End of STS...What Next? Body Beast?

Newwmn3

Newwmn3

Cathlete
I am starting my last week of STS and I am already going through withdrawals (EEK!). This program has done more for me than I could begin to explain. 7 pounds of (mostly) mostly muscle added to my no-longer underweight body, muscles that I can actually SEE, more confidence and, man oh man, more strength than I ever could have imagined. HELP!!! I don't want it to end! What program should I know about and consider doing next? I have heard good things about Body Beast and bought the program for my boyfriend. He is liking it a lot. Have any of you ladies done this program? What about adding cardio to it? Are there any other solid weight-lifting programs or DVDs I should check out or consider? My goals now are to slowly add more muscle while gaining more definition. I have a little more "bulk" than I would prefer but don't want to lose any of the hard-earned muscle that I gained. Advice? Pretty please? :)
Christin
 
You can always go backward through the Mesocycles....we called that rotation "The Kickster" after the Cathlete that invented it. She suggested we all do the Mesocycles in this order: 1, 2, 3, 2, 1! It was really challenging because you are lifting WAY more weight through those first 2 Mesos on the way down than you did on your way up! Do you have Gym Styles? I loved them and got great definition from them (I did Gym Styles Legs and the biceps, triceps, and shoulders segments 2X per week).
 
Hi Christin,

Congratulations on your result hardly gain. Thanks for sharing and openly describing your quest. Mostly we do get posts and thread
about weight loss, fat loss and leaning out rather than adding muscles mass here on this forum . Very well done ;-) ;-) :)
Huge Kudos kudos and kudos to you:):):);)

Body beast or x-train are my suggestion . I suggest Hiit short cardio lasting no longer than 30 minutes twice per week.
You can substitute a circuit/metabolic to a cardio session once per week. Focus on weight training to maintain and
possibly add more mass if you want to.

Kind Regards,
 
Last edited:
Newwmn3 said:
I am starting my last week of STS and I am already going through withdrawals (EEK!). This program has done more for me than I could begin to explain. 7 pounds of (mostly) mostly muscle added to my no-longer underweight body, muscles that I can actually SEE, more confidence and, man oh man, more strength than I ever could have imagined.
Click to expand...

There you go Lady, confidence is very important.
I am happy for you:)
 
You could continue with the 6 month bodybuilding rotation (next would be Gym Styles, as Nancy suggested). I did a modified version of this (I believe I subbed RWH for 4DS), and enjoyed it immensely. I'm on my phone now so can't link to it, but I think it's at the bottom of the list of Cathe rotations (stickied at top of rotations forum).
Yay yay yay for your successes! :)
Roz
 
Nanbo said:
You can always go backward through the Mesocycles....we called that rotation "The Kickster" after the Cathlete that invented it. She suggested we all do the Mesocycles in this order: 1, 2, 3, 2, 1! It was really challenging because you are lifting WAY more weight through those first 2 Mesos on the way down than you did on your way up! Do you have Gym Styles? I loved them and got great definition from them (I did Gym Styles Legs and the biceps, triceps, and shoulders segments 2X per week).
Click to expand...

I subscribe to Cathe OnDemand so I will definitely check out Gym Styles. Would you consider it more endurance, hypertrophy, or strength based? It's funny that there is a rotation pyramiding STS....my guess is that someone just like me, who was not ready for it to end, came up with that idea! I may have to consider that option as well!
 
nckfitheart2009 said:
Hi Christin,

Congratulations on your result hardly gain. Thanks for sharing and openly describing your quest. Mostly we do get posts and thread
about weight loss, fat loss and leaning out rather than adding muscles mass here on this forum . Very well done ;-) ;-) :)
Huge Kudos kudos and kudos to you:):):);)

Body beast or x-train are my suggestion . I suggest Hiit short cardio lasting no longer than 30 minutes twice per week.
You can substitute a circuit/metabolic to a cardio session once per week. Focus on weight training to maintain and
possibly add more mass if you want to.

Kind Regards,
Click to expand...
MomInVT said:
You could continue with the 6 month bodybuilding rotation (next would be Gym Styles, as Nancy suggested). I did a modified version of this (I believe I subbed RWH for 4DS), and enjoyed it immensely. I'm on my phone now so can't link to it, but I think it's at the bottom of the list of Cathe rotations (stickied at top of rotations forum).
Yay yay yay for your successes! :)
Roz
Click to expand...

Thank you very much, Nathalie, for your kind words as well as for the link to the Bodybuilding rotation. Roz, that suggestion sounds awesome! Kind of the best of all worlds! Do you recommend using each of the programs included in a way that hits each body part 1 time per week or 2 times per week?

