Circuit Party with Katina Hunter (2008)

Katina Hunter's Circuit Party offers a refreshing, unique approach to weight training. A total body workout is achieved by first working each muscle group in isolation during slower-paced muscle endurance supersets, immediately followed by faster-paced cardio that targets those same muscles again. Aimed at intermediates, Circuit Party uses dumbbells or tubing to pre-fatigue each muscle group during the classic strength training exercises, before switching to light weights for the cardio combo. Katina uses a variety of exercises to keep you entertained and working hard, and moves briskly so you're sure to burn calories as you get stronger.

After the warm-up, four strength circuits are alternated with four cardio circuits. Legs are worked first with squats, plie squats, and lunges. Upper body is worked three circuits in this order: back and chest, shoulders, biceps and triceps. Each muscle group gets three different exercises back to back, using either dumbbells, tubing or resistance band. The warm-up combo forms the base of the five cardio combos. Upper body moves are changed each time to target the muscles that were just worked in the strength circuits. Lower body moves are tweaked a little bit in each circuit too. A standing ab cardio circuit precedes the floor abs and the final stretch.

For variety, two bonus premixes allow you to concentrate on either strength training with the I Love Weights Mix or to do all the cardio combos back to back with the I Love Cardio Mix. Although the main workout has chapter markers, the premixes do not, so if you need extra time to get set up, you might want to do a strength workout by choosing the main workout and using your chapter skip button to pass over the cardio circuits.

Who's it for?
Intermediates and advanced can make this as tough as they want, depending the choice of weights, since most reps are done at a slow 2-up, 2-down speed. However, Katina's designed this workout for experienced exercisers who know the exercises and can handle three back-to-back sets for the same muscle group so there's not a lot of detailed instruction.

Equipment & Space Needed
You'll need at least two sets of dumbbells, tubing or a resistance band (either one works, you don't need both), a stability ball, a floor mat and a step. The step is used as a bench to lie on, so if you don't have one, no problem.

You need enough room to grapevine or double step touch behind your step, and to lunge forward at either end. 6 by 8 feet should be fine.

Best features
Unique format and classic exercises that are easy to follow and done at a pace that allows you to go heavy if you'd like.

What needs improvement?
During the leg segment Katina misses reps on the second side for both the stationary lunges and kneeling donkey kicks. You can fix this by pausing the DVD and continuing on, or let the DVD play while you even things up, and use your chapter back button to get back to the beginning of the cardio when you're ready. You can also start with your weaker leg for each set and let that side do the extra reps.

How's the instruction?
Katina has a relaxed, down to earth teaching style. She cues well, but doesn't give a lot of detailed instructions and doesn't demo each exercise as she has in earlier workouts. The transitions between exercises are pretty quick so if you need to change weights more often than Katina does, keep your weights close by. She counts out the tempo of the reps "up two, down two" throughout most of the workout. This cueing helps you to stay in sync with her when you're on the floor and can't see the screen, but can be tiresome when you're standing facing the screen. The music has a good beat to follow, so a few more technique pointers or posture cues would have been more helpful than the constant counting.

Rating

Crew
Katina's crew of four women follow her exactly for the strength portions, two of them keep the cardio portion low impact by skipping the plyo jumps. Katina may mention alternatives for certain exercises, but no one demonstrates them.

Workout Details - 62 min.

Warm-up - 5.5 min.
march, learn the cardio combo: step-touch, double step-touch, tap front/back, 2 v-steps, 2 grapevines
dynamic stretches for chest, back, shoulders, hams, lower back

Legs (dumbbells, tubing, band) 9.5 min.
squats (2-2), 3-pulse squats,
plie squats (2-2), 3-pulse squats,
stationary lunge(1-1), 3-pulse lunges,
outer thigh alternating side taps with tubing,
kneeling donkey kicks with band around foot (tubing works too)

Legs (cardio with dumbbells) - 2 min.
double step touch, alternating forward lunges, 3 squats (plyo option), 2 grapevines with knee lifts

Back & Chest (dumbbells & band) 9 min.
double-arm rows (palms facing sides) (2-2) (optional one-leg balance)
lat pull-down with band (2-2 & 3-1)
rear delt fly with band (arms horizontal) (2-2 & 3-1)
narrow chest press with hand rotation at top (palms facing in at bottom, facing feet at top)
chest flies (palms facing feet)
push-ups (hands on step)
chest & back stretches

Back & Chest (cardio with dumbbells) - 4 min.
double step touch with chest press, 3 shallow forward lunges with double-arm rows, 3 wide rows (plyo squat optional), deadlift with 6 double-arm rows (optional 2 push-ups, 2 single-arm rows), 2 grapevines with arm sweep

