Body Max or Circuit Max????

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Nov-06-02 AT 10:22AM (Est)[/font][p]GN,

I don't have the S&H series so I don't how they compare. I think the difference is that S&H uses heavier weights and lower reps than PS. I read that Cathe reccommends S&H for breaking out from a weight plateau.

I think 3 days of leg work might be a bit much? You are getting some upper body and legs with BodyMax. The difference with BodyMax legs portion and PS Legs is that BM increases your endurance whereas the PS concerntrates on strength building with heavier weights. The same is true for the upper body segments. I think if you do PS rotation you should do the 3 tapes in a week for a number of weeks. You really shouldn't break it up and do only one part of your body as this will create bulkiness i.e. one part of your body will be more developed than the other.

You can do only the PS Legs 2x and BodyMax 1x per week, but I would not reccommend it. Do all 3 tapes or nothing at all. I understand you want to develop lower body, but you should not neglect upper body either.

Yen
 
Thanks Yen,

Reason for solely concentrating on my lower body is because my legs are much thinner than the top of me...........Im about to fall over from lack of gravity on the bottem .LOL. But I hear what youre saying about bulking on the bottem and neglecting the upper body.That's why I thought BM twice weekly would be enough for my upper body. Im trying to build up my endurance in the next couple weeks so that I can do a PS rotation with heavier weightsin December. Do you recommend switching rotations in 2 weeks or 4 weeks.?

Thanx
GN
 
RE: S&H vs PS

Lizzie,

Thanks for the reply. How often do you switch your PS/SH rotations?? Monthly or biweekly??

I now understand difference between the two. Sounds like SH is much more difficult in terms of how much weight to lift and holding the exercises longer.Thereby, making it more of a muscle gain than PS? Or is it the opposite? At first when I read about SH, it sounded more like an endurance builder as opposed to PS. But your description sounds the opposite. When Im done with my PS rotation, I would like to start the SH series...........Again, how often for rotation?

GN
 
In that case I would say do MIS and BodyMax. MIS will get you build strength and endurance ready for the heavy weights in PS. It is much better to get you into PS because it is totally a weights workout and uses rather heavy weights.

I would recommend that you do MIS and BM for 6-8 weeks to build strength and then change to PS rotation.

Yen
 
RE: S&H vs PS

Hi GN,

I wouldn't necessarily say that S&H is that much harder than PS (for me anyway) but from all accounts it's more of a muscle builder. I've been on it for about 3 weeks now (S&H legs and PS leg/abs each once per week) but will not do it for more than a month. I think you'll want to do it more than one week but no more than a month. Since the moves are so slow and there is a full minute's rest between sets, it could easily become boring... I find this to be true only because I have trouble focusing if I'm not constantly entertained. ;-) Anyway, I think the reason Cathe says not to rotate this for more than a month or so is for that reason - if you become bored or can't concentrate on it then you may not even want to do it anymore... or if you still do it your form might suffer. I hope I'm making sense and not rambling too badly. Just remember - what it ultimately does for you is completely dependent on your own body and how well your form is, etc. I've personally had good results so far and even find that my cardio capacity is increased.

Good luck!
 
RE: S&H vs PS

Also, IMO you don't really have to wait or build strength before starting the PS series - I'm a PS lover and I went into it right away with no strength training experience. You don't have to begin with heavy weights - just use what challenges you, write it down and progress from there. I think you may well be surprised at what you can do after a few weeks with PS.
 
RE: S&H vs PS

I agee. You don't have to build fitness and strength with other tapes before you do a Cathe. You just have to work your way up.

Yen
 
RE: S&H vs PS

Thankyou to both Lizzie and Yen for your imput. I prefer monthly workouts. Gives me more time to increase strength and weight and I feel like I can master something with a little more time involved, so monthly is perfect for me. After my BM and PSL/Abs rotation, I would like to move into Slow and Heavy series.Thankyou both........

