Total Body Recommendations?

[Justinef]

Christin, Nia recommends starting with her beginner programme, no matter how long you've been lifting. She includes technique / instructional videos, which are amazing. Her form is probably about the best I've seen anywhere. Along with Tony Gentilcore, she has improved my technique so much. As for tempo - well, you'll be lifting so heavy that you have no choice at what speed to execute the move

If you're going to do a Cathe rotation, I would suggest using 3 different total body w/o each week. So you might do MIS, STS Total, and Muscle Max on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You'd do the same each week, but increase your weights wherever you can. It'll give you more of a chance use progressive overload.
Ideally each week would have a hinge ( eg deadlift) squat (any variety) and each workout would have equal measure of push / pull.

Regarding which Nia programme I chose - it was the Beautiful Badass total bundle which comes with cardio finishers. It has enough workouts to keep me at it for years! Yes, she's one cool chick....with an amazing attitude.

 

[nckfitheart2009]

Nathalie, you rock!!! This looks great!!! Thank you so much!!!

You are welcome christin
Have fun...After four/five weeks you can switch to split 4ds, 5ds and then 6ds.
Your muscle will be confused big time

 

[tslop49]

Awesome! It does sound good. My only concern is that, because I am only a 7-month seasoned lifter, I would need help with form. Using DVDs is a huge help for me because I can see form modeled properly throughout the workout. Timing is also a factor such as how quickly to do reps and how long of a break to take between sets. What are your thoughts on that? Also, I see she has 2 choices via the link Justine provided. Which one would you recommend? By the way, I am kinda digging her website. She sounds like one cool chick!

As a sidenote, I created a nice little workout on Workout Blender that combined all 3 sections of Total Body Trisets, making it an 84 minute total body workout. Ouch. I think I may scale that one back next time.....lol! My 43-year-old bod was like "What are you doing to me, woman?!?!?" ;P

Christin

Got socks older than you girls...but then again I'm not doing what you guys are. Gotta admit I think about trying Nia sometimes, or something else, but I enjoy the "rut" I'm in!! I think about some Olympic stuff but not sure it's very joint friendly. My oldest son screwed up his back doing cleans prior to freshman year, so I think I will pass on those!!

 

[desertambrosia]

Got socks older than you girls...but then again I'm not doing what you guys are. Gotta admit I think about trying Nia sometimes, or something else, but I enjoy the "rut" I'm in!! I think about some Olympic stuff but not sure it's very joint friendly. My oldest son screwed up his back doing cleans prior to freshman year, so I think I will pass on those!!

Tom, I think you should give Nia a try (JMHO, when you stop enjoying your rut) I think you would like her. You get in, get it done, and get out. Workouts are short, but they work. Nia has given Roz, Justine and myself great Lats, actually GOOD muscle everywhere!! Take the plunge, (when you're ready.)

I'm editing this to add: Your socks are not older than I am. I guarandamntee it!

 

[tslop49]

Tom, I think you should give Nia a try (JMHO, when you stop enjoying your rut) I think you would like her. You get in, get it done, and get out. Workouts are short, but they work. Nia has given Roz, Justine and myself great Lats, actually GOOD muscle everywhere!! Take the plunge, (when you're ready.)

I'm editing this to add: Your socks are not older than I am. I guarandamntee it!

Thanks Karen, I think I may have to try her,and by the way, I never got good advice from those socks!!! But Nia sounds like fun!

 

[wonderwoman]

Do Tonique and Dreambody fall under total body workouts.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jamie vaughn]

Do Tonique and Dreambody fall under total body workouts.QUOTE]

Having done both i don't think i'd use either one exclusively if my goal was muscle building/ maintenance. IMO the amount of weight used is too light and seems to provide more of an increased cardiovascular / metabolic benefit as opposed to muscle building. Having said that i think they really get those smaller muscles working to give you that good old burning sensation LOL! Everything has its place though and i do like to change things up and add a dreambody workout every week or two and will add Tonique back in eventually too as i found it helped engage my glutes better resulting in less knee and back pain. The down side for me though was a fat layer that i only seem to get control of when i add heavy weights so it's a bit of a balance i need to figure out.
Jamie

 

[nckfitheart2009]

wonderwoman said: ↑
Do Tonique and Dreambody fall under total body workouts.QUOTE]

Having done both i don't think i'd use either one exclusively if my goal was muscle building/ maintenance. IMO the amount of weight used is too light and seems to provide more of an increased cardiovascular / metabolic benefit as opposed to muscle building. Having said that i think they really get those smaller muscles working to give you that good old burning sensation LOL! Everything has its place though and i do like to change things up and add a dreambody workout every week or two and will add Tonique back in eventually too as i found it helped engage my glutes better resulting in less knee and back pain. The down side for me though was a fat layer that i only seem to get control of when i add heavy weights so it's a bit of a balance i need to figure out.
Jamie

To reply to wonderwoman question:

As Jamie quoted above Tonique is a cardiovascular workout. It works, challenge the cardio vascular endurance. It's a different type of program to what this thread is about.

 

[tralaiven]

Hi, christin,

To reply to question above, I did 3x total for years----3-4 years before venturing split. I was in a decent shape.
Results gained at the time were: weight and inch loss, toned physique, Vo2 max improved, endurance both
cardio vasculaire and strength. Last but not least my metabolism improved and kept my weight undercontrol.
Till now nearly 9 years I have not gained any weight back. In fact I am still trimming without being on any strict diet.

Hope this answer your question.

As to your rotation, please let me know how long you intend to embark on this new venture.
A month, two or 3 months? I will do a rotation containing what you listed above. I know you want
definition.

Hey Nathalie,

You know you're the best, right? You are so sweet!

 

[nckfitheart2009]

Hey Nathalie,

You know you're the best, right? You are so sweet!

Awww Tracy it takes an honest and fair opinion to reassure me!


Please stick around interacting with lovely people here!

 

[Newwmn3]

Christin,
Nia's website is niashanks.com
However, I can't find the link to Beautiful Badass (the program that Karen, Justine, and I are doing). K+J, can you find it?
It's a great deal -- paper program (downloads, no DVD -- you just work at your own pace and with your own weight loads, which I LOVE) with video tutorials, and the whole thing is $27 I think.
For metabolic, and keeping with the paper program theme, Jen Sinkler's Lift Weights Faster 2 is totally blowing my mind (I think it's liftweightsfaster.com) -- it's a HUGE resource. So much info. I'm already a smarter lifter, and I've only had her program a couple weeks.

Christin - it was Roz and Karen who persuaded me to give Beautiful Badass a try. Probably the best training decision I've ever made.
Here's the link:
http://www.niashanks.com/beautiful-badass-blueprint/

Note that it's a strength training system, rather than hypertrophy. Most of the programmes are very low-rep, which has worked really well for me, I've got much, much stronger, and gained quite a bit of muscle. Just about all the moves are the big, compound moves done heavily enough to tax your entire body. You need a barbell, squat rack and pull-up bar.

As Roz said, Lift Weights Faster is wonderful, too. All the workouts are between 10 and 30 mins, and are graded by difficulty, and organised in chapters depending on what equipment they use. It's been fun to do a different workout every day.

Nia's program is the bomb. I've been doing her program along with Justine and Roz. Every one of us has had a lat explosion. Can't go wrong with Nia.

Okay, ladies, I just went ahead and bought BBA and can't wait to start checking out all of my options. Thanks for pointing me in Nia's direction!!!