1 Rep Max Percentage for Cathe's other weight DVDs

christosz

christosz

Cathlete
Hi all!

I was just fooling around with several 1RM Calculators on the net and wondered if I could incorporate the 1RM percentage load in any of Cathe's weight lifting DVDs - mainly Gym Style series, Slow & Heavy, Pyramid Upper & Lower Body. I haven't kept a record of how many reps we do in each of these workouts, so any input from you guys would be great... especially from Cathe herself! ;-)

I gather it is a time consuming process but evidently very effective in getting great results from any weight w/o. My only drawback would be the very small 5% weight increment additions. I live in Greece and all weight plates come in increments of 2.75 pounds (5.50 pounds for barbell) so I guess I will have to somehow work around it....

Here's what I found out (and hope we can discuss it here):

1. 48 hours rest of all major muscle groups before attempting to determine your 1 RM
2. Do 3 sets of 5 reps with very light weights for warm up
3. Wait 3 minutes after warm up before starting the 1 RM process
4. All 1 RM calculations have a ±5 pound margin

Awaiting feedback!!!:D

Christos.
 
I've thought about the same thing!

Here's a breakdown of the STS Mesocycles from Cathe's blog. I've wondered if I could incorporate it into my rotation somehow. I'd rather have Cathe do all the thinking for me. I'm really excited about STS because it will all be figured out for me...I'm really lazy. :p

Mesocycle #1 is all about MUSCLE ENDURANCE.
You will be lifting a weight that is 60% to 70% of your 1RM during these 4 weeks. Each week will feature a different workout for every muscle group. Your rep range will be around 15 reps for most exercises, but to total failure for many others like pushups, pull-ups and band work. This cycle is divided into three muscle groupings with four workouts per grouping:

#1 Chest, Shoulders & Biceps
#2 Back & Triceps
#3 Legs

Mesocycle #2 is all about HYPERTROPHY.
You will be lifting a weight that is 70% to 80% of your 1RM during these 4 weeks. Your rep range will be around 8-12 reps for most exercises and because of the increased intensity you will need a longer rest break between sets of 60 to 90 seconds. Training concepts such as wave loading and back off sets will be used to push you like never before. This cycle is divided into three muscle groupings with four workouts per grouping:

#1 Chest, Shoulders & Triceps
#2 Back & Biceps
#3 Legs

Mesocycle #3 is all about STRENGTH.
You will be lifting a weight that is 80% to 90% of your 1RM during these 4 weeks. Each week will feature a different workout for every muscle grouping. Your rep range will be around 5 to 7 reps for most exercises and because of the increased intensity you will need a lot longer rest break between sets of the same muscle group. To reduce the amount of downtime we’ve arranged the muscle groups in this series so you’re alternating between push and pull muscle groups. This method will allow your different muscle groups to always have at least 3 minutes rest which research shows is the minimum necessary time to replenish the various energy cycles needed for a high intensity workout.

#1 Chest & Back
#2 Biceps & Triceps
#3 Legs & Shoulders

This strength cycle will feature a method of training called the “5% Method”. With this tried and true strength training method you will do the following:

Week #1: 7 reps for 4 sets of every exercise at 80% of your 1RM
Week #2: 6 reps for 4 sets of every exercise at 85% of your 1RM
Week #3: 5 reps for 4 sets of every exercise at 90% of your 1RM
Week #4: 7 reps for 4 sets of every exercise at 85% of your 1RM
 
I recently started a rotation following somewhat the mesocycles 2 and 3 she listed above. I skipped meso 1, because most of the weight work I'd been doing was endurance based anyway.

I am using the Pure Strength dvd(this workout uses 10 rep. per set) one week then going to the 4-Day Split workout the next week using the premixes to follow the same body parts as the previous Pure Strength workout, but maintaining 10 rep sets with both. I will follow this routine for 4 weeks total, then take a recovery week.

Then I will move to Slow and Heavy(this workout uses 8 reps per set), maybe alternating it with the Gym Styles from week to week, keeping everything to 8 rep sets during these weeks (4 weeks total).

I know this isn't exactly the same as the workouts Cathe has planned with STS, but I thought it would give me an idea as to what I was in for and what it might do for me. So far, I've been plain tired! I am lifting heavier than I have before, and it is very tiring. I guess my body is being shocked. I am looking forward to my recovery week.;)

Hope this helps,
Sandra
 
<<So far, I've been plain tired! I am lifting heavier than I have before, and it is very tiring. >>

Me too! I'm also lifting heavier than I have before (in preparation for STS) and I'm just exhausted. I'm doing 4-Day Split (just the weight work; I'm a hard gainer and I'm not doing cardio while lifting heavy to see if I can put on some mass) except for legs & abs - I'm subbing Butts & Guts...all 78 minutes of it...I LOVE this workout. I'm so tired, I can't wait for next week because I'll be doing cardio and lighter weights. I can do cardio forever and not get exhaused. Weight training just grinds me into dust.

I'm going to try to figure out how to use the 1RM in my workouts. I didn't know there were 1RM calculators on the Internet until I read this thread.:7
 
In Dec, I did a 4DS rotation with extra jogging thrown in for good measure. This was my first ever heavy weight rotation. One of the weeks I was ragingly hungry. I struggled to get enough (good for me!) food to feed the workouts. Another week, I was very tired. I went to bed early every chance I got to allow my body to rebuild.

April
 
Hi...This sounds like a fantastic idea. But where did you find the 1RM Calculators? It is definitely something I'd be interested in looking into.
 
I was thinking of categorizing Cathe's DVDs as: Muscle Endurance, Muscle Gain and Muscle Strength (according to the Mesocycles). Then, I will check the reps in each workout and arrange them accordingly. After that I will follow templates of Cathe's rotations regarding her all-weights workouts (one muscle group per week) intercepted by cardio workouts (all-step, treadmill or rebounder).
What do you think?

I also read an article posted in Tracie Long's Forum about sequencing aerobics and weights, and what it added up to was that you shouldn't do aerobics before weights because you lose all those important nutrients needed for the muscles to build and tone.

Chris.
 
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