Bodybuilding/Sculpting check-in;-)

Today for me was arm day...gotta luv arm day..I have two of them, just like legs, how come arm day is more fun?? Did 18 sets (tri sets) and finished with 21s and kick backs, Wed was the afore mentioned leg day, not really that bad, squats, sumo squats, static lunges straight leg deads and various calf raises. Thursday was chest day with bench, incline bench, incline flys and finishing with pushups. Last week I managed to drop a loaded barbell on my head while benching. I thought I had 1 more rep before failure, but I was wrong and only had 1/2 a rep!!! I was lucky to get it on the left, but failed on the right, Because I got it racked on the one side, It didn't do any damage. I tend to go shorter sets pyramiding up, then longer sets as the weight reduces, to work toward failure, but failure on bench without spotters.....NOT a good idea!!
 
This past week had been a long, tough one so my original plan for today was to try Yoga Relax. However, my eating yesterday on my rest day was not good at all thanks to a work function so I felt like I should do some cardio but maybe not crazy hard cardio. I decided to give BarreAmped Cardio Fat Burn another go, and it fit the bill perfectly. A good sweat, some light strength work, some core work and a nice stretch. I felt really good after finishing.

Jen, that does suck about calorie burn for women in that article! We work so hard anyway and now we seem to have work even harder. Not fair!
 
It looks like our check ins have shrunk to me tslop49 and Jodi. Healing11 has dropped by a few times. How is everyone? Mary? SarBear? Nathalie?

This weekend I did PowerStrike 1 + Cathe's Total Body Stretching #1 on Saturday, Peak 10 Fat Blaster Cardio Strength + Total Body Stretching #2 on Sunday and this morning was Slo Mo Legs. Man--still hasn't gotten any easier. My entire lower body is burning. No overtime this week so doubles again! Yay! Today doubles will be Les Mills Pump Step.

I have my STS rotation started but I haven't decided on cardio, doubles or what my Saturday workouts will be--at least for the 1st two meso cycles. Mesocycle 3 I have more planned. What is everyone else doing? I shared a post with myself a while ago--I cannot figure out how to search the forum now to share it and the link that came with the shared post isn't working (the forum has been ungraded/changed servers since then) but in the post someone told Cathe they had a great muscle base but fat covering the muscle and they wanted to know the best way to lose the fat while still building muscle. In addition to telling her to clean up her diet Cathe also said "I would suggest your cardio workouts be mostly metabolic workouts in which the focus is on compound movements. These are great because they keep your body releasing growth hormone to ensure as much strength and muscular growth as possible while dieting. I would suggest three to four metabolic workouts per week ( ie: Afterburn, Crossfire, Super Cuts, X10) and additionally lift heavy weights three times per week (ie: my gym style workouts from the hard core series)."

So my thoughts are, maybe what I should do is for my cardio days in between STS strength work, do metabolic--not just Cathe's metabolic workouts, but other trainers, too--Michelle Dozois's Peak 10 Cardio Strength workouts, Ilaria's Atletica workouts, Patrick Goudeau's workouts, KCM metabolic circuit workouts, kettlebell workouts. Then for doubles I will do HIIT, flexibility/yoga and core workouts. Thoughts? For my Saturday workouts I still don't know. Part of me think I should do a total body workout and part of me thinks I should continue the metabolic theme on Saturdays and do some kind of recovery workout on Sunday--yoga or something like that. Anyone else planned things out for STS yet?
 
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Hi Everyone,

I have not fallen out the wagon, I am still working out and enjoying it;);). I have started to get my stuff
ready for Starting and completing, I hope, the bodybuilding rotation. Last time I started without completing was
last here when I had to travel for work. So hopefully this year I am crossing fingers not to have to travel.:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Last week Thursday I accidentally cut myself while getting coconut out of it's shell.
I had a small cut right in the middle of the palm of my left hand. I panicked cause on the day it was swollen.
Realised late in the day it was still swollen, bleeding etc... I hate hospital and did not want to go!!! Then during the
night I woke up and was in huge pain. Took pain killer and could not sleep for about two hours Grrr... Any way
I could not grip at ALL. All I was thinking was how long it was going to be painful. Phew then the day after I felt better.
It took about three days to regain a normal decent grip. Even now I checking it all the time. I am stretching it to ensure it is
fine. I won't lift this week. Workout will mainly be cardio and circuits.

