Cathe Friedrich Reviews

A Review of Intensity by Cathe Friedrich (The Name Says it All)

June 27, 2019

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Hello!

Guess what?

You’re gonna burn enough calories doing this workout that you won’t feel an ounce of guilt about anything you put in your mouth for the rest of the day. This workout supercharges your metabolism for at least 24 hours.

Who doesn’t want to burn over 500 calories in less than an hour?

I recommend Intensity by Cathe Friedrich ALL. THE. TIME.

Why?

You only need one piece of equipmentan aerobic step like this

Anyone can figure out the choreography.

The routine is challenging, fun, and effective.

Intensity is an incredible cardio workout for women.  It’s sure to be one of your favorite (and most challenging) cardio workouts in your home library of routines.

This post may contain Amazon (or other) affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission. You can get more information about that here.

Here’s what Intensity looks like (you won’t need any weights in the main routine):

There are 4 sections in the main workout of Intensity.

Let me tell you what you need to know to crush this workout…

a team of women doing the Intensity workout with Cathe Friedrich

Instructor-Cathe Friedrich

Category-Cardio

Equipment:

An aerobic step with one riser on each side

a mat

Length-57 minutes

HRM-550 calories

Choreography-Simple+

My rating– A

✔ Learn more about buying and using an aerobic step in this post: Your Expert Guide to Buying and Using an Aerobic Step

The Important Stuff about the Intensity Routine

I give Intensity a Simple+ for the choreography rating (slightly harder than simple) because Cathe doesn’t ‘teach’ you the steps in the segments. She jumps right into the combo. 

However, the segments are short and you repeat them a few times (so it’s slightly more difficult than the easiest choreography but not quite as hard as my Experienced or Ace rating). 

Also, the step routine is only the first part of this workoutThe next two sections don’t use a step and the choreography there is easy (the workout is intense, though) so I don’t want anyone to hesitate to purchase this routine because of the choreography rating.  Anyone can conquer these moves after a few attempts.

In fact, Intensity is a great choice if you’re looking for a fun workout that uses the step but doesn’t have a lot of lengthy and complex choreography.

This is a phenomenal cardio workout. The title says it perfectly.  It’s INTENSE (notice how many calories I burned in under an hour).

There are 8 premix workouts (additional routines) in the Intensity program: Maximum Intensity (my favorite premix), Step + HiiT (hi) + Boot Camp, Step + HiiT (lo) + Boot Camp, Timesaver-Step + HiiT (hi), Timesaver-Step + HiiT (lo), Timesaver-Step + Boot Camp, Timesaver-Double HiiT + Boot Camp, Timesaver-HiiT (lo) + Boot Camp.

Remember to read to the end for tips on every section in the Intensity program as well as links to a few places you can find this routine.

Warm-Up

The warm-up is a few basic step moves to get your legs warm and your heart beating.  There’s no stretch in the warm-up.

The Main Workout (The Exercises in Intensity)

CARDIO STEP

The first section in the main workout uses your aerobic step with one riser (on each side).

Cathe immediately begins the first high-impact step segment followed by a power move.  There are several of these short combinations followed by a cardio blast move.  This whole section is high-impact and tough.

Be ready for air jacks.

STEP WITH BLASTS

This section is very similar to the first cardio step segment but harder.  The pattern is similar to the beginning with a short step routine followed by an intensity blast.

After each blast there’s a short break.

The blast moves:

Air jumps (there are a LOT of these)

Ski hops with a tuck jump

Plié squats—there are three sets of 16 of these.  You’ll swear you can’t do the second set but you can.  Do your best on the third set.  Make it your goal to get all 3 sets.

Move your step.  You won’t need it (or any equipment) for the rest of the workout.  You’re doing amazing.

*If you stopped the video right here for some reason you’d have a good workout under your belt today.

HIIT ROUTINE

This section uses a countdown clock.  Love that!

There are 8 high-impact moves you do for about a minute followed by a short break:

Side jumps

Three side leaps with 3 air jacks and a tuck jump (I’m always sad to see these.  They’re fun but really hard)

Wide Stance Sumo Sprawl—these are basically a burpee with a plié jump

Three forward jumps, ½ turn, then ski jumps.  Repeat going the other way.  You have to really dig your arms during this move to keep your heartrate up.

Slow burpee with a flying angel jump

Scissor-scissor with wide-leg tuck jumps

Wide-stance jumps with leap frogs up and back

Leap Frogs back and forth

You’re done with this section!  You’re awesome!

LOW-IMPACT HIIT

Climb the rope with elbow strikes.  Listen to her tips as you’re doing this.  You’re not leaving the floor anymore so you have to make these moves big.

Squat digs are next

Low lunges side-to-side with a long reach.  Reach way out there!  Make the lunge big.

One-leg lunges with a ‘lift’

Puddle jumps.  These are easy.  Don’t stop.

Windmills are next.  Don’t cheat.  These should be big. Make your outer thighs burn.

The last move is an air squat.  There are two sets of 32.  Stick your butt out.  Do all of them.

Cool Down/Stretch

Cathe does a great stretch.  You need it and will be happy you did it.  Don’t skip it.

Now What?

I recommend Intensity to my friends a lot.  With all the premixes you’re getting a lot of phenomenal workouts.

If you do one of the premixes with the Boot Camp segment you’ll even get some resistance training.  Don’t be intimidated by the step.  You can do it!

You can buy Intensity on Cathe Friedrich’s site, Amazon, and Collage Video.

And you can access ALL of Cathe Friedrich’s routines with a membership to Cathe on Demand.  (This is how I get all of her workouts.)

You can read more about it in this article, Everything You Need to Know About Cathe Live and Cathe on Demand.

Have YOU tried Intensity??  Please tell me what you think about it in the comment section!  

Thanks for reading!!

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  1. Debby Dedecko says:

    Hi
    How do you know that you are burning 500 calories?
    Just curious. Would you use this great workout as one of your HIIT routines?

    Thank you in advance!

    • Great question, Debby. I always wear a Polar heart rate monitor with a chest strap when I do workouts. It gives me the number of calories I burn. Yes, I love the Intensity routine for HiiT! Have a great day!

  2. Debby Dedecko says:

    Hi,

    I loved your review of intensity! I love this workout! I really push myself so I can be in a anerobic state at times. Again my question to you would you consider this whole workout to be an HIIT? Thank you!

    • Hi Debby, Yes, the Intensity video has HiiT components in the routine. Anytime you do quick, intense bursts of exercises followed by a short break it can be considered HiiT. The step aerobics sections are more continuous cardio but there are 2 sections in the Intensity workout that specialize in the HiiT style. (I think one section is called ‘HiiT’ and the other is called ‘Low-Impact Hiit). The Maximum Intensity premix also has a section in the workout called ‘High-Impact HiiT’. Intensity is an incredible program. Thanks for reading!

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