Cathe Live Review: Low Impact Hiit Plus Upper Body (#175)

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Cathe Live Review: Low Impact Hiit Plus Upper Body (#175)

Low Impact Hiit Plus Upper Body is a really enjoyable cardio and strength workout focused on the upper body. I really liked this routine and it is one I use often, particularly when I don’t really feel like working out as it always makes me smile and gives me a good workout.

The workout starts out with sixteen low impact cardio Hiits. All of the moves are straight forward and can be done low or higher impact, if you want to modify upwards. I have done the workout both low and high impact and love it both ways. It provides a really nice cardio boost before moving into the strength work. Generally, the cardio drills are done for one or two sets and are not too high rep but just enough to get you breathing a little harder and that heart pumping. The rest periods are also quite short and that helps keep the heart rate a little higher. This is definitely not the toughest low impact section I have done but provides a nice start to the workout.

One thing to note, on the cardio section, is that Cathe forgets two exercises at the end and so says we are done and proceeds to gets out her dumbbells. However, she then realizes she forgot mountain climbers and spiderman climbers - so after a longer break you do the final two intervals.

The strength work is groups of upper body focused exercises that are then repeated. Generally the workout is not too high rep, between 8 & 16 reps, and the weights used were moderate. I did increase my weights on a few moves (shown below) but even when using the same weights as Cathe I still felt the work. The shoulder section, particularly, I found quite tough. However, again the strength section is definitely not as tough as some of her upper body routines but provided a nice workout for my upper body. The only thing missing for me was that I would have liked a bit more back work. The work here seemed pretty light for this muscle group, as the only truly dedicated back exercise is pullovers and you don’t do many of those.

The workout ends with a short core section on the floor. I enjoyed this section as there are a variety of different exercises to work the core in different ways.

Overall, this is a really nice low impact upper body workout and one I will definitely be returning to often.

(For the Cathletes out there – Al, from her DVDs, is in this workout again too – on the right of Cathe).

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The Workout

Low Impact Hiit Plus Upper Body is a low impact cardio and upper body strength workout. The workout starts with 16 low impact cardio hiits followed by a series of upper body exercises. The workout ends with a short core section on the floor.

What You Need to Know

(Rating scale – 1= lowest & 5 = highest).

The Moves

Low Impact Hiit Plus Upper Body is 53 minutes long and originally aired on 7th December 2017 (#175). The workout starts with a 6 minute warm-up before moving straight into the first cardio drill. Cardio moves shown in bold italics below.

Low Impact Cardio Hiit

• Split lunges – 32 reps each side

• 3 rope climbs & attack – 8 reps each side

• Hammer punch lunges – 20 reps each side

• Sumo squat & side kick – 20 reps each side

• High low punches – 3 sets of 32 reps

• Long reach lunges – 43 reps (if you follow the class!)

• Shuffle, shuffle, drop around the mat – mat - 20 reps

• Slam its – mat – 24 reps

• Football runs (forward & back touching the ground at either end) – mat – 20 reps

• Shuffle, shuffle, drop – mat - 16 reps

• 3 lateral skates & 1 lift – mat – 12 reps

• Power 7's – mat – 4 sets

• Power knees – mat – 4 sets of 7 reps & 2 sets of 16 reps

• 2 puddle jumpers in each direction / Lateral skates – 8 reps puddle / 24 reps skates

Quick water break & get dumbbells out

• Mountain climbers – 32 reps

• Spiderman lunges – 24 reps (slow)

Upper Body (at 29 minutes)

Shoulders

• Overhead press – two 15# dumbbells – 16 reps

• Upright row & deadlift – two 12# dumbbells – 3 sets (1 of each) / 2 sets (1x deadlift & 6x upright row)

• Rear delt fly – two 10# dumbbells – 2 sets of 8 reps

• Lateral raise – two 8# dumbbells – 8 sets (1x 1 arm & 1x both arms)

• Overhead press – two 15# dumbbells – 12 reps

• Upright row & deadlift – two 12# dumbbells – 3 sets (1x deadlift & 6x upright row)

• Rear delt fly – two 10# dumbbells – 8 reps & 10 reps

• Lateral raise – two 5# dumbbells – 6 sets of 4 (alternating to side & front of thighs)

Biceps

• Hammer Curls – two 15# dumbbells – 8 reps

• Sweeping curls – two 12# dumbbells (I used 15’s) – 8 reps

• Bicep curls – two 10# dumbbells (I used 12’s) – 8 reps

• Reverse curls – two 8# dumbbells (I used 10’s) – 8 reps

Repeat above four moves

Triceps

• Overhead tricep extension – two 12# dumbbells – 10 reps

• Tricep kickbacks – two 10# dumbbells – 12 reps

• Overhead tricep extension – two 12# dumbbells – 8 reps

• Tricep kickbacks – two 12# dumbbells – 12 reps

Chest & Back

• Push-ups / tricep push-ups – mat – 2 sets (8 regular push-ups & 4 tricep push-ups)

• Pullovers with leg extension – one 15# dumbbell (I used 2x 15’s) & mat – 14 reps

• Chest fly with leg extension – two 15# dumbbells & mat – 8 reps

• Pullovers with leg extension – two 15# dumbbells & mat – 5 reps

Core on the mat (have 1x10# & 2x5# dumbbells handy)

• Sit-up with 1 leg raise – one 10# dumbbell

• Sit-up with front punch – two 5# dumbbells

• Side to side rowers – one 10# dumbbell

• 1 Arm sit-up (keeping other elbow anchored on the mat)

• Leg thrusters

• Plank walk (walk down to elbows & back up) with alternating toe tap to shoulder

• Plank hold (straight arm)

The workout ends with a 3 minute cool down and stretch. For some reason, again Cathe did not really do many dedicated upper body stretches so I just added on my own at the end.

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If you enjoyed this workout, check out my review of Cathe Live: Low Impact Blast Off Circuit - HERE.

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