Healing 11: I read your post. Great job on Muscle Endurance. Great job Jen as well. I have not re-visited this one in a while.
It is tough and I can remember Cathe's evil laugh at some point Lol:D. CTX is another endurance workout. In fact
both contain partials so ensure you have some cherry juice for recovery if you are planning to do it;)

Mary: Have you any plan on trying to re-motivate yourself. I am sure you have an un-wrapped workout you need to
discover. That could be a way to re-gain your enthusiasm. Sound like we are all doing STS this fall. Tom, me, jen
and Mary at least. Is anyone else joining in?

Jod: Hope you love INTENSITY at least as much as I do. I loved it first time I did it. At the time I was hoping to have more
Hiit choices. Now looking back I am so happy we have substantial segments (both premixes and main programs)to
choose from. TTM is one of Cathe's toughest IMO. I thought I was going to pass out the first day I attempted it.
Now I am fine.:D Both TTM and CF are workout I visit about 5 times per year. May be more.

Jen: Cathe's live being rated as intermediate by Cathe herself did not come across to me as a surprise. That being said
I want to do the PHA scheduled this thursday. It will contain compound exercises. Thanks for your birthday wishes.
Will have to read the article above regarding crossfit in more depth. Yes man burn more than us regardless of the fact
that we completed the exercise. Physiologically we are not the same. We carry a lot less testosterone. Muscles play a
huge role burning calories. So when most of women, my fellow gender, think completing hours of cardio is the best way of burning
calories, it puzzle me!o_Oo_O:rolleyes:

Tom: 50 ab wheel. hmmm 5x10 should be a piece of cake:D how about you join me doing those 5x10 straight after
completing IMAX2, your cartilage permetting, I am joking.;)

Day before yesterday was cycling max.Yesterday workout was P90X hour of Plyometrics....I was frustrated at some point cause Tony horton cueing was poorIMO.There were interesting moves but he just did *not* timely explain enough to maintain a smooth workout.
He did not break down moves to deliver the information to home exercisers timelyIMHO. Still I completed the workout without stopping.
I did not feel anaerobically challenge thoughout the entire houro_Oo_Oo_O I felt the average heart rate defeited the
purpose of the workout. It is supposed to anaerobically challenge exercisers while performing those athletics
moves EXPLOSIVELYo_Oo_O Well for me this is an intermediate close to beginners workout.

Today workout was Imax2 plus 100 hip thrust and 100 kneeling barbell throws. I was very cautious while gripping
the barbell:):):). It was stinging tiny bit. I liked throwing the barbell kneeling. It challenged my core in the way
I like to work it.

That is all I have to share today.

Hope to read from you,

Ta-ra/Bye for now;)
 
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Today was back day : chins ,3 sets : lat pull down ,3 sets : dumbbell pullovers ,3 sets : 1 arm rows ,3 sets and deadlifts, 3 sets, I finished with a long set of pushups to hit another bodypart and 2 sets of crunches followed by 50 abwheels...(1 set Nathalie..don't be a pansy, but I'm thinking Imax 2 is NOT in my wheelhouse!!!) On Saturday I did my fifties routine with squats, pushups, 1 leg calf raises,wheelies,bicep isos and,ashamed to admit it, donkey kicks! This kinda gets most groups except back and shoulder which I hit the first 2 days of the week. Like Jen, I hope we can keep this thread going!!
 
jengollf said:
I have my STS rotation started but I haven't decided on cardio, doubles or what my Saturday workouts will be--at least for the 1st two meso cycles. Mesocycle 3 I have more planned. What is everyone else doing? I shared a post with myself a while ago--I cannot figure out how to search the forum now to share it and the link that came with the shared post isn't working (the forum has been ungraded/changed servers since then) but in the post someone told Cathe they had a great muscle base but fat covering the muscle and they wanted to know the best way to lose the fat while still building muscle. In addition to telling her to clean up her diet Cathe also said "I would suggest your cardio workouts be mostly metabolic workouts in which the focus is on compound movements. These are great because they keep your body releasing growth hormone to ensure as much strength and muscular growth as possible while dieting. I would suggest three to four metabolic workouts per week ( ie: Afterburn, Crossfire, Super Cuts, X10) and additionally lift heavy weights three times per week (ie: my gym style workouts from the hard core series)."

