Calling PS fans....advice sought

C

clareMc

Cathlete
Hi all:

I have a question regarding the Pure Strength series.

I have the Pure Strength legs and love it. I work with it once or twice per week and since March have seen great results. I can now do all the leg exercises (except the pre-exhaust sets) with 40 pounds. Now, I have to go buy a barbell because I have maxed out with the dumbells (exciting new purchases around the corner!...)

I ususally do the MIS tape for upper body strength training, because I preper it to Power Hour which is endurance focussed anyway. Problem is, after all this time, I no longer see strength gains with MIS on the upper body, not unless I deliberately slow the count down and then I can up the weight. Doing this I see improvement, exspecially on shoulders which is my number one weakest area.

I am an ecto, my upper body is a lot less developed and less strong than my legs/glutes, and so I am looking to increase upper body strength (upper body endurance does not concern me, since it does not power me through my cardio blasts like the lower body does).

My question to you all is: is the count/pace significantly slower on the PS upper body tapes than on MIS to produce real strength gains on the upper body?

If it is, then I will get the rest of the series. If not, I'll have to go S&H, which I have been putting off because I think I would get bored with the slowness. I should warn you that I am not ususally over-motivated to work the upper body, and so S&H might kill off the desire completely.

Or maybe not? What do you all think? All responses welcome and thanks in advance for your time and help,

Clare ;-)
 
Yes.

I have been using all of PS for the past 3 weeks and I have found that with PS upper body, it uses heavier weights than MIS. PS is a muscle building so it is slower and works each body parts longer than MIS or PH. I think if you use PS of S&H series, you should do a rotation that includes all the tapes in a week. I think this will give you an balanced strength gains overall. I definitely use heavier weights overall.

Yen
 
I find that PS fatigues my muscles greatly. I, like you, use haevy weights and find that this is all I need for strength that week. I do:
Sat. Imax
Sun. PS C/S/T and B/B/A
Mon. PS S/L/A
Tue. Imax (if I'm brave, otherwise, Rhythmic Step)
Wed. CTX power circuit (cardio portion only) and the upperbody from Body Max or the circuit and upperbody segments of Body Max
Thu. Cardio Kicks
Fri. REST!
I used to do MIS later in the week on my PS rotations, but I would get too fatigued and I couldn't lift as heavy during the PS tapes so now I do MIS 3 x's a week for 4 weeks as its own rotation. This gives me a great foundation for the jump to an 8 week PS rotation. Following that I do S&H for 3 weeks, and then I do endurance rotations before starting the whole thing over. I'm excited to see how the pyramid videos of the intensity series fit into this. Have fun!
 
I personally don't think the pace of PS is that much slower than MIS. But you can always slow it down yourself.
Wendy
 
I remember thinking when I first got PS, that the pace was a bit faster than MIS, especially in the lat rows. But I just got off a PH/MIS rotation and onto PS and it doesn't seem too fast anymore (though I do think it is a bit faster paced rep wise).
 
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Dec-01-02 AT 08:37PM (Est)[/font][p]PS is not much slower than MIS but it has many different exercises. So it's bound to give you new gains.

S&H also has different exercises. Variety really keeps me going, and if you're like me, you will eventually want both. For now, PS is probably the one for you. I learned a lot from it.

Then S&H. (My current fave)
 
Thanks to all who replied.

I think I will go witth the PS series first, I was reading good stuff about it on another post on another section and I guess I'll just slow the count on those shoulder exercises so I can lift heavier!

THanks again,

Clare
 
I did PS Upper body (2 tapes) and today I am whacked! I thought I would do Circuit Max as I have just bought it. I didn't do all of it - I couldn't be bothered, and I still sore from lifting 15kg barbell for bicep curl (I don't know how Cathe does that in MIS with the crazy 8's), but 15kg for me has to be done at a slower pace.

Yen
 
Hi Clare,

I'm a fellow ecto. I have both the PS and SH upper body tapes and like all of them. However, as strange as this may sound, I feel like a get an absolutely amazing workout from CTX Upper Body. Even though it is supposedly an "endurance" approach, I've experienced excellent visible results from it. When I finish the workout - I can feel the swelling big time in the bis and tris.

I work all body parts twice a week: once slow and heavy and once lighter with higher reps, according to a suggestion from Maribeth. I've been very pleased with my progress.

Angela
 
Hi Clare - another fellow ecto with a skinny upper body and very little strength in the shoulders and chest. Like you, I'm not very motivated when it comes to upper body work. I love PS though. Although the reps are almost similar in speed to MIS, the exercises are different and the split format allows you to lift heavier (in a total body workout format, you are normally more fatigued by the time you get to upper body work). S&H is also a great series and probably very effective if you are a hard gainer but it requires a huge amount of focus and you need to give each and every rep a 100%. I sometimes find that after 2 or 3 weeks of S&H, my determination/ motivation starts dwindling. So my guess is that you would probably enjoy PS for the time being. You could move on to S&H later. You may want to consider not ruling out endurance type workouts entirely either. Like Angela, I too have found that CTX upper body has given me some visible muscle mass and strength that I definitely didn't have before. I guess a combination of training techniques (endurance and heavy lifting) works best for me. If I try using one or the other exclusively for a very prolonged period, I don't see much happening. I need to keep shaking things up to gain mass and strength. Best of luck and enjoy PS if you decide to buy it.
 
THanks Angela and thanks prfitnesss:

both of your comments were inspiring, you sound just like me upper body wise. I have the CTX series but I use it mostly for the wonderful variety of cardio work, i love to take any two and do them back to back for real keep the body surprised cardio work. Since I prefer to separate weights from cardio days--after cardio I am never motivated to work with weights--I have never done the CTX upper body portion and just rewind the tape....if I had it on DVD it would be a different matter. Oh well....

To change to DVD or not, that is the question.....for another day

Thanks again ladies

Clare
 
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