Tell us about your STS results!

[jackier]

A little background...I'm 51 and more of a cardio junkie. I've done Cathe's videos and belonged to a gym for the past 10 years. I would occasionally do weight work, but mostly would either take step, kickboxing, and/or spin classes. Several years ago I started to run and enter half marathons and 10 mile races. I have hired personal trainers to do *leg* weight work and I think it helped me avoid injuries with my cardio, but it was once a week and when my 6 week sessions were up, I wouldn't continue it on my own.

I decided to get serious about weight work when STS came out. The women in my family tend to accumulate weight around the middle, and my middle was really starting to spread. ICK! I knew if I increased my muscle mass that it would help with that. Sooo even though I'm rotationally challenged, I have a love/hate relationship with any kind of structure, I was committed to doing this program.

When I started the program, I was so surprised at how weak I had become. I really took it easy at first, because if I started to dread the workouts, I knew I wouldn't do it. I kind of did the 1rm, but didn't pay attention to it. I just did the exercises so that they were challenging in Meso 1. By Meso 2, I was getting stronger, and I started pushing myself more. By Meso 3, I was EAGER to do the workouts. I could not wait to train. My strength gains were amazing. I did NOT want this mesocycle to end. My body started to change by the end of mesocycle 1. I was starting to see the thickness in my middle change. By Meso 2, I was seeing the curve of my ribs. By Meso 3, I saw hip bones!! I was doing my usual cardio, just adding the weight workouts. I've never had to diet, but I knew my eating habits had gotten bad. So I just ate less and cut out alot of sugar. So all of this was without *clean eating*. I know if I did better with the diet part, my body would be SMOKING.

I just started STS again. Meso 1 is still HARD, but I'm completing alot more of the exercises. I'm trying to eat cleaner, but it's really hard. I'm just so thrilled with how my body composition is changing. What's interesting to me is that I have a bunch of women friends from the gym, one is even an instructor, that are around my age who have noticed that they are having a harder time keeping in shape. And I think it's because they do very little weight work, and ALOT of cardio.

Cathe, thank you for such a great, motivating weight workout. Can't wait for STS cardio!

[kryptychyck]

Hello,

I have one more disc to do (either today or tomorrow) but I wanted to post here because I could see a change about 2 weeks ago.

I did not take measurements nor did I step on the scale - I don't own a scale, but I am wishing I did take measurements now.

I cleaned up my diet even more during meso 3 and found that eating very clean really made a difference in workout performance. I also stepped up the cardio this last week.

My clothes are baggy on me now. I can pull several pairs of pants off without unbuttoning them. I was walking down the stairs of the parking garage this morning and the pants I am wearing today were falling down past my hips hahah! I am going to need to get safety pins until I can get out and buy new stuff.

My dad noticed 2 weeks ago that I looked slimmer. He said you can definitely see the muscle definition in my arms and legs. I am thrilled at the changes - I am tigher and toned. just before I fell asleep last night, I laid my head on my arm and felt my bicep. I immediately sat up and flexed it - WOW!!!! It GREW!!!! I love that peak at the top too!! How exciting!

My legs are getting cut - you should see the diamonds in my thighs!!! They are in the inner thigh and on the quad. I have a great tear drop and the outer thigh is clearly defined. It looks like there are some layers there. My thighs look like they have 3 sections of muscle and another small patch on top of the quad. My calves are getting angular. My abs are starting to show. My hips are slimmer. My butt looks AWESOME!!!! I have that space between the hamstring and the butt now AND my butt is tight and round. NICE! Speaking of hamstring - you can see where that muscle stops and starts in relation to my knee and butt.

My shoulders grew - which is great since I have nice curvy hips and they are balanced by the shoulders now. My chest is getting cut along the collarbone. My triceps are showing. My back is getting that nice V-taper and I think I have reduced some of my back fat.

Now that was the cosmetic side of the results. Internally - I feel lean. I feel stronger than ever. I feel accomplished and ready for anything. My energy level is up, up, up. I bust right through stress. Everything is vastly improved. I am really proud of myself for not only doing this workout, but giving it 100% and pushing myself past my limits. When I wanted to stop, I said - no just do one more.

