Cathe Live Review: Candy Hearts Circuit (#334)
Candy Hearts Circuit is a cardio and strength workout that’s mixes a little bit of everything. This routine was filmed on the Thursday before Valentines’ Day, hence the name of the routine, so Cathe is decked out in red and black and wearing cute leggings with “Love” written all over them. Although this format, using the step for cardio, is not my favourite, I still got a good workout and it was actually a little more challenging than I was expecting.
This workout consists of five circuits. Each circuit includes lower body, cardio, upper body, cardio and core. The cardio is a mix of both floor cardio intervals and those using the step. These are all familiar moves, from her other workouts, including step intervals from her STEP BOSS: IMAX 4 DVD (review HERE), such as, the over the top burpees. (However, Cathe does give options for if you don’t want to do a burpee at the end). There is no choreography here, you are just focusing on getting the heart rate up by repeating one or a few moves over and again. There is some jumping, on and off the step, but it actually wasn’t as bad as I was expecting so I stuck with the two risers and didn’t modify those in the end.
The floor cardio moves are also very simple to follow, although the Heisman Rock and Run always takes me a little focus to get into the rhythm initially (this is from her Perfect30 Perfect Hiit: Low Impact - review HERE). The cardio moves got my heart rate up nicely and due to the nature of the strength moves, it also stayed pretty elevated throughout. All of the moves are generally pretty high rep both for the strength and cardio. Many were done for a lot longer than Cathe has done more recently and I was definitely starting to wonder when some of the reps were going to end - particularly the sweeper curls / upright rows, pullovers and pencil shoots!
The strength moves are a mix of bodyweight exercises and those using dumbbells. Cathe used 15 pounds plus one 10 pound dumbbell for the warm-up. You could definitely go heavier, if you wanted to, but bear in mind, as mentioned, they are generally quite high rep. However, there is lots of variety in tempos and rep patterns so it keep things interesting. Also I really liked the mix of different moves, for the strength work, as there were some new combinations and twists on familiar moves too. I rather like it when she combines moves together, especially when the routine is focused more on metabolic conditioning than strength building, as you don’t have to worry about the fact you would have used a heavier weight for one part of the move. Even with the lighter weights, I did start to feel some of these exercises and also the core work provided a nice challenge too. Cathe incorporated a variety of different moves for the core, some of which included cardio or faster tempos to keep the heart rate up a little higher too.
Overall, a varied and quite challenging cardio and strength workout using the step and dumbbells.
(For more information about Cathe Live, how to sign up & to see all of my Cathe Live reviews, click HERE).
The Workout
Candy Hearts Circuit is a cardio and strength workout consisting of five circuits. Each circuit includes lower body, cardio, upper body, cardio and core.
What You Need to Know
Rating scale – 1= lowest & 5 = highest).
The Moves
Candy Hearts Circuit is 53 minutes long and originally aired on 11th February 2021 (#334). The workout starts with a 5:30 minute warm-up, before moving into the first exercise. Cathe picks up a 10# dumbbell, towards the end of the warm-up, to continue warming up the body. The step, with two risers on each side, is set up horizontally in front of you at the start of the workout. The step height does not change during the routine. Cardio moves shown in bold italics below. All moves below are higher rep.
Circuit 1
Rear lunges off step – one 15# Db & step – singles & pulses
Knee off side, 2 lateral shuffle across step & knee off side – step
Alternating 1 arm close grip bench press / bench press w/ pinkies in / bench press w/ thumbs in – two 15# Dbs & step
Grapevine & 2 jacks (on floor) / over the top & 2 jacks (on step) / over the top burpees (shoot over step laterally then squat thrust on floor – standing at the top – alternate sides) – step
Side plank extension (knee to elbow) leaning on step – step & mat
Circuit 2
Forward lunge / side lunge – one 15# Db
2 Up & out jacks & calf pump / 2 Up & out jacks & 1 front kick (option to add a tuck instead of jacks)
Alternating 1 arm sweeper curls / alternating 1 arm upright row – two 15# Dbs
Squat digs (straight & angled) / 2 lateral hops & 2 squat digs
Sit-up & knee in / sit-up & speedbag – mat
Circuit 3
Uneven squat to crossback lunge – one 15# Dbs & step
Straddle & knee lift / straddle & outer thigh lift – step
Decline push-ups (knees or toes on step) – step & mat
Uneven squat off side & shuffle (across step) – step
3 Plank knee-ins & 1 plank jack – step (hands on step)
Circuit 4
Step out sumo squat / calf lift – two 15# Dbs
Pencil shoots (straight high jumps)
Tricep push-ups (hands on Dbs) – two 15# Dbs (I did these w/ my hands on floor) & mat
Tricep dips w/ 1 leg extension – step
Tricep push-ups (hands on Dbs) – two 15# Dbs (I did these w/ my hands on floor) & mat
Heisman rock & run (Heisman to side x2 then lift each foot hopping side to side x4)
V-Ups – mat
Circuit 5
Alternating back lunge off step x 1.5’s / deadlifts (standing on step) / alternating back lunge off step x3 pulses – one 15# Db & step
Box jump to quarter turn squat jump / box jump to half turn squat jump – step
Pullovers – two 15# Dbs & step
6 Step knee & tap down & Power 3 – step
Sit-up & twist to opposite knee – mat
The workout ends with a short 2 minute cool down and stretch.
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If you liked this workout, check out my review of Cathe Live: Circuit Crush (#198) – HERE.
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A challenging workout full of variety. Plenty of cardio and just enough weight work to make it complete.