Cathe Friedrich's Hardcore Series: CORE MAX Review

This DVD is great value for money - each workout is just the right length, challenging without being too difficult, and varied enough so that you won't get bored. (The "core" in the title is a little misleading, as these three workouts focus on the abdominal, rather than the back muscles.) An 8 pound medicine ball is recommended; it's used to add resistance to exercises like crunches, roll-ups and rocket shoots.

Cathe has a reputation for being hard core (no pun intended!) but I appreciate that she says things like "Don't worry if you don't have the endurance; it will come over time."

Here's a breakdown of the workouts.

Segment One - No equipment (20 minutes)
1) Supermans
2) Levitation holds
3) Hip lifts (bent leg)
4) Hip lifts (straight leg)
5) Corkscrew
6) Opposite elbow to knee
7) Reach to outside of knee
8) Frog-style crunches (both knees open to sides)
9) Crunches with straight legs in air
10) Crunches with knees bent on floor
11) Three-level crunches
12) Rope climb crunches
13) Frog style crunches (second set)
14) Three-level crunches (second set) with pulses at the top
15) Axe crunches
16) Reverse crunches
17) Crunches with arms and legs extended
18) Reverse crunches (second set)
19) Straight leg prone plank
20) Hip dip planks

Segment Two - Stability Ball (20 minutes)
1) Supermans on ball
2) Roll outs
3) Roll ins
4) Roll ins for obliques (legs pull in on an angle)
5) Pikes on the ball
6) Crunches on top of ball
7) Long lever ball exchange (holding the ball between your feet and crunching up to transfer the ball to your hands)
8) Vertical oblique rotations with legs straight in air
9) Side-to-side chops
10) Woodchops for obliques
11) Pelvic tilt crunches

Segment 3 - Stability Ball and Medicine Ball (20 minutes)
MEDICINE BALL ONLY
1) Superman (no equipment)
2) Curl-ups with medicine ball
3) Rocket shoots holding medicine ball between legs
4) Modified V-Sit (Russian twist)
5) Oblique rotations with knees bent in the air
STABILITY AND MEDICINE BALL TOGETHER
6) Side-to-side rotations
7) Supine woodchops on a diagonal
8) Side-to-side woodchops on stability ball while holding medicine ball
9) Oblique crunches with medicine ball on shoulder
10) Long range crunches
11) Short range crunches
12) Long range crunch (2nd set)
13) Short range crunch (2nd set)

Product Description
Core Max is a 60 minute workout that is broken down into the following segments. Feel free to pick and choose anyone of the segments and do them 3 times per week. These segments feature some new moves which may feel very different to you at first. Once you see the move, try the move, and get acclimated to it, you will really maximize the benefits of the workouts. As always, keep your focus, use a challenging weight wherever offered, use good form, and execute every rep to YOUR maximal effort.

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