I can do push ups on the toes - no sweat. I worked up to 30 in a row with ease during meso 3. I was doing them for a warm up on the upper body days. I take the workouts to the gym so I don't get to do Cathe's warm up. I made up my own.

I also liked the fact that I sleep really well at night. I liked that I was wiped out after a workout. It was hard to get the cardio in on the off days. I added cardio as much as I could and took the rest when I felt like I was dead in the legs (lactic acid build up for sure).

I am so happy about the changes I see because it motivates me to go for another round after the rest week next week. I have to re-test a few exercises. I posted a thread to see what people where doing about that. I am going to retest a few of them next week (yes I know that is the off week). I kept pretty good notes on my workout sheets so I will have to look through and make my adjustments and use the WM to calculate new RMs here and there.

I am going to repeat the 3.5 month rotation. I have a few goals:

1. Step up the cardio on the of days.
2. Implement more core training.
3. Vary my workouts by adding pilates and yoga on off days/cardio days. I just bought a pilates dvd and a yoga dvd.
4. Reduce break times for some of the workouts. I lifted very heavy and worked to failure in many cases during the workout, but I recover quickly. In some cases, the break was too long for me. I am going to make the next round more cardio focused since my overall goal now is to burn off the fat. I build muscle very easily and I would like to lean/shred a bit more now.

After that rotation, I am thinking about doing an integrated meso 1, 2, 3 workout where I mix them up...I need to think about that some more though. I also thought I sw something from a previous poster on this...

Thanks Cathe for making such a great workout. I am really thrilled and I can't wait to do it again with my new goals. I love the way that you can build and customize this workout. It is a complete success.

Congratulations to everyone who completed or is currently working on completing the workout.

For those who have not yet tried STS - I strongly recommend the investment. You will have a catalog of workouts and exercises that are tried and true as well as timeless. STS can be customized and used for the rest of your life and you will only kee getting stronger and better and better.

[BlakKat]

I absolutely LOVE STS! Every single aspect of it. I wish I had measured myself. I have dropped down 2 sizes - I've always been an 8 - now I'm a 4! I ate mostly clean during the week & cheated a little on weekends. I followed the 3 1/2 month rotation with cardio on the off days (elliptical & karate classes). My fave bodypart now is my arms-especially shoulders & my abs - they both got the most ripped! My only area that I need to work more on is my thighs-they did shrink, but not totally firm. I just think for my bodytype I need to add a 2nd day in so next time I may add Butts & Gutts to the mix. I feel tiny but strong & athletic. I have the most definition ever in my life & my husband & I are loving it!!! He is soooo jealous - he is going to start now. We went on vacation after & I got a lot of stares & compliments! I just turned 42, but feel & look in my 20's - I can't thank you enough Cathe! After the week off, I re-did my 1-reps & now started the 6 1/2 month rotation this week! It's still just as tough & just as fun as it was the 1st time around. I know you said to only do this intense w/o 2x a year, but I can't imagine ever doing anything else. Thank you again Cathe for continuing to keep pushing us and encouraging us to work for the bodies we deserve - you totally rock!!!

[john_and_am]

I'm going to be 42 this June and my wife is 36. The wifey and I noticed huge results! We both fit in our clothes better. We both feel so much stronger. It's not subtle either. After using the STS program, the Bowflex is no longer a challenge. My muscles are really toned and more prominent than ever before. I didn't want to gain mass or get bulky, so I kept track of the weight I was using.

We've had tremendous amounts of energy and feel great. I lost about 5 pounds during the workout. Since 2005 or so, using the Bowflex and Cathe workouts, I dropped 15 pounds and I'm maintaining muscle. I seem be staying at the weight I'm at now. My wife wants to lose a little more, but she's doing well. The program worked perfectly. Cathe thank you so very much! I always recommend Cathe's workouts now.

