Experts/educated crowd please help!

F

fitcat33

Active Member
Hello educated crowd!
I'm a 23 year old ex-firmie, new Cathe addict. I've been lurking on this website for months! This is a fabulous forum and Cathe's workouts are awesome! My question is help with suggesting a rotation (This will be my first).

Background: I consider myself at an advanced level of fitness, having worked out along side my advanced/very fit 53 year-old mom (she's a hottie!) for many years, along with soccer, dancing, and other workouts. A quick rundown on my situation: Started with the Firm several years ago, with excellent results - plateaued - continued upping weight amount (lifting pretty heavy), and literally got bulky (My mom referred to my rear as J-Lo). Stopped the Firm, did 99% cardio, and began to slim back out. Brought weight training back into my workouts. Found Cathe (FINALLY!)...On my entry-level advertising salary, used my extra $$ to order Cathe workouts...
IMAX2
C&W
PS (Both Upper Body only)
KPC

In addition to Cathe, I have a treadmill & elliptical trainer

Which brings me to now.. My goal is to cut bodyfat in order to see definition. I'm at a healthy weight with a 99% clean diet.

Please experts!! Help me design a rotation in order to achieve my goals. In order to avoid bulkiness in my lower body I'm resorting to mostly cardio for my legs. Was ordering the PS series a mistake if I'm looking to achieve more definition? Help!! Thanks in advance ladies!!
 
Hey FitCat,

Welcome to Cathe. I saw your post last night & since I'm mostly lurking lately, I didn't respond. But since no one else wants to take a stab at this, I'll come out of lurkdom.

The tapes you list don't lend much to getting a good well-rounded rotation. You need more total body or split (upper/lower body) weighted workouts.

Bulking up is something that might frighten you however with the appropriate mix of weights & cardio, you will find that the initial bulk quickly subsides & turns your body into a lean vision of beauty.

Without lifting weights, you will NEVER see definition. Cardio is a necessary evil but the weights are what provide the definition you are seeking.

The plateau you've reached is something that will only be overcome with a change in your fitness routine--i.e. adding more weights.

There is NOTHING wrong with J-Lo's butt. In fact, she will be the first to say that if you have to have a "big butt, you should have a great butt." Personally, I find her roundness something to be envied. It is HIGH & TIGHT!

Good luck.
 
kinda long suggestion....

First let me say welcome to the forum:) You are off to a good start and are lucky to have a Mom who sets an excellent example for you. I'm sure many people can give you some suggestions here.

In the past Cathe has recommended a rotation where interval training (IT) and circuit training (CT) are used to break past a plateau. Perhaps this might appeal to you. Cathe has suggested doing IT 2xper week and CT 2xper week for a few weeks and then swithching to IT 3xper week and CT once per week and then doing the reverse. You might try something like this:

WEEKS 1-3:
Mon:C&W
Tue:Interval treadmill workout 45" & cool down/stretch on your own
Wed:both PS upper body workouts, skip warm up of second one.
Thur:IMAX2
Fri: C&W
Sat: KPC

WEEKS 4-6
Mon:IMAX2
Tue: PS both upper body
Wed: Interval treadmill workout 45" as above
Thur:C&W
Fri: IMAX2
Sat: PS both upper body

WEEKS 7-9
Mon: C&W
Tue: KPC
Wed: PS BBA with 3-4" running segments on Treadmill between body parts
Thur: IMAX2
Fri: PS CST with 3-4 running segments on Treadmill between body parts
Sat: Elliptical trainer cardio workout

If any of this gets to be too much, ad in rest days where needed and extra stretch days.

Another suggestion would be to work on one body part per day and do 30" cardios each day.

