A little intro: I have been working out to Cathe’s videos since 2001. My first workout was CTX Kickbox. I became instantly addicted to Cathe’s tough workouts and her unique style.

I first tried STS in summer 2009, but made excuses for not finishing and gave up after Meso 2 because I figured I'd wait for the STS tower to get delivered. Then I tried STS again in summer 2010 and actually finished! I found Meso 1 very hard to keep up with my first time due to the quick equipment changes, but learned to love the quick pace and biting burn. Meso 2 is hands-down my favorite. Strength is 1st runner up to my favorite. There is something about the feeling of getting stronger that inspires me to work harder than when experiencing that muscle endurance burning sensation.

I also found that Cathe’s micro load or weight gloves just wasn’t cutting it for me. I’d practically cool down while changing the weights! So, I went digging in our fitness room and found a set of Bally’s Fitness 2 pound wrist weight with zipper enclosure for quick weight changes to 1 pound (each stone is .25 pounds, with 4 stones in each). And they go on and off FAST with the Velcro straps. To add a third pound, I use the Beach Body gloves that came with Hip Hop Abs. I don’t put my middle and ring fingers in the holes with my weight gloves on so I can get them on and off quickly. I just slip my thumb through the hole and Velcro around my wrist. It is a little tight with my weight gloves on, but it stays in place and doesn’t suffocate my hand. It is funny to see me with both the blue Beach Body glove on, which places the pound on top of my hand (much like Cathe’s), and the Bally’s wrist weights on. See my link to Flickr below for a photo of these little guys. So, I have 1, 2 and 3 pound increments down pat. If my target weight is 4, 14, 19, 24 or 29, I just round up one pound and do fewer reps if needed.

Feeling pretty awesome about how strong I was getting during Meso 2, I started looking ahead to Meso 3 and began to wonder if I’d choose Plyo Legs or the Squat Rack option. We acquired a used Body Smith (by ParaBody) ProSystem home cable gym when we bought our home in 2005. My husband has used it since, and while I had used it enough to get used to it, I had not used it in long time. So, I decided to do Plyo Legs with Meso 3 and while finishing out those last 7 weeks of the STS 3.5 month rotation, I began to create my own Meso 4.

My Meso 4 combines the STS Squat Rack workouts with my unique cable gym workouts, which focus on 85% of my 1RM. The first workout is a Legs and Core routine using the cable gym, then a Chest and Back routine using cable gym. Then I do a STS Squat Rack workout. I finish out with a Back, Shoulders and Biceps routine on the cable gym. Lastly, I’d stick cardio workouts on the days between weight lifting days. Sometimes, I would not finish all 4 weight-lifting workouts within 7 days, you know, to ensure that I got adequate rest when suffering from DOMS.

For example, my first week went like this (and I start my workout weeks on Sunday, weird, I know):

Sunday, Legs and Core (cable)
Monday, Cardio
Tuesday, Chest and Back (cable)
Wednesday, Cardio
Thursday, STS Squat Rack Workout 1
Friday, Break
Saturday, Back, Shoulders and Biceps (cable)

The first thing I did to create these workouts was printing out the entire list of cable workouts available on Cathe’s 1RM drop down list. I did this by selecting only cable exercises, then taking screen shots of the list and then pasting the screen shots in a Word doc. I went through the list and selected the exercises that I wanted to use in my routine. Sometimes a perfect match could not be found, so I chose something as similar as possible and made notes. I went through the 1RM for each exercise I had selected. Then I sorted out the exercises in an order preferable to me. Meso 4 ended up being tough and somewhat longer than a month, but totally awesome.

I’ve also provided a link to some photos of my workout space. First, I have a big mat in front of a TV that is designated for workouts only. Then there is the workout room, which is the door by the workout mat, for easy access to weights and equipment. I store my step and STS tower under the stairs next to a basket of workout sneakers. The Power Tower is one of my husband’s most used equipment pieces while I think it works wonderfully as a drying rack. Just kidding, I love Roman chair knee lifts! I told my husband that once I’ve done STS a few times, I’m going to ask for some Woody bands to do pull ups on the Power Tower so I can get as strong as Cathe! (If you don’t know what a Woody band is, Google that *%#@!)

For cardio, I’m a very “fly by the seat of my pants” gal. I like to choose my cardio according to season and mood. Cardio can get boring to me, so I have to constantly be changing it up. I’m in the Midwest so season is important, and I love a good trail run or bike ride when the weather is good for it. Sometimes, I prefer some HIIT or Tabata while other times I prefer vinyasa yoga. Step and running have always been my top 2 favorites.

So, that pretty much sums up my experience with STS. As I’m writing this, I just finished Disc 18 today (my 2nd round of STS) and loving how strong I feel! And I'm looking forward to doing Meso 4 again.

I can’t attach the Excel workout sheets to this post (I tried converting to PDF but too many KB), but I can email it to you if you are interested in seeing it. Just message me!

Link to Flickr photos: Flickr: bigbadbrandini's Photostream