Hello, everyone!
I ordered my first Cathe DVDs at the beginning of this year : the PH/MIS/BM dvd and the Pure Strength dvd. and I've been gradually testing how my body responds to them by sticking exclusively to one particular workout for a reasonable period of time(eg: 4-6 weeks), before I move on to test another one.
I began with Power Hour. I expected to do it 2-3 times per week, yet I found that I experienced such crippling DOMS (or, when I'd adjusted it to a bit more, less doms, but still not ready to do a nother strength workout for many days afterwards) that I could only do it once per week. I ended up being so burnt after a month or so of this, that I unintentionally found myself not doing any weight work for several months after that experience. I found my muscles became harder, but did not develop wonderful curvy muscles.
After taking several months off, recently I started up with Pure Strength, doing each upper body tape once per week.(I sometimes neglect my lower body.) I did that for six weeks, and found wonderful *strength* gains, what's more I almost never experienced DOMS! I was happy to develop great strength gains without pain, unlike power hour which gave me great pain yet very slow strength gains! PS gave me only slight body shaping effects: my upper body did not change much in appearance, although it got a little bit fuller- which is a welcome, though not earthshattering, benefit, compared to the eye-catching visible muscles I wish I could develop
.
Although I was developing good strength gains, and magically acquired the capacity to do push-ups,from doing the Pure Strength upperbody workouts, I was starting to feel tense, because something didn't feel quite right about splitting my upper body up into separate days. A few days after each session, I'd be yearning to do another workout, but I simply do not (currently) have the time to do each workout twice (since I also wish to fit in cardiovascular exercise and until the end of this year, I am more tied up than usual with my workload), yet doing each body part only once per week, despite the fact that I sincerely was lifting as heavy weight as i could and GREATLY challenging myself, wasn't feeling satisfying. In the absence of remarkable changes to my physique, (despite the great strength gain)I decided it was fair enough for me to switch to a Maximum Intensity Strength routine, despite the fact that I had intended to stick to Pure Strength for 3 months instead of 6 weeks - (I am a focused person who likes to stick to a particular thing for a while)...
So, I have started doing Maximum Intensity Strength, although I have modified it: I modify it so that each body part has 6 sets of 16 reps, and I do it by myself rather than watching the dvd,as I prefer to lift at less rapid pace. (I do 16 reps because I had a hunch (based on past success) that from an aesthetic perspective, my body responds well to a moderately high rep range(e.g. 12-16)--though I do not find I respond phenomenally to exceedingly high rep such as power hour.)
Recently I have started doing Maximum Intensity Strength and I do feel more well balanced, plus I feel less tense. Anyhow, since Pure Strength has been touted as a remarkable workout for producing visible muscle, I was surprised yet I think my body really does develop more 'curvy' muscular shape(if that makes sense)from the 16 rep range rather than the 8-10 rep range, and also, from doing less sets more frequently(rather than split-workouts so each body part only gets hit once per week).
The "LIFT HEAVY!" imperative is in the back of my mind. I don't want to be one of those women who fears lifting heavy, and who lifts one pound weights a zillion times. after all, my body didn't respond that well to power hour type training - it left me crippling DOMS, yet didn't give me much shape. I've read posts here about people's success with lifting heavy each body part once per week. is it really true that my body might develop more muscularity from 16 rep sets done twice per week, or am I imagining it? Maybe when I was pushing myself so hard with Pure Strength, I was using slightly too heavy weights? I always really struggled. Maybe my body responds better when I use a lighter (yet still challenging) weight and get absolutely perfect form, and really push through the whole range of motion without severely struggling(but still pretty d*mn hard!)
I am fit, and have a decent fat:muscle ratio,I've been working out for 8 years and lifting weights for about two years(However, I previously before discovering Cathe only used to do a very short routine by Karen Voight so Pure Strength is my first ever "high volume"heavy routine(i.e. many sets plus lifting heavier weight for only 8-10 reps), though carrying just a tiny little bit of extra weight(maybe 10 pounds, maybe 5 pounds)in my lower abs & lower body, I'm 5 foot 2 and i think my torso is a tiny bit longer than average for my height(just a tiny bit- not much)with my legs just a tiny bit shorter, correspondingly. I usually weigh a bit less but this year I put on weight, but am itching to get back to working out more, and take it off once my heavy workload ceases in December.
