Cathe Friedrich Crossfire review

Here's another review of a DVD that I did for the first time yesterday:

Cathe Friedrich's Cross Fire

This is an intense cardio workout.  She does use weights in it and it claims to have weight training, but really the weights just add "toughness" to the cardio part of the workout.  There are a lot of body weight exercises, specifically to work your lower body.  I consider myself in really good shape, and from my running, my legs are quite muscular, but my calves were aching today!

All in all this is a great video.  One thing that I really like about her is that she takes you through a long warm up and long cool down at the end - much like Tony Horton does in his P90X series.  Too many of these workout videos skimp both on the warmup and the cool down. 

For this video, it recommends using 5 different weights (3 lb. pair, 5 lb. pair, 8 lb. pair, 10 lb. pair and one 15 lb weight).  Since all I have here at work is 5 pounders, that's what I used for everything.  I didn't need lighter, but could have used heavier for some of the workout.  It also recommends and uses a "fire walker band".  This is basically a round resistance loop.  You can buy her set of 3 on Amazon for about $12.  I bought a generic one for $5 on Amazon.  They look like this:

You do need one of these if you're going to do this DVD.   It also recommends these "slide n' glide discs".  They are used for only one exercise and I used styrafoam plates and they worked perfect.

This is definitely not a workout for beginners, although you can really modify some of the moves to make them easier.  There is a lot of jumping and higher impact exercises that may bother you if you have bad knees. 

The main workout runs about 50-55 minutes.  There is a bonus core section that I have not done yet. 

Cathe is excellent as an instructor.  She is encouraging but not patronizing.  She is easy to listen to and the instructions are good.  There is a great soundtrack that plays using popular music (although with different singer and lyrics) to keep you motivated and your energy up. 

The DVD starts out pretty easy, but gets your heart rate up.  You then put on that fire walker loop and WOW - your legs start to BURN!  You then move into the "meat" of the video, a whole intense cardio section.  It ends with a plyometrics tabata to kill you off! 

You will definitely burn calories during this workout, and I recommend it if you are someone like me who likes variety in their workouts!