Dear Cathe,
I’ve wanted to write to you to say thank you, because recently your workouts have given me something back that I hadn’t realised quite how much I had missed.
I first discovered your workouts over 20 years ago, and for many years they were such a big part of my life. I especially loved your step workouts, the music, the choreography, the energy, and that wonderful feeling of being strong and capable. You have been a huge inspiration to me for such a long time.
A lot of life has happened during those 20-plus years. I spent many years working as a makeup artist in the film industry before making a huge change in direction at 36 and pursuing a medical degree. Through different careers and different chapters of my life, my enthusiasm for your workouts has somehow remained a constant, one of those familiar threads connecting different versions of me.
Over the last few years, however, several health and injury issues, some requiring surgery, meant that exercise gradually disappeared from my life. I ended up feeling pretty rubbish physically, mentally, emotionally and, in some ways, spiritually too. More than anything, I stopped trusting my body in the way I once did.
What surprised me was the genuine sense of grief and loss I began to feel when I thought about your workouts, particularly the step workouts I had loved so much. They represented not only something I had loved doing, but the strength, confidence and sheer enjoyment I once felt in my body. Remembering them made me sad because I genuinely wondered whether I had lost that part of myself for good.
Earlier this year, I was also involved in a car accident which left me with further injuries and facing more treatment and surgery. Strangely, though, it also became something of a wake-up call. I had reached a point where I felt so physically and emotionally depleted, and so disconnected from the person I remembered being, that I knew something had to change.
For a while, I honestly felt broken. But somewhere in all of that was also a determination that I didn’t want to stay there. I couldn’t control everything that had happened to my body, but I could begin finding a way to care for it again. I wanted to feel strong, to enjoy moving, and most of all, to feel like me again.
About a month ago, I decided to start again with Lift, Move & Restore. I chose it because I needed something kind to my body and joints, and I honestly can’t tell you how much it has helped. Instead of focusing on what my body might not be able to do, I have slowly started learning to trust it again and, importantly, to enjoy moving it again.
There is something rather lovely about the fact that Lift, Move & Restore was the programme I found at that particular point in my life. I think I needed the “restore” part in more ways than one.
Then recently I did Ripped with HiiT: Low Impact HiiT Two, and something happened that I really wanted to tell you about.
For the first time in a very, very long time, I felt this little spark of genuine excitement and enthusiasm while exercising. The music was fantastic, and there were movements that felt wonderfully familiar, little echoes of the higher-impact step workouts I used to absolutely LOVE doing with you years ago.
I’m not quite ready to go back to those workouts yet, and because of some ongoing knee issues I don’t know whether I ever will be able to do them in quite the same way. But it almost didn’t matter. Recognising those movements and feeling some of that old energy again brought me such unexpected joy.
For a moment, I felt like a part of my old self had suddenly reappeared.
And this time, instead of grieving for her, I could feel her coming back.
That has perhaps been the biggest change. When I remember those old step workouts now, I don’t feel the same sadness or sense of loss. I know there are alternatives. I can still experience the music, movement, challenge and that wonderful Cathe energy without asking my body to do things it may no longer be happy doing.
It feels less like I am mourning what my body used to be able to do, and more like I am discovering what it can do now.
I’ve also gone a little bit crazy in the closing-down warehouse sale! I’ve bought several new programmes, including Lift, Move & Restore 2, XTrain and STS 2.0, as well as quite a few others, and even the motivational socks, which I absolutely love. Some of those workouts I can enjoy now and others are there to challenge me as I get stronger. I’m also looking forward to getting the LITE series as a digital download since I missed out on the DVDs.
And perhaps the fact that I’m excitedly buying workouts and looking forward to what I might be able to do next says it best. Not so long ago, thinking about your workouts made me grieve for something I thought I had lost. Now they make me excited about the future.
So I really just wanted to say thank you.
Thank you for still being there more than 20 years after I first found you, and for continuing to create workouts that challenge people while also meeting their bodies where they are. The newer, lower-impact options have allowed me to rediscover something I genuinely thought I might have lost.
You have inspired me for more than two decades, through different careers, enormous life changes and some difficult periods. It feels incredibly special to be finding that inspiration again, and even more special to discover that the joy was still there waiting for me.
