enough to get the heart rate up and provide a nice overall metabolic challenge to the routine.
The strength exercises are a mix of upper body, lower body and compound moves. You are transitioning fairly quickly, between one thing and the next, and as many of the moves are using upper and lower body together this provide a little more cardio effect throughout. Cathe generally used lighter weights so I did increase on a few of the moves, shown below. Again the reps are not too high here but just enough to start feeling it. The exercises are a mix of weighted and non-weighted exercises and I enjoyed the variety. Many of the exercises also combined two moves in new and interesting ways, for example, single leg deadlifts with overhead press or deadlifts with bent over rows. Although there are no specific core exercises, in this routine, you are using the core in many of the exercises, particularly during the chest flys and pullovers, where you are doing leg extensions at the same time.
Overall, this is a fun, fast paced circuit workout that targets the whole body. This is great to do on a day when you are short on time or to combine with another routine for an extra challenge.
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The Workout
Shock Circuit is an express cardio and strength workout that consist of nine rounds of one cardio and two strength exercises.
What You Need to Know
(Rating scale – 1= lowest & 5 = highest).
The Moves
Shock Circuit is 39 minutes long and originally aired on 20th October 2016 (#122). The workout starts with a 4:30 minute warm-up before moving straight into the first cardio drill. You will need to ensure that you have your dumbbells close by, as you will be moving quite quickly from one thing to the next. Cardio intervals shown in bold italics below.
Circuit 1
Plyo jacks – 16 reps
Reverse lunge (tapping Db to floor), stand & 1 arm overhead press – one 10# Db – 11 reps (1stside) & 10 reps (2nd side)
Bent over rear flys – two 10# Dbs – 20 reps
Circuit 2
Shuffle, shuffle, drop – 20 reps
Alternating rear lunge & hammer curls – two 10# Dbs (I used 12’s) – 2x both arms, 4x 1 arm, 2x both, 4x 1 arm & 2x both
Alternating side lunges (putting Dbs on ground & picking them up) – two 10# Dbs (I used 12’s) – 28 reps
Circuit 3
Burpees – 10 reps
Lateral plié walks (4 to each side) – two 12# Dbs – 8 sets
Push-ups – mat – 12 reps
Circuit 4
Power scissors – 32 reps
Walking lunges & plié pulses – two 10# Dbs– 4 sets
Bent over rear flys – two 12# Dbs - 10 reps
Circuit 5
3 Rope climbs & attack – 6 sets each side
Warrior lunges – 12 reps each side
Tricep kickbacks in plank – one 10# Db - 12 reps each side
Circuit 6
Lateral hops (lateral hop to side & jump up) – one 8# Db – 16 reps
Squat kick / squat lunge – 10 reps & 8 reps each side
Bicep curls / W curls – two 12# Dbs (I used 15’s)– 3 sets (1x both arms & 2x 1 arm) / 3 sets (W curls - 1x both arms & 2x 1 arm)
Hammer curls / W curls – two 12# Dbs (I used 15’s)– 3 sets (1x both arms & 2x 1 arm) / 3 sets (W curls - 1x both arms & 2x 1 arm)
Circuit 7
Ground & pound – 8 reps each side
Single leg deadlift & overhead press – two 12# Dbs (Cathe starts with 10’s then changes to 12’s after 2 reps. I used 12’s throughout) – 7 reps each side
Plank shoulder snatch – one 10# Db & mat – 10 reps each side
Circuit 8
Spiderman Climbers (wide mountain climbers) – mat – 2 sets of 16 reps
Step out squats - one 15# Db – 12 sets
Chest flys w leg extensions – two 10# Dbs (I used 20’s) & mat – 14 reps (2/2 count)
Circuit 9
Football runs (straddling the mat) – mat – 26 reps (fast)
Deadlift / bent over row – two 15# Dbs (I used 20’s)– 8 sets (1 of each)
Pullovers w leg extensions – two 10# Dbs (I used 15’s) & mat – 14 reps
The workout ends with a 3:30 minute cool down and stretch.
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I think this is one of Cathe's best because:
It's really challenging
Nothing is repeated
Cardio events are sane
It hits every muscle
It's only 39 minutes
Cathe moves us through quickly
Time flies
A+++