Cathe Live Review: Twenty Five
Wow what a fantastic and fun workout this was! This is definitely one of my new all-time favourite Live routines, particularly for slightly lighter days where you don’t want to go all-out. Twenty Five is a random mix of exercises that includes cardio Hiits, upper, lower and compound exercises, generally using lighter weights. The workout is a really fun mix of exercises and moves quickly from one thing to the next so you never have time to get bored. I loved the variety and will definitely be returning to this one very soon.
This workout really flew by and I actually had to check my player to see that it was actually 46 minutes as advertised! (It is by the way!) I wasn’t feeling great today and didn’t really feel like working out so I thought this would be a good choice having seen the preview clip. I was definitely right - it was absolutely perfect! There is no dread factor here at all – none of the exercises are repeated, including the blasts, and they are not too high rep either. I was sweating and breathing harder in places but it was all very manageable and just left me with an accomplished and pleasantly worked feeling, without being exhausted.
The idea behind this workout was that there would be 25 different exercises but in reality Cathe adds an extra one (power scissors). I think this was because someone requested it (I couldn’t hear exactly what she said but I think that was it) so there are actually 26 in total. The exercises are a mix of metabolic strength and cardio, and all of the Hiit blasts are just one move repeated for a set number of reps so no choreography.
Twenty Five is definitely more of a metabolic / cardio workout even though it does include strength moves. The strength work is generally not very high rep and Cathe is using lighter weights than usual (I did increase mine for a few exercises but you are often doing the reps quite quickly so it may be challenging to go too much heavier and maintain the pace). The only thing I would say though is that the strength work does focus quite heavily on shoulders. There are several moves that incorporate shoulders as the compound move to a lower body exercise, so you may feel the work here a little more (think squat press, back lunge & lateral raise etc).
I would have loved this workout to be a little longer though, as it did feel like it ended too quickly. Maybe adding a little core work at the end, in order to round out the program, would have been a nice idea but I still really enjoyed it.
(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 200 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
Twenty Five is a random mix of 26 different exercises that includes cardio and lighter weight strength exercises for lower and upper body. You will just need a range of lighter dumbbells and a mat for this routine.
What You Need To Know
(Rating scale – 1= lowest & 5 = highest).
The Moves
Twenty Five is 46 minutes long and originally aired on 3rd January 2019. The workout starts with a fairly thorough 6 minute warm up before moving into the first cardio move. (Cardio moves are shown in bold & italics below).
Plyo Jacks
Squat press – two 10# dbs
Alternating side sumo squats & step out squats – one 15# db
Side lunge & abduct leg (raising arms overhead when lifting the leg) – two 5# dbs
Mountain climbers with toes turned in
Sumo squat drop to overhead tricep extension combo – two 10# dbs
Crab kicks & tricep dips
Crossback lunges (pulsing & singles) – two 10# dbs
Crazy 8 bicep curls – two 10# dbs
Power scissors
Back lunges – two 10# dbs
Pushups (2/2 count) & step foot to hand
Rear delt flys (drop sets – 10, 9, 8 reps) – two 10# dbs
Plie jacks (1 set) then Pop squats (1 set)
Kettlebell swing – one 15# db
Alternating forward lunges rowing the dumbbell from side to side – one 8# db
Quarter turn jumps
Single leg deadlifts with front raise & bicep curl at the top (1 set on one side then stand straight & do 16 reps of front raises then repeat on other leg followed by 16 more front raises) – one 10# db held horizontally between both hands (I used 12# db)
Back lunge & knee lift with lateral raise – two 5# dbs
Pushup then plank walk (down to elbows & back up)
Air jacks – 20 slow reps
Squat & jump to reaching lunge, pushing one dumbbell out across the body – two 5# dbs
Side sumo squat & twist to overhead press – one 10# db
Squats & sweeping bicep curls – two 15# dbs
1 Arm tricep kickbacks in plank – one 10# db
Chest Flys & pullovers with leg extensions – two 8# dbs (I used 10’s and could have used at least 12’s)
The workout ends with a 3 minute cool down and stretch.
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 200 live workouts in the archive for you to access at any time.
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