STS Meso 1 Questions

[kfrench9984]

I want to order STS Meso 1 instead of p90x because I love weight lifting but I have a few questions..

1. What equipment do you need?
2. What type of results did you get?
3. What sort of work should you do to prepare for it?

Thanks,
Kristin

[SteppnStrong]

Equipment needed for Meso 1 only: (disc #)

Stability Ball (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12)
Step (1, 3, 6, 9)
Barbell (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
Bands/Tubing (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12)
Dumbbells (1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
Pullup bar (2)
Ankle Weights (3, 9)
Bench (4, 5, 7, 11)
High Step (6, 12)
Incline/Decline Bench (8, 19)
Sliding Discs/Paper plates (9, 12)

Results: definitely stronger
Prepare: do the one-rep-max tests

[geomom]

Do not get meso I if you are bothered by equipment changes. It is an equipment hog. However, I really only noticed it the first time I did the workouts. I can now (third rotation) do the workouts without pausing and even am waiting around in the back and tri workouts where the breaks tend to be longer than 30 secs. I am even taking the time to make odd-sized db's with pace weights. I am not bothered by equipment hog workouts, though.

My results: definitely layered on more muscle. I can really do push ups now. Lots of them and off my toes. Really noticeable in my upper body particularly my back. I have not really ever noticed weight loss from exercise variation. All that for me come from diet changes. Others have lost weight. Even though this meso is billed as endurance I really believe it caused some serious strength gains for me. I say this because in my rotations I have only done mesos 2 and 3 one time through, but I did meso one one time in a month, then later did it stand alone for two months (so two weeks on each week of discs) and that is when I noticed a lot of muscle layering onto my body.

[geomom]

Forgot to say that I love weight lifting, too. My favorite type of exercise is the iron. I have both sts and the X. There are some X workouts that are great, but there is a boredom factor due to so few workouts in the three month program. That does not exist in sts due to the variety.

To prepare I would do pushups! That will make you feel less like a weenie when doing the workouts your first time. Also your one rep maxs. Just do a few each day. Make a notebook of the workout sheets and take good notes while doing the workouts.

[wendyhazew]

You will need a lot more equipment for STS than you would for P90X. I did P90X last spring into the summer and just started STS in Sept. I'm getting ready to start Meso 2 on Tuesday.

My biggest issue with STS so far has been not having some of the odd dumbbell weights. I have 5, 8, 10, 12, etc. Due to having to lift a percentage of your 1RM, it calls at times for 6, 7, 9, 11, 13 lbs, etc. I bought a pair of adjustable ankle/wrist weights, but they are a real pain to get the sand bags in and out to adjust the weight. I have to pause the DVD's often to adjust, which frustrates me.

I also have to admit that Tony kept me more entertained and made me laugh. The people who are in the workouts seemed much more engaging. I can't stand the way the women in STS just keep these big smiles on their faces the whole time. It just irritates me for some reason.

Other than that, I think STS is a really great workout. I hate doing yoga, so in P90X I would skip it and just walk/jog that day. Plyo was super hard, but I did it every week. I hurt my neck doing Kenpo X, so I stopped doing it after that and like yoga day would just try to do some other form of cardio. I much prefer weight lifting to cardio, so STS has been a good workout for me.

HTH.

Sorry, forgot to say that I took about a week to do my 1RM's. I read a few threads here, and kind of followed one posters advice. I did all my upper body, but didn't do them for my legs. For my first leg workout, I just adjusted as I went and then the following weeks tried to go up in weight a little bit.