Shoulders (dumbbells) - 4 min.
overhead shoulder press
lateral shoulder raise
front shoulder raise - double-arm & single-arm

Shoulders (cardio with dumbbells) - 2.5 min.
double step touch with 2 lateral raises, 3 jab/crosses with forward lunge, alternating lateral raises with side taps (optional overhead presses with jacks), 2 grapevines lateral raise and sweeping arms forward and back

Biceps & Triceps (dumbbells & tubing) - 8.5 min.
hammer curls (2-2), rotational curls, wide curls
palms up curls with tubing
triceps dips off step
lying triceps extensions
triceps press-ups (elbows tight to sides)

Biceps & Triceps (cardio with dumbbells) - 3 min.
double step touch with 2 curls, 3 biceps/triceps with forward lunge, wide-leg straight-arm triceps press-back (optional jacks), 2 grapevines with press-backs

Abs (cardio with dumbbells) - 2.5 min.
double step touch with 2 torso twists, side crunches with forward lunge, wide-leg lateral bends, 2 grapevines with lateral bends

Abs & Stretch - 10 min. (7 abs, 3 stretch)
gripping stability ball between legs for: upper crunches with inner thigh squeezes, crunch with ball tap, alternating oblique crunches
both legs point to ceiling, toss ball and catch with feet
ball between feet, lower feet towards floor, rotate feet, pull knees to chest
cobra stretch
opposite arm & leg reach, alternating each rep
stretch: cat/cow, child's pose, runner's lunge, ham stretch, stand for shoulder rolls, lateral bends

DVD features

Main Menu has these choices:

Introduction - (30 sec.)Katina explains workout & equipment needed, returns you to main menu when finished
Play Program - plays all chapters in the order above
Plan Your Own Party (Chapters) - takes you to a menu where you can choose from the 11 chapters above, approximate length of time is indicated on the menu. When the chapter is over, the workout continues from that point to the end.
Party Mix - takes you to a menu where you can choose between two shorter workouts:
I Love Weights Mix - 37 mins. (actually 40) no warm-up, includes floor abs & stretch
I Love Cardio Mix - 26 mins. (actually 19) includes warm-up and cardio abs
Credits

Preview Circuit Party and Katina's other workouts at her website, StepParty.com.

Choosing weights for cardio
You'll need to lighten up for the cardio routines. The goal is to get through all the reps with good form despite pre-fatigued muscles. Two small weighted balls would work well here too. Katina uses 5 pounds for all the cardio, but you might want to lighten up for the shoulder cardio as the moves are pretty fast.

If you use the premix to do all the cardio together, wearing weighted gloves would be another option.

Cardio with weights
If you don't want to do the optional plyo jumps in each cardio segment, substitute sidestep squats.

squats and lunges
For more intensity, incorporate your step into the squats. Stand on top of your step as if you were going to do a straddle step, and squat down off alternating sides. Transfer all your weight to the floor leg as you lower down and then transfer all your weight to the leg on the step as you lift up. This will let each leg take a turn at supporting your entire body weight for each squat.

For the stationary lunges, place your front foot on the step and your floor foot close to the step, (as if you were doing a leg press). Start with the step leg at a 90° angle, then press upward for each rep, transferring your weight to the step leg and lifting the back foot of the floor each rep. You can even add a leg lift to the rear here to work that glute a bit harder.

kneeling donkey kicks with band around foot
You may find it more comfortable to kneel on your step for this exercise. Put your floor mat or a small pillow under the support knee for more comfort.

Katina misses 12 reps on the second leg. To work both sides evenly, just continue on while the leg cardio begins, and use the chapter back button to return to the top when you're done with the second leg. Or, begin with your weaker leg, so that you do more reps on that side.

narrow chest press, chest flies, push-ups
Work the core a bit harder by using your stability ball for this chest superset. Lie face up on top for the chest press and flies, then lie face down it and walk your hands forward for the push-ups.

front shoulder raise - double-arm & single-arm
Since these raises work the often overworked front delts (and you're doing three chest exercises with hit the front delts too), you might want to target the rear delts instead by leaning your torso forward about 45°, and lifting your arms to the side for rear delt flies.

palms up curls with tubing
Hold dumbbells and tubing together for more intensity.

stability ball abs
I find it very awkward to grip my large stability ball between my legs during the lying ab work, so I use a smaller play ball that I bought at Target. It's 12 inches in diameter and much easier to handle.

both legs point to ceiling, toss ball and catch with feet
With a smaller ball, I find it harder to catch the ball with my feet, so I substitute lower ab crunches here, holding the ball between my legs.