So my thoughts are, maybe what I should do is for my cardio days in between STS strength work, do metabolic--not just Cathe's metabolic workouts, but other trainers, too--Michelle Dozois's Peak 10 Cardio Strength workouts, Ilaria's Atletica workouts, Patrick Goudeau's workouts, KCM metabolic circuit workouts, kettlebell workouts. Then for doubles I will do HIIT, flexibility/yoga and core workouts. Thoughts? For my Saturday workouts I still don't know. Part of me think I should do a total body workout and part of me thinks I should continue the metabolic theme on Saturdays and do some kind of recovery workout on Sunday--yoga or something like that. Anyone else planned things out for STS yet?
Click to expand...

I have not mapped out my STS rotation yet but it is on my to do this week. I will share with you here.
I have been on a discussion with a fellow cathlete on the discussion board and I am considering doing the cycle
differently. Basically I am considering doing both meso 1 and 2 same week.

This would shorten the first 3 months. I will also do Body beast instead of meso 2 later on in the cycle.
This is just an idea at the moment. I will post the generic map later on this weekend. I received Body beast
tempo. So I have the full bodybeast pack and add on.

http://cathe.com/forum/threads/end-of-sts-what-next-body-beast.300249/page-2#post-2298359

Jen your strategy for fat loss sound good to me. What I would advise is to ensure not to overtrain with all doubles.
For example D1 meso D2 X10 the weight need to be light enough to not intefere with the purpose of the cycle.
IMO 45 Minutes cardio and a STS disc on the same day is doable as a double. Cardio session does not need to be longer
than 45 minutes. I would *not* extend the workoout longer than that.;) Adding total body compound
to hit muscles twice per week is also a great idea.

Last but not least NUTRITION:):)
 
That is interesting Nathalie. I am also incorporating Body Beast into my rotation--but I am not going to combine mesocyles. I do like to hit each muscle group twice per week which is why I can't decide what to do for my Saturday workouts. And I do want to keep my HIIT workouts short, which is why I am doing them as doubles workouts. And rather than do a HIIT every day (since I do doubles nearly every day M-F) I will mix it up--HIITs, flexibility, core.

And I do have that concern about metabolic workouts. I feel like I shouldn't be concerned--especially after all of the MWT responses Cathe has made on the forum that I have copied and saved into a file so I can reference it! But I always have this lingering fear that lifting every single day (doing metabolic workouts right after a heavy strength workout) will defeat the purpose. Again--this is why I save Cathe's responses so I can reference back to them and reassure myself. And I also look at rotations other trainers have put together--Michelle Dozois puts her Cardio Strength workouts right next to heavier strength work days--so clearly she doesn't expect you to consider her Cardio Strenght workouts you actual strength work.

So how will you structure your week? Meso 1 workout 1, 2 & 3 + Meso 2 workout 1, 2 & 3 all in one week? And what is the benefit of getting through STS faster?
 
jengollf said:
I feel like I shouldn't be concerned--especially after all of the MWT responses Cathe has made on the forum that I have copied and saved into a file so I can reference it! But I always have this lingering fear that lifting every single day (doing metabolic workouts right after a heavy strength workout) will defeat the purpose. Again--this is why I save Cathe's responses so I can reference back to them and reassure myself. And I also look at rotations other trainers have put together--Michelle Dozois puts her Cardio Strength workouts right next to heavier strength work days--so clearly she doesn't expect you to consider her Cardio Strenght workouts you actual strength work.

So how will you structure your week? Meso 1 workout 1, 2 & 3 + Meso 2 workout 1, 2 & 3 all in one week? And what is the benefit of getting through STS faster?
Click to expand...

The highlighted above is fine. Hiit no more than 3x per week.
A 20-30 minutes low impact and high 4 per week as part of double Morning cardio, lift later during the day
is what I am intending to do. I will be doing Hiit, lift with minimal metabolic premixes. I will add total compound to
ensure I hit muscles twice though. I will add some short mobility and stretch drills in between.
I decided to be even more busy in the kitchen.

