Bobbi - Preliminary Results of Phase I

S

Soosan

Cathlete
Hi Bobbi! You asked over at "Ask Cathe" how my workouts are going so I thought I'd answer over here. Per your suggestion, I've been concentrating on strength for the past four weeks (using PS). I think I'll continue to use PS for another 4 weeks, then go on to S&H for 3. After that, I'll probably move on to Phase II with a greater focus on cardio. Here's a typical week:

SUN: BBA (substituting abs with Lotte Berk HHA) + Yoga for Flex
MON: Step Blast (beginning with combo 2, ending with cooldown) + Pilates
TUE: SLA (but with PUB abs) + short yoga
WED: CST + Yoga for Flex + HHA
THU: Off
FRI: Bootcamp
SAT: Kickbox + Pilates

Concentrating on nontraditional ab work this often has helped strengthen and tone my abs more than ever before. I've also made some nice strength gains with PS. Everyone is right! This is a wonderful series!

Because this rotation is so focused, I haven't made too big a dent in the 27-pack. So far I've tried: PS, various CTX cardio, Circuit Max, Cardio Kicks, various Ab Hits. You just can't go wrong with a Cathe workout.

How about you? What results have you seen? When will you begin "Phase II"? How are your abs and are you doing anything different with them?
 
Your rotation is excellent, Susan! I must confess, I never stick with a series for weeks on end. Perhaps I will at some point but I have been alternating them. I do something different each week, monkey-minded me!

Remember, you had suggested I stay heavy indefinitely? I have! I am intent on staying heavy through February. I might insert a relatively short endurance rotation and get right back to heavy work because I love it! (I'll chose from among Boot Camp, Cardio&Weights, Terminator, BodyMax and SJP with ME, PH and MIS.)

Between the PS, the Pyramids and SH, I am seeing wonderful strength gains . I am a bit disappointed that I am not bulkier but I am realistic enough to know that my bod can't do it. I am not giving up. Just adjusting my expectations. My lower body strength is great. I can start out at 40 as my lowest weight on PLB and I am to up that really soon. 50 is my max weight but I feel very comfortable with it and I think I can go higher but not too much higher, for safety's sake. I am hoping I can heft sixty pounds onto my shoulders before it's said and done.

I have been going pound for pound with Cathe and that's fine with each series except PS where I am a bit lower on upper body. Not much but my 20's will remain dusty for awhile. :) When I did SH three weeks ago, I was so sore I could barely move! I am really adapting well now and getting only that pleasant soreness that passes in 24 hours.

My last two weeks looked like this:

Mon TS 4 Cardio & SH CBP (I could not believe how sore my SHOULDERS got with this!)
Tues Step Blast
Wed BB Legs & Glutes (not a heavy really but I had never done it)
Thurs BB KPC
Fri PS CST/BBA
Sat Yoga
Sun Rest

Mon Clean
Tues PLB & SB
Wed PUB & KPC
Thurs Skip (Yoga/Abs)
Fri PLB & 8 Imax Intervals
Sat Rest
Sun PUB & Step Works (This was Saturdays workout but I rolled it over)

I am going into SH in the upcoming week and doing CTX Cardio on the same days. I have increased my cardio but I am going to shorten again it because it's hard to do long, high intensity workouts along with heavy strength. I am also tacking on extra work for shoulders and triceps; 1 extra workout. They are my weak points. I am doing abs twice per week with yoga (every third workout) although I skipped this week. I am doing this awful insomnia thing and it's affecting me badly. I definitely need to increase my flexibilty. I am losing it, big time. But I prefered skipping flexibility work over strength. (I should not have skipped! I didn't feel any better for having not worked out.)

I am also adding a CTX UBS/LL workout followed by PP at maximum weight as a second strength session. The following week I am Pyramiding and PPing again at max. weight. I have planned to sort of segue into the endurance workouts for March and I am tapering heavy into moderate for the last two weeks of Feb, starting the week heavy and ending more moderate. With PS and SH, I lift 1 timer per body part per week whereas, with the Pyramids I can get in two.