[dthomforde]

I have some powerful definition in my arms, upper torso. In fact, several people have commented on my arms (sleeveless weather). I did not notice a lot of change in my legs/lower body. I think that I gained mass in bottom half, so for the next round, I think I'm going to change up the leg routine (use only plyo legs, butts and guts, gym style). I don't use the scale much to measure progress but the way my clothes fit. I'm still the same size, a size 8, but pants are a little snug on me through the thigh area where they didn't used to be before I started STS. No big deal. Like I said, I'll do more of the other tapes for legs, plus add slightly more cardio. Otherwise, STS kicked butt and I got noticeable results!!!! I truly hope their is an STS Strength II in the very near future!

[worseenemy]

Originally Posted by mwilliamson3

Here's my first post..ever...I guess it is just that important that I have some way to thank Cathe..
Wow...that's really how I feel at the moment...
To go back a bit, I gave birth to my second daughter on March 12th..so I couldn't start STS at the time that I wanted...I just sort of stared at it in my workout room...hand extended...tears...
I have been using Cathe videos since the birth of my first daughter in 2005...and for me, it has proven highly effective...so much so that I was in good enough shape to begin STS just ONE WEEK after I gave birth (now...please...if you don't work out and don't have very detailed conversations with your OB throughout your pergnancy about safety and health following the birth of a child, please DO NOT follow my lead...this was something that we knew I wanted and I worked very hard throughout my pregnancy to ensure lower abdominal fitness and readiness).
Nonetheless..I was still 30 pounds above my pre-baby weight and I looked like someone had blown up a grenade inside my abdomen. I couldn't do a single pull-up because my abs were so blown out (didn't know how much I needed my gut to pull myself up!!), I could only do 8 push-ups and just really lost a lot of muscle.
I am now about to finish the second mesocycle. I have lost all but 6 pounds of the pregnancy weight...my measures are only a half an inch larger around my hips, stomach and biceps from where they were a year ago...I can do 10 pull-ups...yes 10! My abdominal region has flattened...the definition is totally visible again in all upper and lower body regions. I am so happy...and relieved to have done this program.
Additionally, my next door neighbor who is a hard-core cyclist has joined me. If you've ever seen cyclists, you'll notice mammouth leg definition and puny upper bodies...welp, that's her! WAS her anyway...she's also improved her upper body strength, going from "pull-what's???" and "pull-why-bothers!"to completing 4 easily.
So grateful to have found Cathe just by clicking around on cable TV!
If anyone wants to see a picture, please just go to my facebook page and look at the album "Happy Birthday to Grace!" The photo was taken this past May 10th. If anyone can tell me an easy way to upload it here, I will.
Thank you so much!
Manda Williamson

Hi Grace?
I wanted to see your pictures, but I can't find them....
Eunice

[jbliff]

I finished my 3.5 months rotation at the end of April. I gained a ton of definition, endurance and strength, and lost about 1" off my waist, hips and thighs. Since I wrapped up my rotation I've gone back to workouts that used to be challenging and can now pretty much breeze through them. I'm lifting way heavier than I ever did before STS, and have so much more energy. And for the icing on the cake, I can now do chinups, which I always thought I would never be able to do.

So, in summary, STS rocks for me. I can't wait until STS Cardio comes out!

[mwilliamson3]

Sorry-I'm Manda Williamson...the title of the album must've thrown you--Grace is my daughter...it's her birthday album that my pics are in...I'm listed as Manda Williamson in Facebook.

[marnapril]

i've lost 10 lbs and went down a pants size (from 8 to 6). i am more cut, defined and STRONGER than ever.

I LOVE STS!!!!!!

[plarsen]

Absolutely loved STS. Just finished today. I have more definition and strength at any time in my life, even when I was a gymnast. During STS I lost 18 pounds, but was also on a very strict nutrition program. I still have four weeks left of the 12 week nutrition program, but am very happy with the results so far. I loved the feeling of lifting those heavy weights. I just wish I would have had the rack so I could have upped the bench press. I was only able to safely "roll" the barbell up at 76 pounds, but think I could have gone a lot heavier. I increased my weights on every exercise. I am thrilled with STS and cannot wait to start the 6 month rotation. I just did the 3 this first time.