Day 1 STS- Loved it!

Dela

Cathlete
Well, I said a while ago, 2/1 was my revised start date after we knew the holiday delivery was not possible, and I was able to stick with that date, and so happy I did!

I thoroughly enjoyed disc 1, it was such a nice change of pace doing only 1 set of each exercise, I really don't think I have ever done a workout like this. There is absolutely no boredom or dread factor at all, even if I don't like something, I know I only have to get through it once, love that!

There are A LOT of pushups, I can't say I was able to keep up with Cathe and Crew on most of those, but I did what I could. On the third set, when she announced 30 pushups, I was wondering if maybe she had made a mistake, but nope, she meant 30! I eeked out about 23 on my knees.

After doing this disc today, I now know that taking those 1RM tests for me was crucial. The dvd moves quickly so knowing what weight to use helps reduce hitting the pause button, and because you only do your set once, it's very important to choose the right weight immediately. I got to use my wrist weights today to make sure the weights I used were exactly as the card had them. I'll admit, I didn't trust my strength early on and dropped my weights a few pounds on the barbell curl, and I definitely could have done the weight as printed, but I won't do that again :eek:. Generally, I found the weights pretty dead on, I did have to drop the weight for the Seated Lateral Raise Both Arms High End, those are just killer, and I could have gone a pound or two higher on 2 others.

I started the extended stretch, but it was pretty long and I wanted to do abs, so I stopped the stretch and moved on to abs. I'll use the extra stretch at least once a week to get in some extra flexibility exercises. Yoga has never really been my thing, but this is definitely doable and even I can work this in to my rotation.

I did the 10 minute abs with medicine ball segment, then followed along with the partner abs with medicine ball but with modifications since I was going solo, it was not hard at all to modify, many of the exercises you could do almost the exact same motions alone, and others I just subbed any oblique or standard ab exercise I learned from the first 10 minutes. I gotta say 20 minutes of ab work never flew by so quickly! I loved the workout. I'm a little afraid of the yoga and pilates versions.

I am really putting my faith into this program, it started great, and I have every reason to believe it will help me move in the direction I want/need to go in. A big road block for me is eating too much, so I also signed up for WW online to hold myself more accountable for the amount of calories I eat.

I hope you all enjoy your first day as much as I have! :D
 
Dela-I have to agree with you, about how important it was to take the 1RM tests ahead of time! I'm super glad I did also, for a few reasons. First, it's all figured out for me, no guessing. Second, I most likely would have, on a few occasions/exercises, chosen a lighter (and easier) weight. At one point, I thought my workout card had to be wrong! LOL But it wasn't. I went to almost failure on a few things, and it was AWESOME! (I started today and did Disc 1 as well). Like you said, it's a different change of pace, knowing you only have ONE set of something. I was actually hoping for a second set on a few moves (although not many! LOL)!

Glad you enjoyed it as much as I did!

Gayle
 
YEAH!!! I was hoping that you got your STS! I previewed discs 1 & 2 on friday evening and disc 3 (for week 1) on saturday morning! i felt so excited, but didn't want to start them on a weekend... I like having sunday as a rest day, so starting tomorrow will work good for me :) YIKES! All those push ups are gonna kill me! I'll be starting on my knees, but will eventually hit the wall and have to literally finish the rest on the wall! :eek:

I did most of the 1RM's too, but admit that I did guess on some that were similar to ones I had already done... hopefully the workout cards will be easy to read... I gotta remember to print them out at work tomorrow since I don't have a printer at home at the moment! My only hesitation is that there is so many equipment changes (chairs, mats, step/bench, slanted risers, etc) that I hope I am organized enough to pull it off... I'm sure once I get used to it I will do OK, but the first workout or two will be a challenge... I will need to get organized before actually starting the workout! That's about the only drawback to only doing each disc once, is that you never know what's coming next unless you watch it a few times... previewing isn't the same for me, I need to DO it to make stick... :)

i have been a WW member for several months... if you want a WW buddy, let me know :) I really need to get back into it.. tracking food just doesn't seem to cut it.. If STS is going to work and I am going to get the most benefit from it, I really need to get serious about cleaning up my eating... PM me if you are interested... :)

Gayle: glad to hear you are diggin the first day too! ;)
 
I started STS today too and found it a refreshing change of pace and extremely hard! I knew it was going to be challenging but I was even more amazed when I got into it. A few of my weights were a little too high so I dropped back on one or two exercises but other than that, found the 1RM test spot on. TOTALLY agree that it should be done!!
 