Anyhow, like everyone, I wish for the coveted Cathe Arms. I just find her muscularity beautiful! I like most,cherish the invisible benefits--the strength gains, bone density improvements,and so forth. I really do respect them, and if there were no visible improvements, I would still exercise. Yet, I'm sure you relate, I just wish I could sprout visible muscles! I don't have flabby arms, nor do I have skinny arms. (Before I started strength training, when I was at my leanest,I had a slender almost underweight/bony looking upperbody, and normal sized (maybe *slightly* "big" in inverted commas:+ lower body)now I have firm and slightly shapely arms--i don't think that losing weight would help that much since I am *pretty* close to an optimal size-, yet they don't have the WOW factor like Cathe.
I just wish my outward appearance would manifest my inward- I want people to be able to look at me and know I'm strong. It takes guts to strength train, for anyone, but more particularly, when one is a woman- since these days sometimes even muscle definition is airbrushed out of photos of models in magazines. I have a moderate desire to sprout visible muscles, to display my non-conformism and my independence and my hardwork and my fitness,. if it never happens, I'll accept that. but I haven't given up yet, since I'm still relatively new to truly challenging strength training, I retain hope that there's still significant development left to accomplish...
so, I was wondering if anyone had thoughts on what I'd written? or if anyone felt they were the same body-type as me.(I don't presume that there are 'body types' but I'm just speaking generally) and if so what worked.I guess it's hard to tell just from reading my post, but i've tried to outline some of my experience and what has and hasn't worked. I admit that my experience is limited, since, for example, I only tried each of the tapes for 4-6 weeks. and furthermore, I had taken months off before I began with PS.I'm only gradually beginning to accept the importance of individuality--that one recipe doesn't fit all. My limited experience says that I respond better to slightly more frequent and shorter sessions, rather than to lift very very heavy only once per week.
Hoping to hear your thoughts ~
vitamini (de-lurking)
(short for health("vitamin", vitality("vita"), and petite("mini"))
I ordered my first Cathe DVDs at the beginning of this year : the PH/MIS/BM dvd and the Pure Strength dvd. and I've been gradually testing how my body responds to them by sticking exclusively to one particular workout for a reasonable period of time(eg: 4-6 weeks), before I move on to test another one.
I began with Power Hour. I expected to do it 2-3 times per week, yet I found that I experienced such crippling DOMS (or, when I'd adjusted it to a bit more, less doms, but still not ready to do a nother strength workout for many days afterwards) that I could only do it once per week. I ended up being so burnt after a month or so of this, that I unintentionally found myself not doing any weight work for several months after that experience. I found my muscles became harder, but did not develop wonderful curvy muscles.
After taking several months off, recently I started up with Pure Strength, doing each upper body tape once per week.(I sometimes neglect my lower body.) I did that for six weeks, and found wonderful *strength* gains, what's more I almost never experienced DOMS! I was happy to develop great strength gains without pain, unlike power hour which gave me great pain yet very slow strength gains! PS gave me only slight body shaping effects: my upper body did not change much in appearance, although it got a little bit fuller- which is a welcome, though not earthshattering, benefit, compared to the eye-catching visible muscles I wish I could develop
.Although I was developing good strength gains, and magically acquired the capacity to do push-ups,from doing the Pure Strength upperbody workouts, I was starting to feel tense, because something didn't feel quite right about splitting my upper body up into separate days. A few days after each session, I'd be yearning to do another workout, but I simply do not (currently) have the time to do each workout twice (since I also wish to fit in cardiovascular exercise and until the end of this year, I am more tied up than usual with my workload), yet doing each body part only once per week, despite the fact that I sincerely was lifting as heavy weight as i could and GREATLY challenging myself, wasn't feeling satisfying. In the absence of remarkable changes to my physique, (despite the great strength gain)I decided it was fair enough for me to switch to a Maximum Intensity Strength routine, despite the fact that I had intended to stick to Pure Strength for 3 months instead of 6 weeks - (I am a focused person who likes to stick to a particular thing for a while)...