Finally, I owe a HUGE thank you to all of you ladies as well as several more who took the time to guide me on this little journey of mine. With your help and guidance and advice, I went from an underweight, cardio-obsessed weakling (albeit with strong legs from all that jumping!) to a healthy-weight, much stronger and more muscular advocate that all women should lift heavy weights. Thank you all sooooo much!!! I hope that down the road I can give good advice and guidance to others who post in these forums. You all ROCK!

Christin
 
Newwmn3 said:
I went from an underweight, cardio-obsessed weakling (albeit with strong legs from all that jumping!) to a healthy-weight,
Click to expand...

Very happy you are feeling better about your HEALTH. Truly it was not just about
AESTHETIC!:):)
Hope anyone else on the previous same boat benefits from your journey posted here.
All the very best with the bodybuilding rotation. No doubt you will have fun!:)
 
Newwmn3 said:
Thank you very much, Nathalie, for your kind words as well as for the link to the Bodybuilding rotation. Roz, that suggestion sounds awesome! Kind of the best of all worlds! Do you recommend using each of the programs included in a way that hits each body part 1 time per week or 2 times per week?

Finally, I owe a HUGE thank you to all of you ladies as well as several more who took the time to guide me on this little journey of mine. With your help and guidance and advice, I went from an underweight, cardio-obsessed weakling (albeit with strong legs from all that jumping!) to a healthy-weight, much stronger and more muscular advocate that all women should lift heavy weights. Thank you all sooooo much!!! I hope that down the road I can give good advice and guidance to others who post in these forums. You all ROCK!

Christin
Click to expand...
Hi Christin,
First of all, I'm sooooo glad you're feeling so amazing! HOORAY! :D
I think it would be tough to fit all the Gym Styles workouts in twice in a week. I believe I added a second leg day on some weeks, then on others weeks I added a total body or circuit day. If you wanted to stick with a Hardcore series theme, you could add High Step Challenge (circuit with lots of leg work). Or any high reps or heavy weight total body/circuit of your choice. (Side note: have you tried STS Total Body? It rocks!! Definitely a top fave of mine.)
Maybe something like:
Mon: GS Chest/Tris
Tue: GS Legs
Weds: Cardio/HiiT/whatever
Thu: GS Back/Shoulders/Bis
Fri: Cardio/HiiT/whatever
Sat: Total body/circuit
Sun: Off/Yoga

Hope you enjoy whatever you decide on (though it sounds like you will)!
Happy lifting,
Roz
 
Roz, that rotation is very similar to what I did for 3 months before my big month long hiking riop a few years back! On the Chest/Tri day I added the Bi/Shoulder segment; on the Back/Sh/Bi day I added the Tri segment; and I repeated Legs on the "total body/circuit" day. I used Cross Fire, To The Max, Athletic Training, and Afterburn as my cardio. I may give this a go again but using RWH HIIT, Legs, and abs.....hitting some of the areas twice per week was a great way to get my "beach muscles" defined (and I have a REALLY tough time developing upper body definition!)!
 
Well done Christin!

I love the suggestion of the body building rotation - I loved doing it. It became more of a journey than a rotation, if you see what I mean?

I got the best hypertrophy results from Body Beast, XTrain leaned me out more than anything, and I think STS is a great all-rounder. Whilst I love Gym Styles, I've only ever done a month at a time, so it's difficult to say what the results were like - I seem to need 3 months to see a big difference between different series.

Roz's suggestion sounds great for Gym Styles - in fact a great generic rotation for any of Cathe's weight work.

Oh, and you asked about extra cardio with BB - I did the once a week BB cardio (although got bored and subbed quite a bit!) - and the legs workout was very cardio-intense for me, so I left it at that. I did add yoga (and quite often that gets my heart pounding), and I walk a lot anyway. It seemed ample.

Best of luck!
 
Justinef said:
Well done Christin!

I love the suggestion of the body building rotation - I loved doing it. It became more of a journey than a rotation, if you see what I mean?

I got the best hypertrophy results from Body Beast, XTrain leaned me out more than anything, and I think STS is a great all-rounder. Whilst I love Gym Styles, I've only ever done a month at a time, so it's difficult to say what the results were like - I seem to need 3 months to see a big difference between different series.

Roz's suggestion sounds great for Gym Styles - in fact a great generic rotation for any of Cathe's weight work.

Oh, and you asked about extra cardio with BB - I did the once a week BB cardio (although got bored and subbed quite a bit!) - and the legs workout was very cardio-intense for me, so I left it at that. I did add yoga (and quite often that gets my heart pounding), and I walk a lot anyway. It seemed ample.

Best of luck!
Click to expand...

Hi Justine! Ok, I like the sound of XTrain. I would be thrilled to "lean out" without losing any of my hard-earned muscle. What kind of a rotation did you do? Did you follow Cathe's suggested rotation? I use OnDemand all the time which makes the options incredible!
 
