Cathe Friedrich- Imax 2
Equipment needed: step
Level: Intermediate/advanced
Bottom line: Variety is the charm of this well-structured cardio interval workout. Challenging blasts are tempered with ample rest periods, keeping the overall intensity at a fairly steady intermediate/advanced level.
In a variety sense, this should be the template upon which other interval workouts are built. There are ten intervals in the 41 minutes of the workout (not including warm up and cool down), and each interval contains both a step combination and a blast, so no more than a couple minutes are spent on repetition. I much prefer this style to the “hi-lo” aerobic style in other workouts, in which combinations are repeated, then repeated…. then repeated again. While it’s true that this can bring the intensity down on the blasts, some of them are so difficult that a couple minutes are more than sufficient to set your muscles and lungs on fire.
The fast pace and structure are probably the reasons I do this workout so often despite the fact that it’s a tad less intense than I would like, which is the result of the rest periods after the blasts. My heart rate doesn’t decrease enough to actually leave a training zone, but the recovery periods prevent me from keeping my heart rate at a very high level for any length of time. Perhaps I’m simply being nitpicky, because I complain about the opposite in my Imax 3 review, but I suppose that’s because my ideal workout would be a marriage between Imax 2 and 3. Given that there is no Imax 2.5, Imax 3 wins due to its intensity.
I would like to mention that this has become my go-to late night workout on cardio days on which I have procrastinated until I’m having trouble motivating myself to work out. I find that I have no problem mentally pushing myself to pop in a DVD that contains only 41 minutes of an actual workout and gaurantees me a good sweat, minimal repetition, and ample recovery periods to keep the intensity less punishing.
Overall: This is an outstanding interval workout, pairing Cathe’s usual well-cued, solid and fun step routines with some of her signature high-intensity moves. Although there is no breakdown of the step combinations, they should not be too difficult to pick up after one attempt. The recovery periods make this appropriate for intermediate/advanced exercisers, and perhaps advanced exercisers who need a lighter and/or shorter but still challenging workout.