Excited about a rotation I came up with

[MelanieC]

I'm excited to start a 6-week rotation I came up with. Here's the basics:

Week 1
3 workouts from STS Meso 1, including 3 STS ab workouts
4 of my favourite cardio routines (Intensity, Step Blast, KPC, MIC)

Week 2
3 circuit training workouts (LIC, DM, BM2)
Cycle Max
Butts & Guts
4DS Hi Intensity Step & Lower Intensity combined

Week 3
3 workouts from STS Meso 2
HIIT 40/20, Imax 2, Cardio SuperSets

Week 4
3 Total Body strength training workouts (STS TB, High Reps, Muscle Max)
CCC, Lower Body Blast, 4DS Kickbox & Bootcamp

Week 5
3 workouts from STS Meso 3, plus 3 workouts from Coremax
HIIT 30/30, Athletic Step, Kickmax

Week 6
Gym Styles CT, BSB, Legs & Glutes
IMAX, Rhythmic Step, LISLIC

I'm calling this the "my favorites" rotation. Looking forward to 6 weeks of all my favorite workouts

[Beth-B-Fit]

I really like this! I am going to use it but substitute slow and heavy in week 5 for the sts cycle 3.

[mini-natty]

This looks like a great rotation!

Just one question (please don't laugh), how do you come up with a rotation? It can't be just a series of workouts put together, there has to be more thought and detail into it right? What are the "basis" of one? Ok, if I do cardio 3X/week and strength 2X/week, do I have to mix up each week so I don't do the same workouts every time? Would I benefit from alternating one week with more cardio and one week more weights? Please excuse me for asking, I am fairly new to Cathe, just interested.

Natasha

[MelanieC]

Hey Natasha - I base my rotations on what I've learned over the years that works for me. I know that I need to balance cardio with weights, and to really see results, I need to do 2 lower body workouts per week. I also know that I need to work my abs three times a week otherwise I lose the strength needed to do push-ups and other plank work.

I also like to do one HIIT workout per week in order to maintain my ability to do the more intense cardio workouts like MIC or IMAX 2/3.

With this rotation I was just really wanting to do all the workouts that I love to do. I've been following Cathe's rotations for the past little while, and after doing a couple months working on LIS, I just felt that I wanted to shake things up a little.

So I decided to incorporate all three STS mesos with other types of strength training workouts - circuits, total body and splits. I follow STS Meso 1 week with a week of circuit training (because generally the weights used in circuit training are lighter), then STS Meso 2 week with total body (picked workouts that use heavier weights), then STS Meso 3 week is followed by a week of splits (using the Gym Styles workouts, except for lower body cause I don't have that workout). Then I just decided which cardio workouts I love to do and threw those in there along with specific ab workouts during the week I do STS Meso 1, STS Meso 2, STS Meso 3 and the Gym Styles week.

I guess the point is just to try to balance things out with strength & cardio and if you're feeling the need to improve on something, then make sure you incorporate that into your rotation as well. It helps to look at Cathe's rotations and figure out the pattern she's using, what the point of the rotation is, and then try to follow that.

I hope this helps you!

Melanie

[Stacy]

I think in the simplest terms a rotation can be nothing more complicated than a workout schedule whether it be for just one week or for a month etc just to get someone up and moving and consistent with working out.

Generally, I think rotations should have a specific goal such as consistency as mentioned above or maybe upper body strength gains, lower body strength gains, flexibility, cardio endurance etc etc.

Rotations should be balanced ie. taking appropriate rest days, or not working the same body part 2 days in a row to avoid injury.

Some ppl have a general rotation plan/scheme ie. Monday--Cardio, Tuesday--Total Body Weights etc etc and do whatever workout fits the bill to avoid boredom.

I've read in some articles however that sticking to the same workout for the month could be advantageous b/c you can push yourself the next time you do it and can better gauge your progress where that may not be as easy to judge if you say did Muscle Endurance one week and then STS Total Body as your "total body weight workout" the next week.

These are all just my two cents of course and as Cathe says "take it or leave it, right?" (insert Cathe's cute laugh here)