I did the 90 day undulating rotation (I think that's what it's called) - one of the official ones. I did it as written, occasionally doing some of the 100-rep challenges, and also doing yoga. I absolutely loved all the little accessory muscles which appeared. It seemed not to give me quite such big biceps, quads, etc as STS or BB, but rather it emphasised things like rear delts, calves, shoulders etc. If anything I got too lean doing it - which I realise I could have avoided by increasing the amount I ate (although I'm a complete glutton, so it would have been tricky to consume much more!!)
It was my introduction to Cathe - it was love at first lift!
 
Justinef said:
I did the 90 day undulating rotation (I think that's what it's called) - one of the official ones. I did it as written, occasionally doing some of the 100-rep challenges, and also doing yoga. I absolutely loved all the little accessory muscles which appeared. It seemed not to give me quite such big biceps, quads, etc as STS or BB, but rather it emphasised things like rear delts, calves, shoulders etc. If anything I got too lean doing it - which I realise I could have avoided by increasing the amount I ate (although I'm a complete glutton, so it would have been tricky to consume much more!!)
It was my introduction to Cathe - it was love at first lift!
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks! That sounds like exactly what I am looking for. As for the getting too lean thing, this girl can EAT so I have a feeling that I can make sure I don't get too lean. ;) I was checking the Rotation out and notice that it uses Premixes. I will be using OnDemand so I don't have access to Premixes that way. :( Any suggestions as to how to work around that? Are the Premixes used for any particular reason or in a way that I would be shortchanging myself by not having access to them?
 
I've got the XTrain book in front of me now....most of the pre-mixes would be easy to make yourself - they tend to be things like :
Hard Strikes - no conditioning work (so just stop the video early)
Bi's and Tri's + core
Legs - all sections + rear delts
etc

I don't think any of them are 'muddled up' pre-mixes, if you see what I mean. I seem to remember doing the core separately anyway (ie later in the day). I'm looking forward to pre-mixes being available on demand, though!
Hope that helps!
 
I'm personally doubling up on STS. This last Month I doubled up on both Mesocycles 1 and 2 each week for the upper body. For week one starting on Sunday I did Meso 2 chest shoulders and triceps and on Monday I did Meso 2 back and biceps. Tuesdays were normally a leg day of my choice and Wednesdays were my cardio days. On Thursday I did Meso 1 chest, shoulder and biceps and on Friday I did Meso 1 back and triceps. The next week starting on Sunday I just flipped things around and started with week 2 Meso 1 chest, shoulders and biceps and Monday I did Meso 1 back and triceps. On Thursday and Friday I did week 2 Meso 2 chest shoulders and triceps and back and biceps respectively. The next week started with week 3 of Meso 2 and so forth. I pretty much alternated in this fashion for about a month until I completed all of the disc in both Mesocycles 1 and 2. Sometimes it was difficult doing both Mesocycles in one week but it was definitely worth it. Honestly it gave me more definition in my upper body then any other rotation I have ever done up to this point.

Right now I'm on my recovery week but next week I plan on doing STS Meso 3 Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays (I'm going to try using the Squat rack for leg days) and Thursdays and Friday I plan on doing the Gym Style upper body workouts.
 
nckfitheart2009 said:
Congratulations on hardly gained muscular definitions. :)
Click to expand...

What a fantastic idea! Did you do the workouts in order or just pick one at random? For your leg day, did you do the STS workouts or another workout of your choice? I many do Meso 3 Squat Rack one day but, since my legs tend to bulk up VERY easily, I figured I should stick with Plyo Legs this time around. You have given me a lot to think about.....

Oh my gosh, what's a girl to do??? So many great suggestions!!! Looks like I am going to have to try them all at some point. Now I just gotta pick the one to start with....lol! Today will be my last STS workout for my 6 month program. I feel like I am going to be lost without it. But then, I don't really have to BE without it now, do I? ;)
 
Justinef said:
I did the 90 day undulating rotation (I think that's what it's called) - one of the official ones. I did it as written, occasionally doing some of the 100-rep challenges, and also doing yoga. I absolutely loved all the little accessory muscles which appeared. It seemed not to give me quite such big biceps, quads, etc as STS or BB, but rather it emphasised things like rear delts, calves, shoulders etc. If anything I got too lean doing it - which I realise I could have avoided by increasing the amount I ate (although I'm a complete glutton, so it would have been tricky to consume much more!!)
It was my introduction to Cathe - it was love at first lift!
Click to expand...

My vote would be for the XTrain Undulating Rotation. I loved that rotation. Lots of lean muscle. Good luck on your journey.
 
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