Saundra

Step Moves . Mmmmmm. Not completely sold on it yet. This is my second time doing the workout. So I will start telling you what I like about it. I like the length, in fact I love the length. It clocks in at 44 minutes and that works well for my schedule. I like the music as well. I know I read a lot of people did not, but I think the music is okay. I also liked the combos. The combos (there are three of them) featured moves we are used to thrown in in a different way. One of the moves was the "over-facing-over". I am so use to exiting off the back, I kept having to remind myself to exit of the side. This workout is more complex than Athletic Step, but even so, I didn't find the routine hard to pick up at all. I didn't feel that this workout was all that dancy though, even though it had some "ball changes" "cha-chas" and "mambos". What I didn't like about the workout were the "knee" fillers. For a shorter workout th...

Cardio Core Circuit Express Premix - 34 minutes. I did the premix of this workout. One thing about doing premixes is that the transition in between the different segments isn't always very smooth. That was the case is this workout. The transition from the cardio segments to the core segments was abrupt. Other than that the workout was good and sufficiently intense. During the cardio sections you were doing Air Jacks, Mountain Climber, 180 turn, squat jumps etc. You did three cardio drills in a row followed by core work for 5 cycles. I was winded after several of the circuits The core exercises were different, a lot of them required the use of your whole body to execute the move. The moves were really intense and some of them were awkward. Equipment used - Mat. 3 stars out of 5 stars

MMA Fusion . I did not think I was going to like this workout, but I did. It is definitely different from the standard Kickbox type of workout. In fact, many of the moves I found awkward, but not in an annoying way. I found the moves to be challenging but requiring practice to do them effectively. I thought the pace of this workout to be much slower than the other two MMA workouts but I felt that this was required due to the MMA moves being performed. The pace allowed you to be more precise and to work on form. There were 3 combos followed by 3 drills. The drills weren't that intense in the cardio sense but I they did require concentration to get the most out of the moves. The combos and drills were followed by core conditioning exercises which were my favorite part of this workout; and that is saying something, because working the abs/core is not my favorite. Approximate workout time is 50 minutes. Equipment used - Mat 4 stars out of 5.

HiiT Double Wave Pyramid is my favorite of the 3 HiiT workouts. It is 30 minutes in length and uses no equipment. It is called Double Wave Pyramid because the pyramid sequence (which is done according to time) takes you up and then down and it is done twice through. I actually like this. I like knowing what was coming the second time around. That allowed me to mentally prepare. It was tough. You start with 20 second intervals and progress all the way up to 40 second interval and then you start working your way back down to 20 second interval. Cathe gives you a 1 minute break between the two pyramid sets. Some of the exercises you are performing in these intervals are air jacks, tuck jumps, quarter turns, mountain climber etc. 4 1/2 stars out of 5

Step Moves . Step Moves. This workout is 44 minutes in length. I am really liking the length of the Shock Cardio workouts. It is nice to be able to have enough time to finish a workout as is without having to split it into two or wait for an off day from work. Not a bad workout. The combos were more intricate than Athletic Step but doable. There was only one move that stumped me. I thought Cathe gave us just the right mix of a break down and moving the workout along. The only move that I could have did without were the "Power 7s". This is more of an athletic move and Cathe included the move, or a version of it, a lot in Athletic Step. The workout contains 3 combos and a finish combo section where she runs through all the combos twice. The music was okay. I can't say I notice it much except for the opening (warm up) selection. I still think that the step workouts if not all the Shock Cardio workouts, could have used a music louder option. Well maybe not all but...

HiiT 40/20 (approximately 29 minutes). I had read the reviews and comments on this workout. The consensus seemed to be that this workout was much tougher than 30/30. All I can say is - YES IT WAS!. Oh my Gosh. Gasping for breath was I. Even the three minute breaks we were given didn't seem long enough. I will admit there were several intervals that I treated as a 30/30. I definitely need to work up my endurance and recovery time for this workout. It is a good workout and I love the length. Equipment used - Club Step 4 1/2 stars out of 5 stars.

MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) Boxing is a Shock Cardio workout. This workout clocks in at 49 minutes. It consist of boxing combinations that work the upper body and cardio drill sets that workout the lower body. I really enjoyed the boxing combinations even though they were a bit on the repetitive side. There were a total of 3 boxing combinations and each combinations work one side and then the other. So really there were 6 boxing combination sets. Cathe used the tubing as a mark and guide during the lower body cardio drills. These were easy to follow but intense. During this portion I was above my targeted heart rate zone continuously. The workout concluded with an ab/core set and a stretch. In the core work, Cathe used dumbbells to increase the intensity. Funny thing was, I thought the hardest core move came when she put the dumbbells down. I like the simplicity of this workout and give it 4 star.

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Cathe has announced that the rehearsals for her upcoming new series STS Shock Cardio have begun. http://cathe.com/shock-cardio-rehearsals-have-begun I am so happy to hear this. With all the talk of Shaun T's Insanity and the upcoming Rev Abs, I was tempted to test those out until I read Cathe's announcement. STS Shock Cardio will be my Insanity. I am most looking forward to the MMA workouts. For those of you haven't hear of STS Shock Cardio, it is an 11 workout - cardio based exercise system from the great Cathe Friedrich. The workouts in this system should include: Shock Cardio HiiT (Higher Intensity Interval Training) Three 20 - 30 minute workouts. Shock Cardio MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) Four 20 to 50 minutes workouts Shock Cardio Step - 2 step workouts Shock Cardio Circuit - 2 Circuit style workouts Click on the link for a detail description of each workout. http://cathe.com/shock-cardio/ I am so looking forward to these.