CatheFriedrich's Basic Step + Body Fusion Step Aerobics Workout DVD For Women - This Is A Great Starter Video For Beginners To Learn How To Do A Cathe Step Workout

I made the mistake a long time ago to try one of Cathe's advanced step programs. I didn't do very well. However, I didn't want to do something called 'basic' believing that I wouldn't get a good workout in. I was wrong. Thankfully other Cathletes encouraged me to give this 2 program DVD a try. I really enjoyed both. Basic Step: This one was the perfect - get started with Cathe step - program. I kept my step height 8 so as to kick it up a notch aerobically. She does hers at 6. I also have a full sized step and she has the circuit sized one in the program. I'm positive I can do it at 10 inches next time. With the size and the height change I was still able to keep up just fine, and I'm sure it made it aerobically tougher for me, which I was looking for. It's only about 35 minutes so I can easily put on another of her weight or cardio routines to get me closer to my preferred hour long workout. The steps were dynamic, required me to focus but not so much so that I couldn't do it at my normal fresh out of bed 5am workout. By the second time I had the program down enough that I didn't feel like I couldn't stay with her. Body Fusion: I love this one. Its only slightly more advanced that her basic step. But the routines are really fun. You do 3 step routines that she slowly builds on in easy one before moving onto weights. So 3 step and 3 weighted segments all in all, one after the other. Again, I kept the step at 8 inches and full sized to her 6 inches and circuit size. But I still kept with the routine and really really enjoyed it. I had this one down by the 3rd time I tried it. I will reach for it time and time again. I up the weights from the ones Cathe uses to ones that challenge me. The great thing about the programs is that you can modify to make it more challenging or less challenging without feeling like changing the step height or weight size distracts you from the program. I'm so glad I started with these programs, I plan on getting progressively more challenging with Cathe step routines, this was the first 'step.' :)

Occasionally I'll try small sections of Cathe's workouts on FitTV. But I'm never able to do one from start to finish. But based on the reviews here, I thought I'd give this set a try. The step moves are a lot more basic than Cathe's usual routines, but the even better news is that I definitely get that complete Cathe Friedrich workout that I've been wanting. I mean, seriously, have you seen Cathe and those women who work out with her? Give me their bodies any day. Even though I've been stepping for more than a year and added strength training in the last six months, when I challenged myself to do the entire two hours and ten minutes of routines on this DVD, I wasn't sore the next day, I was sore within a FEW HOURS of completing it. For me, that meant I'd worked unused areas harder than I had in a long time and so I felt I definitely got my money's worth with this DVD.Although the 30-minute Basic Step routine is almost too easy to give you much of a workout, you can easily combine it with the 50-minute Body Fusion circuit workout (three step routines, three weight routines) and/or the bonus routines - a 20-minute upper body, a 20-minute lower body and a 10-minute abs routine. The 50-minute Body Fusion workout is plenty on its own. I always go for the gusto and do them all and feel the thrill of victory when I'm done.

i have been stepping for quite a while, though i have had my starts and stops. after i had the money and will to do so, i invested in an official reebok step and was looking for videos to get me back into it. this was one that i picked after doing research on amazon. i knew nothing about cathe, but i liked what i had read.this video was easy to follow and no doubt got me winded. i loved that i could pop it in and feel confident that i knew what i was doing in no time....just what i needed! her cues are good and the music isn't bad. and at 25 minutes, the basic step portion of the dvd is perfect for a mom with a restless 3 year old. this dvd makes it possible for me to be true to my exercise goals. i did find the warm -up lacking, however. i curb this by adding a little more time to my own warm up. my only other complaint is the "knees around the world" segment of the routine. at first, it was helpful that she went over it so much so i could "just feel so good about it" but after i did, it becomes a drag to receive never ending instruction on how to do a move that i don't find to be rocket science to begin with. this is a small complaint, though, considering how much this dvd has done for me, namely, continuing to get stronger by doing this and other videos and staying true to my goals. p.s. i haven't tried the body fusion parts of the video yet, so i have nothing to report about it.

As an avid "come back artist" I am once again coming back from not being nearly as active as I was a few years ago-running marathons, cycling double centuries- or maybe that was more than a few years ago, how time flies. I found Cathe online and I believe she has by far the best exercise dvd series available. She is a true expert in fitness and it shows.As far as her step dvds are concerned she is fairly dancy and at times very hard to follow. I started out with one of her more advanced dvds and decided to back track and get her basic step in order to find out if this would make it easier for me to follow her more advanced step dvds. This basic step dvd with the body fusion is in itself a great workout, and yes, it has made it somewhat easier for me to follow her more advanced moves.I highly recommend any of Cathe's fitness dvds and her Basic Step and Body Fusion is ideal for the beginner, and a good workout for any level of fitness.Cathe Friedrich : Basic Step