Cathe Live Review: Total Body Step Circuit Plus Core (#202)
Total Body Step Circuit Plus Core is a cardio and strength circuit workout that ends with a core section on the floor. This was a pretty intermediate level workout and was definitely not as tough as many of Cathe’s other circuit style routines.
The workout consists of five circuits. Each circuit includes a cardio step blast, followed by a three or four different strength moves for the upper and lower body. Many of these are compound moves and some also use the step and this helps to keep the heart rate a little higher. However, Cathe does take a few more breaks during this routine and the cardio blasts are not as tough as they sometimes are. So although I did get a nice workout, I definitely wasn’t going all out.
The step cardio blasts are a few straight forward moves, combined together, and then repeated for a set number of reps – so no choreography. These generally were not high rep although they did get me breathing a little harder.
The strength moves are done using slightly lighter weights than Cathe sometimes uses. If I did this routine again I would definitely increase my weights. This is not a comprehensive strength routine but I did feel some of the moves and felt nicely worked afterwards. In addition, some of the moves are reasonably high rep so this helped a little.
The workout ends with a short core section. This included a range of different moves – some that were not as familiar - so it was nice to work the core in a slightly different way. Again though this wasn’t the most challenging core section as Cathe took more breaks than usual and I never really felt the burn here.
Overall, this is an intermediate level circuit style workout that would be good for a slightly lighter day or when you don’t want to go all out. It is not necessarily a favourite for me, given the amount of jumping on and off the step, and it just didn’t have quite the same fun factor that many of Cathe’s other routines do so I probably won’t be returning to it.
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The Workout
Total Body Step Circuit Plus Core is cardio and strength circuit style workout, which ends with a short core section on the floor. The routine consists of 5 circuits plus the core section. Cathe used slightly lighter weights than she usually does and a full size step, with two risers each side.
What You Need to Know
(Rating scale – 1= lowest & 5 = highest).
The Moves
Total Body Step Circuit Plus Core is 47 minutes long and originally aired on 14th June 2018 (#202). The workout starts with a fairly low key 4 minute warm-up, before moving into the first circuit. The step, with two risers on each side, is set up horizontally in front of you at the start of the workout and remains at 8” throughout. Cardio moves shown in bold italics below.
Circuit 1
Knee off side & lateral jumps over x6 - step – 6 sets
Squat press – two 10# dumbbells – 31 reps
Leg abduction & 1 arm upright row – one 10# dumbbell & step – 16 reps each side
Lateral raises & front raises – two 8# dumbbells – 2 sets of 8x 1 arm (side), 8x 1 arm (front) & 2 sets of 4x both arms (side), 4x 1 arm (front)
Circuit 2
Squat thrust & jump on & off step – step – 4 sets & 8x jumps on / off step then repeat again
Lateral walks – two 10# dumbbells – 6 reps
W curls – two 12# dumbbells – 24 reps (1 arm) & 8 reps (both arms)
Sumo squat & hammer curls – two 10# dumbbells – 20 reps
Circuit 3
3 Salute squats & power 3's – step – 3 sets of 3 salute squats & 2x power 3’s each side
Walking pulse lunges & plie squats – two 10# dumbbells – 6 sets
Tricep dips (jumping & kicking out alternating legs) – step – 24 reps & 16 reps
Rear lunges off step – two 10# dumbbells & step – 6 sets of 1x 3 pulses & 2x singles
Tricep overhead extensions – two 12# dumbbells – 10 reps
Circuit 4
7x Angled knee raises off side of step, 8x leg abductions (jumping), 2x power 3's & knee corner to corner – step – 4 sets
Rear delt flys – two 10# dumbbells – 6x singles & 4x 3 flys (you then go straight into the next move)
Crossback lunges with sweeper curls – two 10# dumbbells – 12 reps
Rear delt flys – two 10# dumbbells - 4x singles, 4x 3 flys & 2x 7 flys
1 Arm rows - two 10# dumbbells (I used 1x 20) – 20 reps each side (fast)
Circuit 5
Wide box jumps & plyo jacks – step – 9 sets
Plyo jacks (on floor) – 12 reps & 8 reps
Squat off side of step – one 15# dumbbell & step – 18 reps (1st side) & 16 reps (2nd side)
Incline push-ups – step – 2 sets of 8 reps (on 2nd set – raise 1 arm)
Plyo push-ups – step & mat – 12 reps
Chest fly with leg extensions – two 12# dumbbells (I used 15’s) & step – 16 reps
Get mat out & move to floor for Core (at 36:20 minutes)
Crunches (feet on floor & then with knees up)
Crunch & heel taps (singles & then 3’s - moving feet out a little further each time)
Hip lifts & leg extensions (lying on back raise straight legs up to ceiling, lifting the hips, then extend legs out parallel with the floor while pressing arms over head)
Leg circles (lying on back with legs straight up in the air, circle the legs 1st one way then other)
1 Arm V-Ups (straight legs to straight arm & then bent knees to elbow)
Side plank clam extensions / side plank crunch (bringing straight leg to elbow)
The workout ends with a 3 minute cool down and stretch.
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If you liked this workout, check out my review of Cathe Live: Total Body Blast w Step – HERE.
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