Combining Upper Body in PS ...(and S&H?)

SteppingFool

Cathlete
I am currently doing PS. I wondering if any of you have done upper body PS series in one day, i.e CST and BBA. If so, I would like your thought and input about it. I noticed that the warm-up and cool down for CST and BBA are 'part-specific'; therefore, do you do 2 warm-ups and cool-downs? Would one warm up and cool down be sufficient?

I will be starting S&H in about a month. For those of you who have been through S&H, do you think it's possible to combine the upper body workout in one day? I understand that it might not be possible since in S&H, each muscle group is worked to complete exhaustion.

Thank you for your input.

Haslina
 
I think one warm up and one cool down should do it. You can always add some more moves at the beginning and at the end to compensate for parts that you feel did not get enough of either.

However, I have tried to do both Pure Strength total upper body tapes in one sitting. I found that my strength started to diminish during the second half of the second video. Two hours is just too many for me I guess. I also found it difficult to maintain concentration. Therefore, I think that to get the most out of the workout I have to split them up, do one at a time, for maximum ability to lift the heaviest weights I can with good form. During the second tape I discovered I had to go a little lighter than usual for the moves so I don't do both upper body sequences the same day.

On the other hand, I can do Strong Legs/Abs and then follow with one of the upper body tapes on days that I have the time and feeling particularly frisky. But I am wiped out when I do this.

Same goes for the Slow and Heavy. I can do one tape on three consecutive days but to double up is too much for me.

Hope this helps.
 
Awhile back I read a post by someone who had done them all in one day but that's a tough day's training! Personally, I am certain that combining the upper body portions is doable but to do all three would put you in the same league as the Warrior Princess!
 
I was thinking it might take me about 1 hr to do all upper body PS in one day since each of them is about 45 min long, and assuming I only do 1 w/u and c/d. I am not thinking of doing all 3 in the same day. For me, I HAVE to take a break even from cardio workout on the same day of leg workout because my legs get very fatigued.

Thanks for the reply!

Haslina
 
Hi Haslina! My personal experience: I attempted to do S/H chest/back and then tri's/bi's one right after another. Bad idea. My form really suffered by the time I got to bi's because the chest segment is so demanding, and it requires all of your upper body strength to get through with good form. It just wasn't good for me. I also did PS upper body tapes in one morning, but I wouldn't recommend it either. Not as demanding as S/H but still a lot of lifting for one day

Anyway, as Cathe says in PS: "just a suggestion, take it or leave it, right?" :)

marnie
 
I always combine both upper body PS tapes in one day. I do one warm up and one cool down. I usually do the CST tape first, just to get the stinkin' push-ups out of the way! :) I'm not sure how long it takes to do both this way, but I don't think it's more than an hour and 15min or so.

Veronica
 
Hi!

I often do PS CST and BBA in one day. It's very do-able for me. For some reason it's not nearly as exhausting as Power Hour or MIS. I guess because no leg work! I have done 3 body parts of S&H in one day, for example Chest & Back and Tris, and Legs, Shoulders and Bis, but because of the level of concentration of the S&H workouts it was more draining for me and I prefer to just do the tapes as they are.

Just my 2 cents!

Lorrie
 
I've done both tapes in one day also. Actually, a few weeks ago, I did the entire PS series. I only did one warm-up and cool down and I always start with CST because those are my weaker muscles. When I did all 3 tapes, I split it up with SLA in between the upper body tapes and it was great! I was totally cooked, but also very *high* on endorphins!
I want to try and make all 3 in a day a regular part of my routine, perhaps twice a month on the weekend when I have some extra time.
Anyway, I guess my advice would be to start with your weaker muscles and then finish with the stronger ones!
 
I am winding up a four week S&H rotation. Initially, I wanted to do this series on three consecutive days and then do a total body weight workout during the same week. I was considering combining some of the upper body work in S&H to achieve my rotation goal. This is what I experienced, and these observations were based on my personal goal to increase muscle mass and strength. Your goals may be different. I decided that I wanted to lift as heavy as I possibly could, with good form, and that turned out to be pretty heavy indeed. I spent the first week "tweaking" my weights. I concluded, after the first week, that if I wanted to give the S&H series my all, it would be best to do it in its original format, once a week, with a day of (strength) rest between each segment. It truly takes a commitment to hard work and a lot of concentration. I love this series, but after "busting" it for four weeks, I'm ready for a change. I know that there is no way that I could do all the upper body work in this series in one day, at least not lifting as heavy as I possibly could. As I stated earlier in this reply, your goals may be different.
 
I have done the upper body PS workouts many times with no problems - I think it took about an hour not counting a warm-up or cool-down. I think the upper body split for the CTX series takes about the same amount of time.
Personally, I would not do all of the upper body work in the S&H series in one day. I think it would be too hard on my body and I don't think I would get very good results because I wouldn't be able to lift as heavy later in the workout. Also, I don't think I would be able to keep the mental focus needed to really get a good workout. I give my muscles a day of rest in between each of the upper body workouts.
Erica
 

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