For example:

Mon: IMAX2~ wu & intervals 1-5 and PS shoulders and shoulders of C&W
Tue: C&W~ step only and PS back & back and abs of C&W
Wed: MAX2~ wu & intervals 6-10 and PS chest and chest of C&W
Thu: treadmill~ light jog 30" and PS biceps and biceps of C&W, abs from C&W
Fri: KPC~ first 30-35" of workout and PS triceps and C&W triceps
Sat: 5" walking warm up on TM then 200 walking lunges, abs from KPC, long stretching workout (string together stretch from IMAX2, KPC,& C&W)



I don't know what your body type is, but I highly reocmmend PS legs and Abs to complete your PS collection. It is pretty hard to bulk up legs if you are a female, but some women are predisposed to that happening. However, I urge you not to eliminate lower body training. You can lean more towards endurance training if you do begin to bulk. ( PH, ME, L&G, LL) But getting the muscles of your legs evenly trained I think can help you with preventing injury in the long run. What I mean is you don't want to have an imbalance bewteen say your quads and hamstrings or medial and lateral musclesls. I believe doing so my lead to injuries:-(

Best of luck and let us know what you choose and what your progress is
:D :D
 
Thank you for replying!! I agree the tapes I have are hard to set up a "well-rounded rotation".

I'd love to do lower body weighted workouts, without having the bulk that typically occurs in my lower body. I'm fairly lean, 5'6, tending to carry my weight through the middle. My lower body, in the past was "chicken legs" with "flat" rear. Intense weight definetely changed that, causing none of my pants to fit. Now, my lower body looks great in a bathing suit, but somewhat bulky in clothes. I'm definetely proud of the defintion I do have.

I understand that weights will provide the defintion I'm seeking, however I'd like to achieve this MORE in the upper body, as I am currently satisfied with my lower body.

Sorry about the J-Lo comment! I admire her butt, don't get me wrong. It just doesn't fit on my body. She looks fabulous, but we just have very different body types.
 
RE: kinda long suggestion....

Thank you so much for your help!! I really appreciate it:)

This rotation looks great. Please critique what I started with last week;

M - C&W
T - Elliptical 40 minutes (Intervals 2min. hi/1 min moderate)
W - KPC
Th - C&W
F - Treadmill 40 minutes (between 5.5mph - 7mph)
Sat - IMAX2

Would you suggest splitting upper body? This would be a first for me, as I've never done a split, only circuit style for weights. Would doing so help achieve my goal?

And Yes, my lower body does tend to bulk. At this point, I'm at the size I'd like to be, just seeking a more defined look.

Thanks again for your suggestions, I'm printing this out!
 
RE: kinda long suggestion....

>Thank you so much for your help!! I really appreciate it:)
>
>This rotation looks great. Please critique what I started
>with last week;
>
>M - C&W
>T - Elliptical 40 minutes (Intervals 2min. hi/1 min moderate)
>W - KPC
>Th - C&W
>F - Treadmill 40 minutes (between 5.5mph - 7mph)
>Sat - IMAX2
>
>Would you suggest splitting upper body? This would be a first
>for me, as I've never done a split, only circuit style for
>weights. Would doing so help achieve my goal?
>And Yes, my lower body does tend to bulk. At this point, I'm
>at the size I'd like to be, just seeking a more defined look.

Here is a suggestion: You have 6 days of cardio and relatively little upper body training with the C&W. Try to tweak it to maybe one less day of cardio and add one day of upper body. How about sliding in IMAX2 where KPC is and replacing the last day with PS all upper body? 5 days of cardio is plenty. Any more and you could be defeating the goal of more definition in your upper body. ( think~ maratnon runner look)

M - C&W
T - Elliptical 40 minutes (Intervals 2min. hi/1 min moderate)
W - IMAX2
Th - C&W
F - Treadmill 40 minutes (between 5.5mph - 7mph)
Sat - PS all upper body

This is just MHO and only a suggestion.
Judy
AKA "Likes2bfit"
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http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung0903/sport/sport-smiley-003.gif

http://groups.msn.com/CatheAddicts/jafitmamalikes2bfitfamily.msnw?Page=1:-)
 
RE: kinda long suggestion....

Hi Fitcat, & welcome!
Goodness, I thought I was reading about myself...I think we have basically the same body. I'm so sorry.
THAT'S A JOKE!!!
You've had some great suggestions. I'd just like to throw S&H into the mix for consideration. Cathe herself said using it properly would break "any & all plateaus". I know it did SO much for me.
Enjoy your new rotation whatever you choose!
Ruth:)
 
RE: kinda long suggestion....

Thanks Ruth! Good to know someone else out there is in the same boat. So S&H would help with definition? I guess it's just hard for me to accept the fact that less cardio/more weights would assist with my definition goals, considering what's covering the definition is fat - you know?

I'll keep you posted on how this works out for me. Thanks again EVERYONE!
 
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