With love and enormous gratitude,
Eva
I’ve wanted to write to you to say thank you, because recently your workouts have given me something back that I hadn’t realised quite how much I had missed.
I first discovered your workouts over 20 years ago, and for many years they were such a big part of my life. I especially loved your step workouts, the music, the choreography, the energy, and that wonderful feeling of being strong and capable. You have been a huge inspiration to me for such a long time.
A lot of life has happened during those 20-plus years. I spent many years working as a makeup artist in the film industry before making a huge change in direction at 36 and pursuing a medical degree. Through different careers and different chapters of my life, my enthusiasm for your workouts has somehow remained a constant, one of those familiar threads connecting different versions of me.
Over the last few years, however, several health and injury issues, some requiring surgery, meant that exercise gradually disappeared from my life. I ended up feeling pretty rubbish physically, mentally, emotionally and, in some ways, spiritually too. More than anything, I stopped trusting my body in the way I once did.
What surprised me was the genuine sense of grief and loss I began to feel when I thought about your workouts, particularly the step workouts I had loved so much. They represented not only something I had loved doing, but the strength, confidence and sheer enjoyment I once felt in my body. Remembering them made me sad because I genuinely wondered whether I had lost that part of myself for good.
Earlier this year, I was also involved in a car accident which left me with further injuries and facing more treatment and surgery. Strangely, though, it also became something of a wake-up call. I had reached a point where I felt so physically and emotionally depleted, and so disconnected from the person I remembered being, that I knew something had to change.
For a while, I honestly felt broken. But somewhere in all of that was also a determination that I didn’t want to stay there. I couldn’t control everything that had happened to my body, but I could begin finding a way to care for it again. I wanted to feel strong, to enjoy moving, and most of all, to feel like me again.
About a month ago, I decided to start again with Lift, Move & Restore. I chose it because I needed something kind to my body and joints, and I honestly can’t tell you how much it has helped. Instead of focusing on what my body might not be able to do, I have slowly started learning to trust it again and, importantly, to enjoy moving it again.
There is something rather lovely about the fact that Lift, Move & Restore was the programme I found at that particular point in my life. I think I needed the “restore” part in more ways than one.
Then recently I did Ripped with HiiT: Low Impact HiiT Two, and something happened that I really wanted to tell you about.
For the first time in a very, very long time, I felt this little spark of genuine excitement and enthusiasm while exercising. The music was fantastic, and there were movements that felt wonderfully familiar, little echoes of the higher-impact step workouts I used to absolutely LOVE doing with you years ago.
I’m not quite ready to go back to those workouts yet, and because of some ongoing knee issues I don’t know whether I ever will be able to do them in quite the same way. But it almost didn’t matter. Recognising those movements and feeling some of that old energy again brought me such unexpected joy.
For a moment, I felt like a part of my old self had suddenly reappeared.
And this time, instead of grieving for her, I could feel her coming back.
That has perhaps been the biggest change. When I remember those old step workouts now, I don’t feel the same sadness or sense of loss. I know there are alternatives. I can still experience the music, movement, challenge and that wonderful Cathe energy without asking my body to do things it may no longer be happy doing.
It feels less like I am mourning what my body used to be able to do, and more like I am discovering what it can do now.
I’ve also gone a little bit crazy in the closing-down warehouse sale! I’ve bought several new programmes, including Lift, Move & Restore 2, XTrain and STS 2.0, as well as quite a few others, and even the motivational socks, which I absolutely love. Some of those workouts I can enjoy now and others are there to challenge me as I get stronger. I’m also looking forward to getting the LITE series as a digital download since I missed out on the DVDs.
And perhaps the fact that I’m excitedly buying workouts and looking forward to what I might be able to do next says it best. Not so long ago, thinking about your workouts made me grieve for something I thought I had lost. Now they make me excited about the future.
So I really just wanted to say thank you.
Thank you for still being there more than 20 years after I first found you, and for continuing to create workouts that challenge people while also meeting their bodies where they are. The newer, lower-impact options have allowed me to rediscover something I genuinely thought I might have lost.
You have inspired me for more than two decades, through different careers, enormous life changes and some difficult periods. It feels incredibly special to be finding that inspiration again, and even more special to discover that the joy was still there waiting for me.
With love and enormous gratitude,
Eva