As to my plan M T W meso 1 TH FRI SAT meso2.
Meso 3 I will add a total compound at the end of the week and a metabolic workout.
 
Today was Push Pull, the UB premix with 3 sets each. Great premix!! I think I will be feeling this tomorrow. Again, a very long time since I've pulled this DVD out but someone on another thread mentioned this premix so I had to try it out.

Yesterday I attempted to do Ballet Physique's Signature Sculpt for the second time. I say attempted because about half way thru the DVD it started to freeze and jump and skip and then it would kick me back to the main menu. I had a little trouble with it the first time I used it, but this time there was no rescuing it after hitting that spot. Of course, I wasn't happy. I e-mailed the company to see about getting a replacement, but I haven't heard back yet. Even if they don't replace it, I will be buying another one from another source...it's that good. Even while feeling like I didn't get a complete workout from it yesterday, my entire backside is sooo sore today. Like "painful" to sit down kind of sore!

Oh, and since I missed the core segment of that workout, I did another segment from Gorgeous Core. Apparently I saved the best for last because this one was a bit tough. It was all kinds of plank variations. A good little workout.
 
jengollf said:
So how will you structure your week? Meso 1 workout 1, 2 & 3 + Meso 2 workout 1, 2 & 3 all in one week? And what is the benefit of getting through STS faster?
Click to expand...

Sorry Jen, I missed out your question above. Here is my answer;)
Thinking out loud:)

Combining both meso 1 and 2 or completing each meso within two weeks, I am expecting to confuse my muscles.
This, nutritious being clean within calories allowance, should bring results.
Hopefully I should perform better exercises from the program.

The quicker I complete STS , the sooner I will get to visit other programs.
I want to do body beast. I boughtBody beast more than a year ago and it is high time I try it.
I am striving to complete cathe's bodybuilding cycle ( 9months:oops::oops:).
I won't be doing it to the letter though.
X-Train, Bodybeast and RwH are to be slotted in at some point.:):):)
There are also other program I want to try.


Combining split and total in long term is personnal goal of mine:):)

There are so many fun stuff to discover. Lifting programs:p:p
 
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Just checking in quickly to let everyone know that I'm still alive and kicking it. Was out of town for over a week for work last week. Despite my best intentions and pre-prep I only got one workout in while I was gone. :-( They simply kept us too busy from sun up to sun down. I was in a different time zone and was getting less sleep than normal so I just did not have the motivation and energy to get up early and fit in a workout. I needed every bit of sleep I could squeeze in just to get through our busy days. At first I was being pretty hard on myself about it, but then I realized that life is short and you only live once. I was doing A TON of walking every day and wasn't going crazy with my eating--so it's not like a week off of working out was going to completely derail all of my hard work. I'm home all this week so I'm hitting things hard (workout-wise) before we leave on Saturday for our beach vacation. Sat-Mon I did our favorite RwH weight workouts (2 UB, 1 LB). I'm hoping to hit every body part twice this week. I don't typically work out much (outside of lots of walking) on our vacations, so next week will be another "rest" week. I'm still going to bring some of my videos with me, just in case but I'm not going to put a lot of stress on myself to workout each day. If it happens great, if it doesn't oh well. While I hate having two rest weeks so close together, I've decided not to beat myself up over it. I would have never planned a week long work trip so close to our yearly vacation, but what can you do. LOL. I'll tell you what I'm going to do--I'm going to work hard this week and then enjoy a much needed week of sun, fun, and relaxation with no guilt! :) Once we get back from vacation, I can get back into my normal workout schedule and start a new rotation.

Haven't had time to go back and read everyone's check-in's but will hopefully have some time this week to get caught up. Hope everyone is doing well!
 
This morning was Gym Styles Chest & Triceps + RwH Core #1. Planned doubles is Les Mills Pump Sports Attack. I cannot tell you how good it felt to do doubles again. I don't know what it is about doubles but my body needs it. I need my morning workout and I also need my afternoon workout. I don't know why, but my body craves them both. I always especially like it when I get an intense strength workout (like yesterday and this morning) in the morning and an equally intense cardio in the afternoon--like yesterday! I even slept better last night! I hate overtime. Unfortunately it pays very well and we have a vacation in August I am saving for so overtime must be worked. At least 2 more weeks in July and one more in August. After that I may continue to work overtime, but I will do it in a different manner--just come into work earlier but leave the same time so I can still do my doubles. Gotta build up that Christmas savings account after the vacation! It's always something.