GN
 
I started out with the S&H series before the PS. So I found PS faster when compared to it. I was very surprised by the PSLegs pace! Even more surprised by the floor work. But being an ex-FIRMIE ... Cathe's pace is still pretty reasonable.
S&H Legs was like THE ANSWER for me! It's half an hour and slow and my heart rate doesn't soar. Must say my behind looks much better although not big it is the best it could get. I credit that to S&H and Cathe's workouts.
I do not do a lot of leg work only because they were skinny to start off with and have gotten lean now. If I work them more they tend to get too muscular. If I don't work them they get skinny. So one leg day per week is all right with me. Sometimes I lay off the cardio if it has too much legs involved. I'm concentrating more on getting arms now and losing the keg...I'm using CK and trying out Pilates. Must get that Power strike DVD!!! Everyone seems to rave about them and they are low impact with lots of arm drills. I want Linda Hamilton arms! Good luck with Legs!
 
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Nov-06-02 AT 09:16PM (Est)[/font][p]For me they do, depending on the type of workout. I find endurance based lifting like PH and BM or PC or to some extent PS legs and Most FIRMs tend to make my legs more skinnier. Which is not a bad thing really, but too much and my calves bulge or vascularity gets to be noticeable. Some people like that, but being oriental...I feel self concious if a guy asks if I run when he looks at my legs. Not to say that runners have ugly legs! Just that for me personally, I just want nice girlie legs. I just want them ... to look right. Not too skinny, not to defined and not too bulky.
 
HI Lam,

Thanks for the advice. You kind of sold me on SH for Legs. I have skinny legs now. And youre legs went to "lean" only doing SH once weekly. ???/ That sounds too good to be true. I can easily do that........lol

I am beter putting all of my energy into one or two body parts. For me, it is building up my legs and flattening the tummy. So SH sounds perfect for me. I just ordered Body Max to use in addition to PS for the legs. In your opinion, can I also use BM along with SH or should I do that on its own.???

GN
 
I find that S&H Legs once per week kept the legs under control...not too defined and not too skinny. If you want real lean ones then LL and PH and BM would be the way to go. By lean I mean...calves, those side dents on the butt, a hint of a line on the front of the tigh. That line was what made me cut back on leg work. No lines for me! I like the dent on the side of the butt and decent calves and toned thighs...that's about it. Any more and I cut back on endurance based leg work. If you feel the need to add BMax it is a very good tough workout. I only use the cardio portion of it and the upper body. I don't use circuit workouts much now.
 
R_Lam,

Hi and Thanks for the Leg advice. So let me see if I get this straight. If you do SH too much ,you feel it bulks you too much? But if you concentrate on more endurance based like BM or LL, you get the "smooth" look.? Is that what your aiming for? I just want to add mass period. My legs are completely straight up and down and smooth all over. NO Look of muscle is apparent. I would like to get that "straight up and down" look taken care of, to have a little muscle built onto the side of the mid-thigh. Does that make sense? And it seems youre saying SH is the way to go. Honestly, I just received my Body Max and am a little hesitant to start it, because of all the cardio. Although tummy area could use firming, the last thing I need is to lose any leg weight. Perhaps if I only do the circuit section along with PS or SH, that may be a good adjunct. I am ordering SH as we speak. Thanks for all the imput.

GN
 
R_Lam,

I forgot to ask you what weight you are using in SH versus PS for the Legs. did you feel the need to go lighter in SH due to it's slower moves????????

