Cathe Live Review: Strong Total Body (#76)
Strong Total Body is a fantastic and slightly different total body strength workout. I loved this routine – it has so much variety and I loved the format.
This workout is a little different to Cathe’s usual pure strength, total body workouts in that it includes the normal moderate to heavy strength work, for both upper and lower body, but also includes many compound moves, for the lower body, which makes the whole routine much more metabolic. My heart rate stayed fairly elevated throughout and I got a great workout.
The routine alternates a few lower body exercises with a few upper body exercises and you repeat this format a total of four times. As mentioned, many of the lower body moves are compound exercises and use slightly lighter dumbbells or just your own bodyweight. These moves tend to be done at a reasonable pace and provide more of a cardio effect. There are also more traditional strength moves, for the lower body, using heavier weights, such as deadlifts and static lunges. I found some of the lower body work quite challenging, particularly the static lunges / pulsing static lunges.
The upper body strength moves are all traditional exercises using moderate weights. I increased on a few of the moves but some are moderately high rep exercises or supersets where you do two exercises, back to back, and then repeat them. This really helps to burn out the muscles and my triceps, in particular, found this challenging. Cathe does manage to hit every muscle group and my whole body felt well worked by the end.
The workout ends with a short core section on the floor. This also incorporates quite a bit of lower body work too so I was feeling both my hips and core during this section.
Overall, an excellent and metabolic, total body, strength challenge that works every muscle group. This is definitely one I will be returning to often.
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The Workout
Strong Total Body is a pure strength total body workout that ends with a short core section.
What You Need to Know
(Rating scale – 1= lowest & 5 = highest).
The Moves
Strong Total Body is 47 minutes long and originally aired on 12th November 2015 (#76). The workout starts with a 5 minute warm-up, before moving into the first non-weighted lower body exercise.
Lower Body
Squat kick, squat lunge – 8 reps each side
Step out squats – one 10# Db – 8 reps each side
Side pick-up lunge – one 10# Db - 24 reps each side
Upper Body - Biceps
Bicep curls – two 10# Dbs (I used 12’s) - 12 reps
Hammer curls – two 10# Dbs (I used 12’s) - 12 reps
Bicep curls - two 10# Dbs (I used 12’s) - 12 reps
Hammer curls – two 10# Dbs (I used 12’s) - 12 reps
Sweeper curls – two 12# Dbs (I used 15’s) - 10 reps
Lower Body
Deadlifts – two 20# Dbs - 12 reps
Squat & overhead press – two 10# Dbs – 12x both arms, 8x 1 arm (alternating) & 8x both
Single leg deadlift, curl & overhead press (Db held horizontally between hands) – one 15# Db (I used 1x 20) – 6 reps each side
Upper Body – Shoulders & Back
Plie squats & upright row – two 12# Dbs - 16 reps
1 Arm rows – one 20# Db - 16 reps each side
Plie squats & upright row - two 12# Dbs - 16 reps
1 Arm rows – one 20# Db - 16 reps each side
Rear delt flys – two 12# Dbs - 16 reps
Lower Body
Static lunges – one 20#DB - 24 reps each side
Pulsing static lunges – one 10# Db (I used 1x 12) - 24 reps each side
Upper Body – Shoulders & Triceps
Lateral raises – two 5# Dbs – 16x singles, 4x 3.5’s, 4x 3.5’s & 8x singles
Standing overhead tricep extensions – two 12# Dbs- 12 reps
Tricep dips – step - 24 reps
Standing overhead tricep extensions – two 12# Dbs- 12 reps
Tricep dips – step - 24 reps
Lower Body
Lateral plie walks – two 12# Dbs – 8 sets
Plie squats – two 12# Dbs – 8x singles, 4x 3.5’s & 8x singles
Upper Body – Chest & Back
Chest flys – two 12# Dbs (I used 20’s) & step- 12 reps
Pullovers - two 12# Dbs (I used 15’s) & step - 4 reps (4/4) & 6 reps (2/2)
Chest flys - two 12# Dbs (I used 20’s) & step - 12 reps
Pull overs - two 12# Dbs (I used 15’s) & step - 4 reps (4/4) & 6 reps (2/2)
Quick water break and get out mat for core at 38:05 minutes
Core on mat at 38:40 minutes
Seated 1 arm V-Ups (lying on side of one cheek, raise & lower straight legs towards 1 arm) / seated 1 arm knee-ins – mat – 8 reps of each on each side
Seated 1 arm V-Ups / seated 1 arm knee-ins – mat – 6 reps of each on each side
Heel taps (crunch knees in & tap heels to floor) / layout crunch (crunch knees in & then legs & arms straight out) – mat – 12 reps
Reverse crunches – mat - various tempos
Straight arm plank knee-ins (bootcamp planks) – mat – 16x singles & 8x doubles
Elbow plank march - mat
The workout ends with a 2:30 minute cool down and stretch.
Take Action
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If you liked this workout, check out my review of Cathe Live: Push Pull (#45) – HERE.
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