Anyway, that leads me to SarBear--I am the same way. Despite the best laid plans I rarely workout on vacations and even when I do, I do it the early days and it peters out by the end of the vacation. And there is nothing wrong with that! You are on vacation after all! If you go on vacation 1-2 times a year then you have built in recovery weeks! Because like you, I am on my feet non-stop my entire vacation. We don't do that laying by the pool thing. We go-go-go-go nonstop. It wasn't such a big deal before the accident but now with my metal heels it also becomes extremely painful--so working out becomes joke anyway. By the time we get back to the hotel room all I want to do is get off my feet! Our last vacation I actually had to buy a cane. )o: That's when my husband and I started talking about actually taking relaxing vacations in the future where I don't have to live on tramadol for a week and use a cane. If we do that, I may actually need to exercise on vacation!

Jodi--I love Push Pull! One of my favorite Cathe workouts. The main workout is more intermediate than her others but when you do the premixes--that really kicks it into the advanced range! I did it about a month ago and I did the double set premix which was about 80 minutes and burned out every muscle! It was awesome!

Nathalie--I do know the feeling! I have so many new workouts I want to get through! Still! And then when I do them and love them I want to keep doing them! Which makes me not want to try the other new ones. I do need to stop buying new ones. However, I did decide in August I need to finally try PFLO/PFWL. So I worked that back into my rotation. I want to use STS to try something different. So I am going to stick with the metabolic strength workouts on my non-STS days and my Saturday workout will be a tough total body strength workout. Cathe has lots of those (the Push Pull premix comes to mind!!!) but also some of my new Amy Bentos. That's for the first two mesocycles at least. The third mesocycle I am doing both plyo legs and squat rack legs--in addition I will also be adding P90X2 P.A.P Upper to the mix. I will still have to fill in 2 morning workouts though one of them I think will be some type of recovery workout and my doubles workouts.
 
Shoulder day for me today. I started with 9 sets of standing military press,which I usually do later in the workout, but decided to lead with it so I could go heavier Then went to 3 sets of shoulder press, 3 sets of side laterals, 3 sets of barbell front raises and 2 sets of rear delt raises, and finally 2 sets of heavy shrugs. I finished with a set of dumbbell curls to, again, hit a different body part. Had a little water in the basement due to heavy rains last night, but didn't interfere with the workout. On the militarys I tried to go heavy, even on the first set,thendropped it 10 pounds for 3 sets then dropped another 10 pounds for 3 more sets. I felt like this really worked the delts and traps and felt GOOD...sorta!!
 
Thanks guys--appreciate all the positive and supportive comments regarding my earlier post! Today I decided to finally unwrap and try out KCM's Lean Body Circuits which has been sitting in my cabinet for at least a month or two now. Since I'm trying to hit things hard this week before we leave for vacation, I did the premix that includes both workouts. Overall, I enjoyed the workout. The cardio portions were not crazy intense, but I tried to really put in 110% and overall feel like I got a pretty good workout. I enjoy Kelly's creativity when it comes to weight work as well. I like surprising my body with some non-traditional dumbbell moves every once in awhile!

Glad to hear everyone has been doing well! Looking forward to getting back to more regular check-ins after next week.
 
Hi everyone!

I had a little extra time to workout today so I did X10 Step and Yoga Relax. Oh my gosh, Yoga Relax is wonderful! I felt so refreshed after doing it. I had been so tight from the workouts on Sunday and Monday so all that stretching felt sooo good. Love it!

Nathalie, so glad your hand is healing. Keep up the good work!

Tom, your workouts sound so tough! Very impressive.

SarBear, enjoy your vacation. We all need to let our bodies rest now and then.

Jen, you're right about the Push Pull premixes. The plain workout is good but not terribly advanced. The premixes...incredibly tough. I would love to try the 80 min total body one when I have the time.
 
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