So, I have started doing Maximum Intensity Strength, although I have modified it: I modify it so that each body part has 6 sets of 16 reps, and I do it by myself rather than watching the dvd,as I prefer to lift at less rapid pace. (I do 16 reps because I had a hunch (based on past success) that from an aesthetic perspective, my body responds well to a moderately high rep range(e.g. 12-16)--though I do not find I respond phenomenally to exceedingly high rep such as power hour.)
Recently I have started doing Maximum Intensity Strength and I do feel more well balanced, plus I feel less tense. Anyhow, since Pure Strength has been touted as a remarkable workout for producing visible muscle, I was surprised yet I think my body really does develop more 'curvy' muscular shape(if that makes sense)from the 16 rep range rather than the 8-10 rep range, and also, from doing less sets more frequently(rather than split-workouts so each body part only gets hit once per week).
The "LIFT HEAVY!" imperative is in the back of my mind. I don't want to be one of those women who fears lifting heavy, and who lifts one pound weights a zillion times. after all, my body didn't respond that well to power hour type training - it left me crippling DOMS, yet didn't give me much shape. I've read posts here about people's success with lifting heavy each body part once per week. is it really true that my body might develop more muscularity from 16 rep sets done twice per week, or am I imagining it? Maybe when I was pushing myself so hard with Pure Strength, I was using slightly too heavy weights? I always really struggled. Maybe my body responds better when I use a lighter (yet still challenging) weight and get absolutely perfect form, and really push through the whole range of motion without severely struggling(but still pretty d*mn hard!)
I am fit, and have a decent fat:muscle ratio,I've been working out for 8 years and lifting weights for about two years(However, I previously before discovering Cathe only used to do a very short routine by Karen Voight so Pure Strength is my first ever "high volume"heavy routine(i.e. many sets plus lifting heavier weight for only 8-10 reps), though carrying just a tiny little bit of extra weight(maybe 10 pounds, maybe 5 pounds)in my lower abs & lower body, I'm 5 foot 2 and i think my torso is a tiny bit longer than average for my height(just a tiny bit- not much)with my legs just a tiny bit shorter, correspondingly. I usually weigh a bit less but this year I put on weight, but am itching to get back to working out more, and take it off once my heavy workload ceases in December.
Anyhow, like everyone, I wish for the coveted Cathe Arms. I just find her muscularity beautiful! I like most,cherish the invisible benefits--the strength gains, bone density improvements,and so forth. I really do respect them, and if there were no visible improvements, I would still exercise. Yet, I'm sure you relate, I just wish I could sprout visible muscles! I don't have flabby arms, nor do I have skinny arms. (Before I started strength training, when I was at my leanest,I had a slender almost underweight/bony looking upperbody, and normal sized (maybe *slightly* "big" in inverted commas:+ lower body)now I have firm and slightly shapely arms--i don't think that losing weight would help that much since I am *pretty* close to an optimal size-, yet they don't have the WOW factor like Cathe.
I just wish my outward appearance would manifest my inward- I want people to be able to look at me and know I'm strong. It takes guts to strength train, for anyone, but more particularly, when one is a woman- since these days sometimes even muscle definition is airbrushed out of photos of models in magazines. I have a moderate desire to sprout visible muscles, to display my non-conformism and my independence and my hardwork and my fitness,. if it never happens, I'll accept that. but I haven't given up yet, since I'm still relatively new to truly challenging strength training, I retain hope that there's still significant development left to accomplish...
so, I was wondering if anyone had thoughts on what I'd written? or if anyone felt they were the same body-type as me.(I don't presume that there are 'body types' but I'm just speaking generally) and if so what worked.I guess it's hard to tell just from reading my post, but i've tried to outline some of my experience and what has and hasn't worked. I admit that my experience is limited, since, for example, I only tried each of the tapes for 4-6 weeks. and furthermore, I had taken months off before I began with PS.I'm only gradually beginning to accept the importance of individuality--that one recipe doesn't fit all. My limited experience says that I respond better to slightly more frequent and shorter sessions, rather than to lift very very heavy only once per week.
Hoping to hear your thoughts ~
vitamini (de-lurking)
(short for health("vitamin", vitality("vita"), and petite("mini"))
