I want to tell you that I go way back with Cathe Friedrich. Back to the days of leotards, the beginning of step aerobics, of home exercise videos.

Back then, Cathe’s workouts were hard. She had creative, tough moves that really pushed me to my limit. At that time in my life, I did all my workouts at home, had a huge video collection, and Cathe’s were some of my favorites.While I’m sure she had beginner and less difficult workouts, I always wanted to work hard and Cathe’s videos delivered.

Did you know that Cathe Friedrich created one of the first step aerobics videos? Yes, Cathe recognized the need for affordable, convenient, at home workout options, and created her Step n’ Motion series.

Once I started running regularly, I stopped using videos to exercise. I sold many of my old VCR tapes, moved my workout to the gym and to the road. I kind of missed the convenience of an at-home workout though.  So I was excited to have an opportunity to try out and review one of Cathe’s new XTrain series DVDs, Super Cuts.

The first thing I discovered is that Cathe’s workouts are still hard. Oh my gosh, this was challenging. Truthfully, my bad knee just wasn’t up to the many squats, lunges, and other lower body moves. That didn’t stop me from giving it my best, though.

For the Super Cuts workout, you need dumbbells (a couple different sizes–Cathe used 5 & 8 pound weights as the handy graphic informed me at each exercise change), Slide N Glide discs (I happen to have a couple, but in a pinch you can use paper plates), medium resistance tubing, a firewalker loop (basically a wide rubber band that can used around your thighs), and two dixie cups, which are picked up and placed back down during one of Cathe’s lunging sequences.

In spite of my wonky knee, I really loved this workout. The exercises were original and fun (and did I mention they were hard?). Two things I really like: the women that were working out with Cathe were working hard, you could see by the expressions on their face (I felt like they were sharing my pain workout). I also liked that on certain exercises, Cathe tells us to ignore the beat of the music to concentrate on form and movement.

The main workout is about 45 minutes, including the warm up, cool down and stretch. During that time, I worked every muscle in my body, until my arms and legs were shaking. As a bonus, there are two extra core workouts. I love that if I’m short of time, I can just complete a core workout that will challenge me.

I’m really excited that I have found my way back to Cathe. These workouts will be perfect when I’m short of time, can’t make it to the gym, or when I’m just looking for a fun, challenging workout. Enjoy a little clip from Cathe’s Super Cuts workout:

Do you ever use exercise videos?

I received a copy of Cathe’s XTrain Super Cuts DVD free of charge. All opinions are my own.