I have gotten quite firm with good definiton even if my shoulders are smaller than I'd like. I am strong as an ox! I've dropped a size in my pants too. In March, when I kick the cardio into high gear I hope my belly really shapes up but I must say it's not too bad at this point. Smaller but still well-insulated, LOL!

I really like this work. I think being a hardgainer, it's where my emphasis should stay. Of course, I do like lots of change so I will definitely enjoy switching off into the moderate workouts but probably only for 4 weeks or so before hitting the heavy work again for a longer duration.

Also, I prefer doing cardio and strength on the same day. More bang for my buck.:) Initially, I had planned interchanging weeks of doing them the same day with weeks of alternating them but I changed the alternating weeks to same day. I have been doing strength first in hope that depleting glycogen in my muscles, will get into that lovely stomach fat storage unit I own! This seems to make sense, particularly in regard to the lower body which gets the most use in cardio. Upper body can go either way but I do enjoy getting it done first since it's the harder of the two for me.

I hope this isn't way more than you wanted to know! :




Bobbi "Chick's rule!" http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif
 
Sounds good to me! As far as sticking with rotations for weeks on end, I think you should do what works for you. I don't see anything wrong with flip-flopping strength videos, as long as the workouts help you to achieve your goal.

For the most part, I lift heavier than Cathe for lower body but always go lighter for upper (except biceps sometimes). I really need to get some platemates. I think it's the only way I'll ever be able to increase my upper body strength. My goal is not to be as muscular as Cathe, just stronger and a little more defined than I am now. From what I've read, it seems S&H might help me there.

Are you doing about 60 min of cardio each session? I've been trying to keep mine short since longer cardios may inhibit strength gains in us ectos. Just an experiment to see what works for me!

I try to keep my workouts to about an hour. The only thing I haven't had time for is my usual 1-2 full (60 min) power yoga workouts a week. I'm keeping my flexibility up by doing the add-ons I mentioned in my post, but I miss my power yoga. I just bought Eoin Finn's Yoga for Happiness and have only done the "quickie" (30 min) one time. (I don't know if you have his DVD's, but I think they're great! They've gotten raves over at VF.)

Jillybean asked Cathe what was the best method for going from a strength to an endurance rotation without losing strength. I was hoping she'd respond because that's a concern of mine too.
 
Can anyone share what they know a little about the "yoga for flex" workout. Is it a video? Flexability is my weak area. And I am alsways looking for time efficient ways to add flexability training to my rotations.
yhank you :)
 
"Yoga for Flex" refers to a 1992 video from Yoga Journal and led by Patricia Walden called, "Yoga for Flexibility." It is available on DVD as a bonus segment on Yoga Journal's "Yoga for Beginners." I don't know how time efficient it is, but it's very effective for increasing flexibility. I'd say you'd have to be fairly flexible to start out with this one, though, or you might get discouraged. It has two 30 min segments: backbends and forward bends. There are only a few poses in each segment but they are held for a long time. It is not power yoga; it is VERY slow.

If flexibility is your weak area and you are looking for time-efficient ways to improve it, I recommend Rodney Yee's "Yoga Conditioning for Athletes." The main workout (somewhat power yoga-ish, but not very) is divided into 3 15-20 min segments. Rodney and two others show 3 levels of flexibility/strength. As a bonus, the DVD has 6 "mini workouts," each about 7-8 min, which work well as post-workout stretches. I often use this as well as Baron Baptiste's "Power & Precision Yoga" as add-ons. P&P is a power yoga tape available only on VHS and is divided into 4 segments, each with a slightly different emphasis. For the most part, I do the last segment of this as a cool-down/stretch.

HTH!
 
I agree with Susan. Patricia Walden is an exquisite yoga instructor but she does stop and talk during the practice and for that reason I switched to the Flow Series by Ganga White and Tracy Rich. I like time efficient too. I am taking a live yoga class Wednesday, my first and I am excited about it. I do hope I don't find out I have been doing it badly!
Bobbi "Chick's rule!" http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif
 
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