Cathe Friedrich: Flex Train

As others have given a complete breakdown of the workout, I won't do that here. I have done this workout 4 times now, and each time I find myself challenged by it. Some have likened it to Supercuts. While Supercuts is a great workout in its own right and will definitely give you a great workout, I feel that Flex Train uses heavier weights and is a bit more focused on strength training. Here's the breakdown:Pros:1) A lot of variety in this workout. While there are some old favorite moves (tricep kickbacks while in a plank and lunges on the disc), all of them are highly effective. I have felt this workout the day after every single time, especially in the glutes. Also, the use of the discs and the resistance band mixes things up nicely.2) I like the fact that Cathe doesn't use all 3 and 5 pound weights in this workout. I like to strength train two times a week at least, with one heavy and one lighter day. I use Cathe's Upper Body Pyramid when I want to do some serious work, but like Flex Train for the fact that it still gets some nice weight work in without being too easy.3) The core work at the end was fantastic. There were some new moves in there (such as holding an 8 pound dumbbell on one side and doing a sit up with an overhead press as you come up - worked the obliques nicely), along with standard and reverse crunches.4) The music, while sometimes cheesy, was overall motivating. When I recognized some oldies but goodies it had me smiling during the workout.5) I often feel that Cathe's total body workouts neglect the biceps, but not in this workout. The pulses with one leg up were having my biceps screaming (of course, I was using 10 pound instead of 8 pound dumbbells).6) While I may be a masochist for saying this, I loved the exercise towards the end with the firewalker band. Cathe has you move up and back with the band on, and then do some side to side motions. A nice way to work the outer thighs.The Cons:1) Cathe always hits the triceps pretty hard, but I felt that the amount here wasn't really necessary-the same way I feel about the tricep track in her High Reps workout. And then having to repeat all of those tricep exercises.....ugh.Overall I'd say this is a nice intermediate workout. It did get my heart rate up at time with the compound exercises offered, but also offered some nice weight training. Pick this one up if you like a nice total body workout that leaves no muscle untouched.

I've been working out to Cathe videos since the '90s, and consider myself intermediate level. She never fails to make me work and actually enjoy working out (that's quite a feat). I can keep up with her on virtually all of her older workouts, like Total Body STS, Pyramid, and Supersets. Those all seem to build in more rest with heavier weights (although not necessarily lower reps). My first time through this workout, I caught myself thinking, "Oh, I should go heavier next time." Hah! I actually dropped DOWN in my weights about 1/2-way through, from 8 to 5 and 10 to 8 (I don't have 25 pound dumbbells for back, but 20s more than did the job for me). The moves are FAST and high rep, so heavier weights seem risky to me until I'm stronger.I was a little worried it wouldn't be a "metabolic" workout, since there's very little cardio of any kind. But my heart rate stayed way up throughout the workout, and every muscle was worked to exhaustion. As a total body workout, I really prefer this to Cathe's older, slower workouts that give lots of rest, since I feel like it's a faster, more efficient way to get lean and strong (time will tell).If you're new to Cathe, I'd say she works you harder than either P90x or P90x3 as one example, and with much better cuing and form pointers. (She also actually does the entire workout with you, which I strongly prefer to Tony's folksy talk-talk-show off style.) If you're ready for a serious challenge, this is a great workout. If you're new to Cathe or not an experienced exerciser, you might be better off starting with one of her earlier workouts that give more instruction, rest, and time to complete each exercise. Circuit Blast, Body Max 2, or Supersets/Push Pull might be better places to start, although they're not easy, either.

I absolutely LOVE this workout! No muscle is left untouched and because most exercises are compound the heart rate stays up there. After a warm up that had me winded (I'm more of an intermediate exerciser but improving due to Cathe's DVDs) Cathe targets the shoulders; I started with the recommended 8 pounds but eventually had to drop down to puny 5's. She does alternating overhead presses and does a lot of them before doing more lateral and front chest work. She then moves on to the back with a resistance band, legs with gliding discs (I haven't tried the discs yet but will soon enough), a slew of bicep curls, drop down push-ups for the chest and then the triceps (if I have these out of order I apologize!). Other reviewers haven't liked the amount of time she spends on triceps but I appreciated it; I can't do a kickback in a plank position yet (I adjusted by doing traditional kickbacks with 12 pound weights) but you feel it by the time it's over! Think the kickbacks, tricep dips, tricep push-ups... yes, quite a few but I love working my arms. She finishes on the floor concentrating on the abs, which I also modified because many of the exercises require you to do a full sit-up or raises with an 8 pound weight; I really felt it on my tailbone and although I could follow along I didn't want to tweak my back. Superman crunches, regular crunches, and oblique twists with the 8 pound weight were fine but if you have back issues I'd definitely alter a few of moves. Overall, though, this was a great workout that burned a ton of calories and the time flies by! It's more metabolic than cardio but I burn more calories with this DVD than I do with some of Cathe's HiiT and XTrain routines and it didn't require a ton of equipment. Highly recommend!

Keeps your heart rate up with light weights and sliding discs. Like functional cardio.

I like her explanations with the different moves. She’s an excellent instructor

Love her videos! Challenging, and easy to follow!