Decline bench for sts?? How did u do your 1RM?

sunsdaughter

Cathlete
Hi all!
Is a decline bench necessary for STS?

How about slanted risers?

Also, how exactly should I do my 1RM testing? Should I warm up, then use my 1RM tests as my w/o for the day? Can I do another DVD (say, Crossfire) then do some 1RM testing?

Help! :)
Thx!!!
 
Hi there :)

I use my cardio club step for a bench. I don't have slanted risers, but I do put it on a decline when Cathe does decline bench presses, chest flies, ect. I do this by placing 6 risers at the top of my step, and 2 risers at the bottom. Not perfect, but it works and stays put :). Cathe does this on 4DS too, before she had slanted risers for the step. Funny story, my daughter saw me putting it on a decline yesterday, and she asked "mommy, does the exercise lady tell you to do that???". She was questioning if it was right!! My daughter is only 3 1/2 :confused:.

Do you absolutely need a decline? You could get away with not having one, but the decline does work the chest muscles differently. Typically you would go lighter in weight #'s then you would for a flat bench press or flies. You'll see, it's definitely harder :eek:.

As for the 1RM, I never really did them, as there was not enough hours in my day :(. I do suggest you do them however, if time will allow :). I can't see anything wrong with your plan. Perhaps some other STS Cathletes can chime in and help :).

Good luck with STS! It's a wonderful program :)

Natasha
 
I do the same as Natalie with the risers. It has been working for years, so I'm not going to change anything.

I did my 1RM this way:
I looked at the exercises I would be doing in the STS workout disc the day before each disc was scheduled. I then did the 1RM the day before the workout for those exercises only. It seemed to take away the overwhelming feeling of trying to schedule the 1RM. And it only took about 10 minutes each time initially. As I progressed through STS, there would be days when I'd only need to add one or two new exercises.
 
STS Prep

I have not started STS yet but my 1 Rep is done.

When I received the user guide, I almost pulled my hair!:D Then I took a deep breath in! I wanted to do Gym Style (loved it a lot...) prior to embarking on STS. I did it as planned. Taking one rep proved to be easy. Few hours week end, It was done.

I suggest you do it from workout manager, each exercise is illustrated on Video clip. Just have your weight equipment around and do them. I did not do any warm up oops. I should have! Most of exercises repeat throughout the program, so result automatically populate on each disc.

As to the decline, I have not got the club step, will be having a weight bench with decline option. I have not done a decline chest press, neither did I do chest fly as yet but I am looking forward to the burn! I did a decline push up and absolutely loved the burn feeling on my chest. I am loving the decline variation. I am desperate to gain strength on my chest even though I look strong! ::eek:

You can do your cardio (Both TTM and CF) every other day. I will be doing cardio.Actually I am thinking on doing one circuit per week added to other cardio without weight. I reckon you will be fine doing any cardio.

Please keep us posted.:)

Kind Regards,

Nathalie
 
Last edited:
mini-natty said:
Hi there :)

I use my cardio club step for a bench. I don't have slanted risers, but I do put it on a decline when Cathe does decline bench presses, chest flies, ect. I do this by placing 6 risers at the top of my step, and 2 risers at the bottom. Not perfect, but it works and stays put :). Cathe does this on 4DS too, before she had slanted risers for the step. Funny story, my daughter saw me putting it on a decline yesterday, and she asked "mommy, does the exercise lady tell you to do that???". She was questioning if it was right!! My daughter is only 3 1/2 :confused:.

Do you absolutely need a decline? You could get away with not having one, but the decline does work the chest muscles differently. Typically you would go lighter in weight #'s then you would for a flat bench press or flies. You'll see, it's definitely harder :eek:.

As for the 1RM, I never really did them, as there was not enough hours in my day :(. I do suggest you do them however, if time will allow :). I can't see anything wrong with your plan. Perhaps some other STS Cathletes can chime in and help :).

Good luck with STS! It's a wonderful program :)

Natasha

Thanks Natasha! Great advice as always!!
 
bonjonbart said:
I do the same as Natalie with the risers. It has been working for years, so I'm not going to change anything.

I did my 1RM this way:
I looked at the exercises I would be doing in the STS workout disc the day before each disc was scheduled. I then did the 1RM the day before the workout for those exercises only. It seemed to take away the overwhelming feeling of trying to schedule the 1RM. And it only took about 10 minutes each time initially. As I progressed through STS, there would be days when I'd only need to add one or two new exercises.

Aaahhh, interesting strategy. I may strongly consider doing it that way. Thx!!!

SC
 
nckfitheart2009 said:
I have not started STS yet but my 1 Rep is done.

When I received the user guide, I almost pulled my hair!:D Then I took a deep breath in! I wanted to do Gym Style (loved it a lot...) prior to embarking on STS. I did it as planned. Taking one rep proved to be easy. Few hours week end, It was done.

I suggest you do it from workout manager, each exercise is illustrated on Video clip. Just have your weight equipment around and do them. I did not do any warm up oops. I should have! Most of exercises repeat throughout the program, so result automatically populate on each disc.

As to the decline, I have not got the club step, will be having a weight bench with decline option. I have not done a decline chest press, neither did I do chest fly as yet but I am looking forward to the burn! I did a decline push up and absolutely loved the burn feeling on my chest. I am loving the decline variation. I am desperate to gain strength on my chest even though I look strong! ::eek:

You can do your cardio (Both TTM and CF) every other day. I will be doing cardio.Actually I am thinking on doing one circuit per week added to other cardio without weight. I reckon you will be fine doing any cardio.

Please keep us posted.:)

Kind Regards,

Nathalie

Thanks Nathalie!! Great input! Im hoping to get started on STS by next week. Planned to start this week but was on call over the weekend and didn't get a chance to read thru the users manual. (I'm all about prep ahead of time!)

I'll keep u posted!!
SC
 

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