XPress rotation?

[fcook]

got the new tapes today. my plan is to do a 6 week rotation doing 5 tapes a week. the second week I'll do tape 6 on Monday and start over on Tuesday. well maybe I'll wait until after Labor Day to start and try the other 2 new tapes this week.

does it matter at all what order the tapes are used? should I just start at the left end as they're boxed and do X-P-R-E-S-S or is there some other rotation that would be better?

 

[Cathe Friedrich]

rotation!

The order really depends on what you want your focus to be. Whether you want to space out your step workouts, plan around your leg workouts(using LL as the primary leg workout and then PC as the secondary leg workout), or work large muscle groups down to small, or work opposing muscle groups. You could even mix match the tapes so that the cardio and weights work to suit yet another plan....the possibilities are endless.


So while there is no absolute answer here I will suggest a rotation based on working larger muscle groups down to smaller muscle groups(based on the strength portions). Keep in mind that PC is considered a secondary leg workout.


Day 1) Power Circuit

Day 2) Step & Intervals

Day 3) All Step

Day 4) Leaner Legs

Day 5) 10/10/10

Day 6) Kickbox

Day 7) OFF


Have fun!

 

[fcook]

more rotation

I do think I'd want to space out the step stuff and to space out the leg workouts too. plus, I do 5 days on and 2 off. just can't manage to workout when I have a day off from work. exercising is part of my getting ready to go to the office routine.

I'll definitely want to separate Leaner Legs and Power Circuit if the later is a secondary leg workout. so I'll start by making them 1 and 4. that gives me a step at 1 and a nostep at 4 so I'll try and make the steps odd numbers and nosteps even. and I suppose opposing muscle groups make as much sense as anything so that suggests 2 and 3 would be the arms since one is step and one isn't. no, that won't work as that leaves step and step intervals together. so lets make one of those 3 and the other 5.

1. Power Circuit (back, legs, some step, abs)

2. Kickboxing (biceps, no step, abs)

3. All Step (shoulder, step, abs)

4. Leaner Legs (legs, no step, abs)

5. Step and Intervals (chest, step, no abs)

6. off

7. off

8. 10.10.10 (triceps, some step, no abs)

repeat

does this look reasonable?

 

[fcook]

oops

shouldn't have posted that before I previewed the tapes. looked at all 6 tonight plus circuit max. my original plan was to do a 5 tape rotation leaving out Leaner Legs and while I'd talked myself out of that while I was waiting for the tapes, now that I've seen them I will leave out Legs for now. the Power Circuit has plenty of lower body (as does the cardio) for my needs. I'll work it into some other rotation.

so the new plan is

Power Circuit, 10-10-10, All Step, Kickboxing, and Step and Intervals.

I realize that 10-10-10 and Step and Invervals are similar in the cardio part so I want them separated. also I'm spacing out the Step. plus I want to keep the bench pressing in the chest tape away from the close grip benching in the tricep tape.

 

[Cathe Friedrich]

Wise planning!

Wow, you are really thinking this through wisely---I like that! Keep up the good planning and let me know how things work out for you

!

 

[fcook]

thanks for the vote of confidence

thanks.

I see I mispoke though. it's power circuit and not 10-10-10 that is similar to step intervals in the cardio, isn't it?

I tried circuit max today. figure I'll be doing things other than XPress until after labor day. the cardio was tough. I wimped out of the last cardio and did only some basic stepping in the next to last.

but I need to go heavier on most of the weight stuff. it was nice to see men in the tape although I'm sure having got a glimpse of one of their arms flexed that those weights were baby for them. I'll be 58 next week so they're not totally wrong for me except for the lat rows. did 20 and 10 and that was way off. next time I'll try more like 30 and 20.

the bad news is my right knee didn't like the routine. I modified most of the jacks (except the plyos) so I think it was the lunges. I always wear knee pads and concentrate on squating on lunges but something still got me. old age I guess. next time through I'm going to leave out the leg stuff in the strength training and just concentrate on the weights.

 

[Cathe Friedrich]

I love this.....

educated crowd. Listening to your body, knowing what it needs, and making the necessary adjustments. I think leaving the leg work out of the strength portions is an excellent idea if your are feeling discomfort. If this is the case, another option is that you can go a bit heavier and use a slower rep speed on your upper body exercises(since you are no longer doing compound movements). Also, the lat rows are included as light conditioning in this workout. Since you have decided to go heavier for your next workout, feel free to slow down the rep speed as well.

Enjoy

!