Also started STS today.

I also started STS today! I loved this workout, the pace and the structure. I really struggled with the pushups - that is my hardest exercise but also did the best I could. I'm was mostly on my knees for what I could do! I eeked out some on my toes in the beginning but not many :-( I know I have room to improve here and know I will!

I also agree that having done the 1rm's made all the difference in the world. I had a couple of exercises where I needed to decrease my weight, but for most I was spot on. There were a couple where my 60% was like 13 lbs or some off number so I pushed myself to go heavier rather than lighter. But on the shoulder workouts like the Incline rear raise on stability ball I went lighter. (Those kind of shoulder exercises always get me!). Oh yeah, and I agree those seated lateral high ends were killer - I absolutely decreased for those! Yowza!

Anyway, I know this program is exactly what I need and I'm very inspired. The other thing is though my arms are feeling heavy, I didn't feel completely worn out when I finished though I know I'll sleep good tonight. I'm very happy!

Jo
 
Hey there Dani, thanks, yup they came of course the afternoon I left for AC, but they were fine and in the house when I got home.

The workout cards are very clear and straight forward, I made notations on my weight changes on it, so I'm going to save them all, I may have to manually figure out some of the weight increases, but not sure about that yet and it might help to figure out new 1RMS for future rotations so I don't have to do them all again.

There is a lot of equipment changing going on, and I probably had to pause on about a third of the exercises to get set up. But the main reason I paused so much was to put on the wrist weights, the ones I bought are sort of clumsy to get on, but in the end they worked out fine. I even used the weighted gloves for some, and they feel better than they did before, they don't feel as tight on my fingers now.

After I finished and put the disc away, it was weird to think I won't do this workout again for months and months.

I'll give you a shout about the WW thing.

So happy to hear others have had the same experience as me with Disc 1, I'm excited to keep trying out all of the different workouts. :D I'll do Disc 2 on either Tuesday or Wednesday.

I did most of the 1RM's too, but admit that I did guess on some that were similar to ones I had already done... hopefully the workout cards will be easy to read... I gotta remember to print them out at work tomorrow since I don't have a printer at home at the moment! My only hesitation is that there is so many equipment changes (chairs, mats, step/bench, slanted risers, etc) that I hope I am organized enough to pull it off... I'm sure once I get used to it I will do OK, but the first workout or two will be a challenge... I will need to get organized before actually starting the workout! That's about the only drawback to only doing each disc once, is that you never know what's coming next unless you watch it a few times... previewing isn't the same for me, I need to DO it to make stick... :)
 
I am pumped

Great Workout. My arms were pumped. The weights were just about right. The push ups were a killer. I had to get down on my knees a couple of times. But a great workout overall.
 
Great Workout. My arms were pumped. The weights were just about right. The push ups were a killer. I had to get down on my knees a couple of times. But a great workout overall.

WOW! That's impressive! I think I could only DO a couple on my toes! ;)
 
Wait til you get to Disc 2...just as fun and set up in the same format. I paused my DVD each time to grab the weight, bench, band, DB or whatever was listed on the screen. Plus, took a quick peek at my 1RM's to see what weight to grab. The 2nd. disc/workout went faster as far as get ready because I knew what to expect. I surprised myself on how many pushups I could do also. I also am so very glad I did my 1RM's because several times I doubted myself that I could do what was listed and I was able to do EVERY rep! :) (A def plus in testing beforehand) I can't wait to do Disc 3 (LEGS!!!) Have fun everyone!
 
Thanks for the comments on Disc 2 Debbie, I'm so happy to hear it follows the same format as 1, I'm hoping this whole month will follow a similar format, my guess is it will. I know I said it before, but I just really dig the whole one set format. :D
 

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