Cathe Friedrich'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

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

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.

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.' :)

Loving Cathe Friedrich's exercise routines, and having a bunch of them, when I decided to return to step exercising, and since Body Max 2 was too advanced for me (in terms of the moves), I realized I needed a refresher. Therefore seeing this DVD, advertised as for beginners by the same instructor, I purchased. Unfortunately (and I should have known) Cathe is not for beginners. Even if she is the usual cheerful and professional trainer, she does skip instructions and prompts after deciding they were repeated sufficiently on some portions of the routine. She moves on too quickly, adds on too much without explaining. Even if the moves are repeated, if they are not also demonstrated and taught, but just added on to what she thinks is acquired, it makes it hard to follow in a choreography that quickly gets complex for the newbie. Furthermore, the add-ons are great in terms of the exercises but, this part, using three pounds !!, and going so slowly truly is for beginners. I returned this DVD, and will keep getting the regular hardcore Cathe DVDS, even if I struggle with them (great!, because I can go back to the same routine for a while until I am able to complete it correctly). This one DVD program is not for beginners IMO. Beginners cannot get enough explanations, in multiple forms, and demonstrations, and the addings-on should be progressive and repetitive. Cathe just masters the step so I don't think she has the patience or understanding of getting down to a beginner's mind and teaching to those.

I love this workout video! I did step about 10 years ago and then stopped exercising, so I got this to get back into the swing of things. It's awesome! So far I've only did the basic cardio part. It's 27 minutes and you sweat the entire time. You really get right into it without too much of a warm up, which is fine since it's so short. It's an excellent workout if you are beginner to intermediate. After doing it for a few weeks I added hand weights to hold and use the whole time to make it more difficult. I am trying to work my way up to the 50 minute interval training part, but I'm dying after the 27 minute segment! It's fun and not too complicated with any hard choreography...pretty basic moves( basic step, V step, A step, L step, around the works, rock horse and cha cha all done any various combinations). Highly recommend !

Out of all the dvd's that I have for step, I have to say, Cathe is the easiest to follow...I have several of her dvd's. Regarding this one; I love her ability to talk throughout the entire work - out giving you constant queues so you do not miss a step.. I also enjoyed her choice of background instrumental music... none of it is distracting... Unlike other dvd's by other fitness people where there is annoying background talking, grunting.. annoying sounds, noise etc., there is none of that on her dvd's. I found this to be one of the very best I have purchased.. I actually look forward to my workout...There is something special about her and I would most certainly encourage anyone thinking about purchasing.. to do so!

I own this DVD for 2 years now and it is still one of my favorites. Cathy Friedrich is by far my favorite instructor.She is very classy and intelligent, there is now tacky decorations or screaming "We are having fan, guys!" All her comments are to the point and she keeps count, so you can turn away from your TV if you want.Basic Step is for beginners, who doesn't have any experience with step aerobics at all. It is short and very basic.Body Fusion is more advanced, but not too much. And if you want more challenge, you can always add 1 more raiser to your platform. I am in mid 40's, been doing it regularly for 2 years and I do at on 8 inch(2 raisers) platform, instead of 1 raiser as DVD shows. It works for me perfectly. I highly recommend this DVD.