Cathe - can you help? Confused about strength training.

[KayM]

Hi Cathe! I have several of your aerobics videos (and I LOVE them!) but I have been using the Firm for strength work (I'm definitely at a beginner level when it comes to strength work).

The Firm does not leave my upper body very sore at all (I've tried a couple of other strength workouts, like Susan Powter, that have left me much sorer) so I'm sorta convinced that I need to find something different for upper body. Now I'm totally confused about whether I need an endurance workout, or if I should get something like Slow and Heavy.

Since I'm a beginner, does it even matter? I'm not sure what to do.

My goal is to build some strength. I would like to be more useful around the house (able to lift things more easily, mainly).

Any advice you have on which of your tapes would be best, and how often to use them, would be very much appreciated! I know you're busy so I will wait patiently for a reply however long it takes! And please let me just say how much I love your videos - when you get to the point where you work out for an hour most days, that hour-long workout had better be interesting, and I don't know what I'd do without your workouts!!

Thanks,
Kay

 

[StepEdith]

I'm sure not our Cathe, but until she chimes in here I wanted to tell you my experience. The FIRM was an OK start for me and I still like the FIRM, but when I got MIS and started using that is when I got really sore and started to grow some muscles.

Hope this helps a little

Edith

 

[Seabush]

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Dec-11-02 AT 05:45PM (Est)[/font][p]My vote would be for Maximum Intensity Strength. Cathe's form pointers are excellent in this video. I recently read an article in Muscle Fitness Hers where they recommended full body splits two to three days per week. According to the article, if you're new to exercise, have very little experience or are simply in a major time crunch, start with a full body routine. It's great for overall muscle conditioning. Nothing gets overworked, you get plenty of off days for recovery and work each muscle 2-3 time per week. Full body training is also very efficient, as your entire body is worked in one session. The rotation would be as follows:

Day 1: Full Body (MIS or Power Hour)
Day 2: Off
Day 3: Full (MIS or Power Hour)
Day 4: Off
Day 5: Full Body (MIS or Power Hour)
Day 6: Off
Day 7: Off

Crystal

 

[KayM]

Eek! Well I was very intimidated by the thought of such a long strength-training video - I usually only spend about 45 minutes on strength-training. I thought if I got something like Step & Intervals where you do a step routine, then some upper-body work, it might be easier for me to do.

Is MIS considered an endurance video, or muscle-building video? And does it matter if I'm a beginner?

 

[Seabush]

MIS is an endurance workout. You can build strength and get definition with an endurance workout. If a total body workout seems like too much, you could do a upper/lower body split routine using MIS or Power Hour.

two-day
(Beginner)
Day 1: Upper(chest, shoulders, back, arms) segment of PH or MIS)
Day 2: Off
Day 3: Off
Day 4: Lower (quad, hamstrings/glutes and calves) of PH or MIS
Day 5: Off
Day 6: Off
Day 7: Off

three-day
(Intermediate)
Day 1: Upper(chest, shoulders, back, arms) segment of PH or MIS)

Day 2: Off
Day 3: Lower (quad, hamstrings/glutes and calves) of PH or MIS
Day 4: Off
Day 5: Upper(chest, shoulders, back, arms) segment of PH or MIS)
Day 6: Off
Day 7: Off

(Start Next Week with Lower)

four-day
(advanced)
Day 1: Upper(chest, shoulders, back, arms) segment of PH or MIS)
Day 2: Lower(quad, hamstrings/glutes and calves) of PH or MIS)
Day 3: Off
Day 4: Upper(chest, shoulders, back, arms) segment of PH or MIS)
Day 5: Lower(quad, hamstrings/glutes and calves) of PH or MIS)
Day 6: Off
Day 7: Off

 

[KayM]

Hey, that's an idea I hadn't thought of.

Do MIS and Power Hour lend themselves to being split into two? I figure I could do the first half (not sure if the first half would be upper or lower body), then when I did the second half, I could do the warm-up from Step Heat (love that warmup) and then do the rest of the tape?

Also, is there stretching throughout the tape, or only at the end?

Sorry for the shotgunning of questions, I really appreciate your help and suggestions!!

KayM

 

[Seabush]

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Dec-12-02 AT 01:45PM (Est)[/font][p]I think you could easily use either tape as a split routine. If you purchase the DVD that has MIS, PH, and Body Max on it, the chaptering makes a split routine very doable. All of Cathe's strength routines include stretching during and after the workout.

Another idea to consider maybe to do work one muscle group per day. I'm doing this now as I want to increase my cardio but not give up strength training. I don't want to spend more than one hour per day exercising. I spend 30 minutes doing cardio (i.e., Kickboxing or Jump Rope) and 30 doing strength training (Cathe's Slow & Heavy DVD) for a particular muscle group. This is working well for me because I get my cardio in and I really get to concentrate on working a particular muscle group. I'm not exhausted like I was before when I attempting to do hour long strength tapes or hour long strength tapes plus cardio.

Crystal

 

[KayM]

Crystal - thanks for all of your help. I am going to try to get either MIS or Power Hour and see if that helps me. I actually was trying to do strength workouts 3 times a week, but my poor legs get so sore afterwards (I assume because I'm still a beginner) that I think I'm going to go to just twice a week for each body part. I could do the upper body of, say, MIS twice a week and the lower body twice a week.

Thanks for your help!!!!