Cathe : question on STS splits

[kathryn]

Cathe,
I've been perusing the STS manual, and started previewing the workouts, and I have one question.

In Mesos 2 and 3, the body-part splits are set up to do upper, then lower, then upper body (my prefered way of doing it, to give shoulders more recovery time). But in Meso 1, the split is set up to do upper, upper, then lower.

I'll probably do my usual way of things (I'm a rebel), but was just wondering what your reasoning is behind choosing this way of doing the split. Do you feel there is some advantage to working the upper body closer together this way? Or was it just for variety during the rotation?

TIA!

 

[Cathe Friedrich]

Hi Kathryn! STS was effectively designed to shock your body through change and variety. This can occur by changing frequency, duration, intensity, tempo, equipment, and exercise order. In Mesocycle One I chose to change the exercise order both in disc placement and muscle grouping. I also chose to include a lot of exercise variation. As mentioned in the User Guide, I recommend that you have a rest day or cardio day between each disc for recovery. Of all the mesocycles, I selected Mesocycle One to change the actual disc order. While I wouldn't recommend doing that in the other two Mesocycles where heavier weights and more recovery time are needed, it works just fine in the muscle endurance phase since you are training with lighter weights where less recovery time is needed.

However, if your schedule is such that you have to do STS on back to back days, then I definitely would recommend that you change the disc order and put legs in between the two upper body workouts. You do need to have at least one day of recovery between the upper body workouts.

The overall concept of STS is to get you thinking outside the box, but sure Kathryn, if it makes you feel better, put the discs in the set order you usually do. I'm not going to force the benefits of change upon you .

Cathe,
I've been perusing the STS manual, and started previewing the workouts, and I have one question.

In Mesos 2 and 3, the body-part splits are set up to do upper, then lower, then upper body (my prefered way of doing it, to give shoulders more recovery time). But in Meso 1, the split is set up to do upper, upper, then lower.

I'll probably do my usual way of things (I'm a rebel), but was just wondering what your reasoning is behind choosing this way of doing the split. Do you feel there is some advantage to working the upper body closer together this way? Or was it just for variety during the rotation?

TIA!

 

[sancho]

The overall concept of STS is to get you thinking outside the box, but sure Kathryn, if it makes you feel better, put the discs in the set order you usually do. I'm not going to force the benefits of change upon you .

See Kathryn, sometimes following the recipe IS a good idea.

 

[kathryn]

See Kathryn, sometimes following the recipe IS a good idea.

Not if you're over 50 with a history of shoulder problems.

Nope, it's best for me to 'do my own thing' here.

Thank you for the explanation, Cathe!

 

[Massaging Mom]

Hey Kathryn,

My shoulders act up easily too. Working them to the point of failure, regardless of the reps can cause me problems. Thankfully, doing the 1RM for Disc 1 on Thursday and Disc 2 on Friday was not bad enough for my bursa to spill out of the joint or my tendons to inflame and prevent full ROM. I'm going to see how my shoulders respond during the first week of Meso One. I'll make sure I ice my shoulders after Disc 1. I'm also planning on adding rotator cuff exercises/stretches to legs day. If one day between upper body workouts isn't enough, I'll go ahead and put legs between them and add on rotator cuff exercises/stretches with back/tripceps.

Wendy