GN
 
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Nov-09-02 AT 08:55PM (Est)[/font][p][font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Nov-09-02 AT 08:51 PM (Est)[/font]

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Nov-09-02 AT 08:49 PM (Est)[/font]

Hi,
This is so nice! I don't usually come across people with the same problem! There's always lots of posts about " How to shrink the thighs and butt" and here I am hoping to build mine so I could fill in jeans properly.
I'm an apple ...gain weight in my trunk and belly first. My arms aren't too bad but the triceps need lots of work. My legs were very skinny. Had no butt.
Losing weight by dieting or cardio would have shrunk me but would still have the same proportions...only smaller. So I figured I had to exercise.
I have always wished I was a pear. I look at women with hips and wonder were mine went. Don't think I ever had any. I suppose it's just how I'm built. Narrow hipped. Virtually impossible to keep those low rise jeans from sliding off no matter how tight they are. Women with hips have no idea how lucky and feminine they look!
I was a size 16 when I first started with the FIRM workouts...but needed cardio...I lost a lot of fat from spinning. I went down to an 11. Hit a plateau but maintained the weight loss with FIRM tapes minus spinning. Spinning stripped almost all the fat off of me including the legs.
My first weight series from Cathe was LL and it was tough. I added more tone to the legs using a 25 lb barbell and just 10 lb dumbells. Is tone an acceptable description? I'm not sure. I had muscle but the legs were still skinny.
S&H was great. It was so nicely paced and I was able to move the weight up to a 40 lb. barbell and 15 lb db. It didn't make my knees complain, didn't leave me short of breath, and my form was good. Can you tell I love the S&H Legs and shoulders workout? Here was a leg workout that made sense to me! When I do LL this is what I think,"HOW BAD CAN YOUR THIGHS POSSIBLY BE???" "Wear pants!" Which is why I don't use LL much. I don't believe you have to suffer THAT much to get a good workout in. Particularly since we aren't trying to make them skinny in the first place. I suppose if you had fat thighs or cottage cheese thighs you'd willingly go through it. But chicken legs than I am...that wouldn't make sense. S&H adds mass rather well. If you balance it with the right amount of cardio for you ( you'll figure it out as you go along how much you need )then you can figure out the frequency too. I did a S&H rotation for 4 months.
Just once/week . Added size to the legs and decided that was all I wanted and added more cardio and switched to PS for maintainance. I use 10 lb db for warm up sets and 30 lbs for the barbell work for PS Legs. I am hoping PS will fix my upper body now. I have gone down from a size 11 to a 7 with Cathe. I'm hoping to get smaller. If you find a way to shrink the tummy let me in on it!!!
PS. I had to go with lighter weights for shoulders and biceps and triceps for S&H because the slow count made it too hard.
 
R_Lam,

Thankyou Thankyou for such a nice reply. You were so informative and helpful. So basically it sounds like I definitely need SH for these legs of mine (5'6" at 115 and size 4) Maribeth (another educated friend on post) described herself as a marshmallow with 4 toothpicks sticking out of it. Does that sound familiar.???

So you did SH rotation for 4 months. That means , you did only SH (as far as leg workout) once weekly for 4 months and saw results? Sounds pretty good to me.

And no, I would not prefer to be "toned" , as you described with LL. Toning to me means adding a look of a muscle on an already skinny leg.That would be nice if it came along with a little substance or mass for the ride.And you credit once again, SH for that. Once I see some real gains to the legs, I can start adding cardio and working on the tummy. Which by the way, I read a few reports which didnt sound so encouraging. Basically said that as long as you have a layer of fat on top of your abs, you can do ab workouts forever and you will not see the abs. According to these publications, everyone from a 300 lb person to a 100lb person has the same 6pack underneath. All ab workouts will do is make your abs stronger but not visible. Not very encouraging, so it sounds like cardo is a MUST in order to break down the fat on top of them. Does that make sense?

If anyone knows anything tothe contrary, please jump in here.

Hope that helps,
GN

GN
 
Both are excellent tapes. I think you should base your decision on how much time you have to work out because Circuit Max is one hour and Body Max one and a half hours. I've found Circuit Max the best one hour tape I've ever done that combines strength and cardio. But Body Max is a more thorough workout.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Our Newsletter

Get awesome content delivered straight to your inbox.

Top