Cathe Live Review: Cardio Leg Crush
Cardio Leg Crush is a cardio, power and strength workout from Cathe Live. This is probably my perfect type of workout – lots of different cardio intervals to get that heart pumping, fast changing exercises, a bit of resistance training, lots of variety and on top of that it was so much fun!
The workout consists of rounds of a steady state cardio interval followed by a ‘blast’ and a lower body exercise. The strength work is more endurance than pure strength training, as you are using lighter weights. The heaviest Cathe is using for this workout is 12# dumbbells. As you are moving quite quickly, during the strength training, I found that this worked pretty well. I did go a little heavier on a couple of moves but the rest I used the same as Cathe and still got a great workout. Due to the structure of the workout and short rest breaks, my heart rate stayed elevated throughout the workout. This is designed as more of a cardio / metabolic workout so you are not getting serious lower body strength training. However, I still felt the work in my lower body and as a metabolic / cardio workout it was excellent.
The steady state cardio is a series of different moves, in a little combo, but there is no tricky choreography here – all just straight forward hi-lo type cardio and lots of jacks. The ‘blasts’ are generally a hiit interval – such as burpees and air jacks. However, the pace for all of the cardio, including the blasts, is a little more moderate so it’s not all out crazy.
Overall, I really enjoyed this workout – it challenged my cardiovascular endurance nicely and I had a lot of fun doing it. The time just flew by and before you know it you are on the last round. This is definitely one I will return to frequently. I really hope Cathe makes more like this one!
(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 230 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
Cardio Leg Crush consists of 8 rounds of one steady state cardio interval, one blast and one lower body exercise (except the penultimate round, which had two). The workout uses lighter dumbbells for the lower body exercises, which are all performed standing.
What You Need to Know
(Rating scale – 1= lowest & 5 = highest).
The Moves
Cardio Leg Crush is 45 minutes long and originally aired on 21st March 2019. The workout starts with a 6 minute warm-up before moving into jacks ready for the first steady state cardio combo.
Shuffle twists & 4 jacks
Burpee & air jack – 10 reps
Alternating cross tap lunges – two 12# dbs – 16 reps
Heels (while hopping – singles & doubles) & touch down jacks
Squat to lunge (jumping from one to move to the other)
High rep lunge taps – one 12# db – 48 reps each side
Side leaps & jacks (starts in 4’s then 2’s)
Squats in a box – 12 reps
4 Squats & 4 back lunges – two 12# dbs
Jump forward (wide feet) 2 jump ropes & walk back
3 Jumps forward & turn
Wide squat to side lunge (alternating hands with the db) – one 10# db – 8 reps each side
Travelling scissors & 4 jacks
Sprint shooters (split leaps – pulling arm down) – 32 reps each side
Forward leaning glute lunge (tapping dumbbell to the floor) – one 12# db – 24 reps each side
3 Power hops forward & 4 block jacks back
Scissor, scissor, wide jump & tuck jump – 6 reps each side
Alternating back lunges (singles & 3 pulses) – two 12# dbs – 10 reps each side
Kick forward x4 (while hopping), side to side kicks (while hopping), 4 jacks back & 4 circle jacks
Volley forward & air jack – 12 reps alternating sides
Alternating sumo squats – one 15# db – 24 reps
Squat toss (while pulsing in squat ‘toss’ db from hand to hand in front of you) – one 12# db – 16 reps
3 shuffles, hook & back fist then punch high / low x2. Jacks & 4 air jacks before changing sides
3 Toe taps (alternating sides) & tuck jump – 10 reps
Crossback lunges – two 12# dbs – alternating (x4), pulsing (7 & 3’s) & singles (x12)
The workout ends with a 4 minute stretch and cool down.
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 230 live workouts in the archive for you to access at any time.
If you enjoyed this workout, check out my review of Cathe Live: PHA Plus Cardio Blasts- HERE.
If you enjoyed this review, please share it using the links below.