Cathe Live Review: Total Body Weights (#6)
Total Body Weights is a tough, high rep endurance workout that will challenge the whole body.
This is a challenging workout that uses both a barbell and dumbbells. As I don’t like using the barbell I just used dumbbells and a kettlebell (for plie squats) as usual and had no issues. Every exercise is high rep and you will definitely be feeling the work here. The workout is set up in groups of a few exercises by body part so you completely burn out one muscle group before moving onto the next. The three lower body exercises are mixed in between the upper body moves to give your upper body a little bit of a chance to recover. However, even though there are only three exercises, they are all very high rep and the static lunges, particularly, completely burned out my legs.
The rep patterns for all of the exercises vary including different tempos, partials, holds etc so this keeps it a bit more interesting.However, this still isn’t a favourite even though it is highly effective. I found it a bit more repetitive than usual and the music was awful. Now I don’t normally notice the music that much, unless it is exceptional good or reminds me of some of Cathe’s DVDs, but this was just repetitive and the tempo changes really disrupted the workout, as Cathe had to keep pausing and restarting an exercise when the song changed.
As the reps are so high, I would suggest having a notepad to jot down what weights worked and didn’t as it is trial and error to see what works best.For example, there were over 50 bicep curls in the first set of those alone! Cathe’s weights were generally a little more moderate, given the volume of reps, and this usually worked quite well for me. I did go a little heavier on some of the moves and probably could have increased further on the first set of chest flys. However, I still got a great worked and every muscle group felt well worked by the end.
The routine ends with a tough core section all done on the step, with the exception of the last exercise. The moves here are also high rep and I was definitely feeling them towards the end. My back was really glad to go into child’s pose after all of the back work and then ending with lots of supermans, flutter kicks and breaststroke swimmers!
Overall, a long and challenging total body, high rep strength workout.
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The Workout
Total Body Weights is a pure strength, high rep total body workout.
What You Need to Know
(Rating scale – 1= lowest & 5 = highest).
The Moves
Total Body Weights is 64 minutes long and originally aired on 12th June 2014 (#6). The workout starts with a 6:30 minute warm-up, using 5 pound dumbbells, before moving into the first exercise for lower body. The barbell, if you are using one, is set up with 35 pounds at the start of the workout. The step, with two risers on each side, is set up horizontally in front of you and is only used as a weight bench for some of the upper body exercises. Unless otherwise stated below, there are lots of reps for every exercise with various tempos and rep patterns. (The workout starts with a very long intro phase before the video begins at 6:05 minutes)
Squats - 35# BB (I used two 20# Dbs)
Wider stance squats - 35# BB (I used two 20# Dbs)
Change barbell to 20 pounds
Bicep curls - 20# BB (I used two 12# Dbs)
Hammer curls / sweeper curls – two 10# Dbs (I used 12’s)
Change barbell to 15 pounds
Static lunges - 15# BB (I used two 8# Dbs)
Chest flys – two 15# Dbs & step (in the future I will use 20’s) – 17 reps (various tempos)
Push-ups – mat - 12 reps, 10 reps & 8 reps
Chest flys - two 12# Dbs (I used 15# Dbs) & step– 4 sets (4 counts down, hold & 3x partials)
Change barbell to 20 pounds
Lying tricep extensions - 20# BB (I used two 10# Dbs) & step – 31 reps & 3 partials
Narrow grip chest press (reasonably fast) - 20# BB (I used two 12# Dbs) & step – 28 reps
Tricep dips – step – 24 reps & 16 reps
Change barbell to 40 pounds
Deadlifts / dead rows - 40# BB (I used two 20# Dbs)– lots of reps
1 Arm rows – one 15# Db (I used 1x 20) – 16 reps each side
1 Arm rows - Cathe used one 15# Db & one 5# Db in one hand (I used 1x 20) – 12 reps each side
Change barbell to 30 pounds
Plie squats - 30# BB (I used 35# kettlebell)
Change barbell to 15 pounds
Upright rows - 15# BB (I used two 10# Dbs) – 29 reps
Wider grip upright rows – 15# BB (I used two 10# Dbs) – 26 reps
Standing overhead press - 15# BB (I used two 8# Dbs) – 20x singles & 4x 1.5’s
Lateral arc raise (palms facing forward) - two 8# Dbs – 4 sets (1x both & 1x 1 arm) & 6 sets (1x 1 arm & 1x both)
Shoulder circles – two 5# Dbs – 12 reps (forward) & 12 reps (backward – starting high)
Straight arm lateral raises – two 5# Dbs – 12 reps
Upright rows - 15# BB (I used two 10# Dbs) – 12 reps & 4x 1.5’s. 3x 3 partials.
Standing overhead press - 15# BB (I used two 8# Dbs) – 21 reps
Quick water break & stretch. Get mat on step for core at 59:20 minutes
Core (lying on step, except last exercise)
Crunches w/ knees raised – mat & step
Leg chasers – mat & step
Crunches w/ knees raised – mat & step
L crunches (straight legs raised in an “L” position, pulse head/shoulders up 1x, then 2x, then 3x, then 4x; change legs and repeat) – mat & step – 4 sets
Bicycle manoeuvre – mat & step
Superman / flutter kicks / breaststroke swimmers – mat (on the floor)
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: Pump Party (#178) – HERE.
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