Finished with Phase 1 of the 12-week rotation

[Kellyro77]

... or just about. My rotation is a little "off" because I used Wednesday as my start date (Monday in the rotation chart). I have technically 3 more workouts left - foam rolling, Super Sets, and then chair yoga. However, Sunday starts my scheduled weeklong active recovery week where I take it realllllly easy (meaning light walks and maybe some light stretching), and I'm telling you, after doing Giant Sets today, I'm am SO glad I've got a rest week coming. I was wiped out. However, I'm excited to see how strong I'm feeling when I start back up and start getting into Phase 2 with the all upper / all lower workouts. I already feel a lot stronger than I did three weeks ago.

How's everyone else doing in their rotations?

 

[Debinmi]

Gosh interesting that you thought to include a recovery week in your rotation ala STS1.0. In STS1.0 I found myself truly re-energized after the recovery weeks. I've been trying to "listen" to my body with STS2.0, and added in an extra recovery day at the end of last week instead of the last weight day as my shoulders were quite sore after SuperSets for a little longer than usual. This week they were fine after it.... go figure.

 

[Kellyro77]

I've not done STS 1 before so I'm not sure how her rest days/weeks worked with that. Sounds like they were between phases? I started implementing a scheduled rest week when I was doing the 3-month XTrain rotation last year. I did a lot of reading on rest weeks and decided to take rest weeks every 6, 7, and 8 weeks, then back down to 7, and 6 weeks, then repeat. Was just luck that this particular rest week period landed just after my 3-week Phase 1 was coming to a close.

I love my rest weeks, though, because I definitely come back feeling really energized and ready. The key is to not make a rest week turn into a rest month!

 

[nickisteen]

... or just about. My rotation is a little "off" because I used Wednesday as my start date (Monday in the rotation chart). I have technically 3 more workouts left - foam rolling, Super Sets, and then chair yoga. However, Sunday starts my scheduled weeklong active recovery week where I take it realllllly easy (meaning light walks and maybe some light stretching), and I'm telling you, after doing Giant Sets today, I'm am SO glad I've got a rest week coming. I was wiped out. However, I'm excited to see how strong I'm feeling when I start back up and start getting into Phase 2 with the all upper / all lower workouts. I already feel a lot stronger than I did three weeks ago.

How's everyone else doing in their rotations?

I have about 6 more weeks to go in my 12 week rotation.

Gosh interesting that you thought to include a recovery week in your rotation ala STS1.0. In STS1.0 I found myself truly re-energized after the recovery weeks. I've been trying to "listen" to my body with STS2.0, and added in an extra recovery day at the end of last week instead of the last weight day as my shoulders were quite sore after SuperSets for a little longer than usual. This week they were fine after it.... go figure.

I try to take one day a week and totally rest - maybe some walking but nothing else. It helps!!

 

[Pam61]

I just started my 4th week of the 12 week rotation. It will be nice to have an Upper/Lower Body focus, for a change. I loved Lower Body #1 & expect to like Lower Body #2, as well. Today I didn't feel as wiped out with Lower Body, as opposed to three weeks of Total Body workouts that had more of a cardio effect. I have been getting in lots of stretch, mobility, etc. and it's made all the difference in feeling ready for the upcoming week of workouts. Love all that I've done of the workouts, so far.

 

[Nanbo]

Ending the 3rd week of the 12 week rotation today with Chair Yoga. My DH and I are doing this together and are thinking of doing another week of Total Body while we plan ahead for the Upper/Lower split workouts. We have to share the equipment and I can't figure out how to navigate these next workouts. We have very little space to work with. Looks like Cathe has lots of equipment options so I'm sure we'll come up with a good plan. The past 3 weeks have been breathtaking, for sure!

 

[ashaw]

I've done at least 4 rotations of the original STS and I remember doing an active recovery week between each phase. I remember Cathe mentioning things like walking, gentle yoga, recreational tennis, etc. Because I still had my elliptical at the time (wish I'd never sold it!), I would do very slow and easy elliptical workouts. When STS 2.0 first came out, one of the things I remembered thinking was about active recovery weeks, but I guess that wasn't included because there's so much recovery already built into the program. But, I'm a huge proponent of listening to our bodies and if we need a recovery day(s) or week, do it! I workout 6 days week and Sunday is a total off day, with the exception of walking my dog twice a day. Each walk is probably 15-20 minutes depending on if I stop and talk to neighbors.

I'm on week #2 of STS 2.0, I decided to stop the tank top rotation because I was just dying to jump into all these new workouts. I'm loving it. These total body workouts are serious weight training. And, someone said they were wiped out after Giant Sets. I can't agree more. That one is tough. I did cardio this morning, but it was a 40 minute Turbo Jam workout. I still love Turbo Jam and Turbo Fire for cardio. Turbo Jam is more dancy and fun where Turbo Fire is more intense cardio. I'm also planning to do a Hip Hop Abs 30 minute cardio this week. I love cardio, I have to include some in my rotation. But I'm following Cathe's advice of not doing anything more than 30-40 minutes long. These total body workouts have a cardio factor all their own.

As far as recovery is concerned, I'm making a more conscious effort to spend more time stretching, foam rolling or if I have extra time, doing one of Cathe's stretch DVDs. I love the no equipment one from Total Body Stretching. I also have Stretch Max, Yoga Max and Yoga Relax that I can throw in on a dedicated recovery day. I was introduced to the foam roller in 2012 when I went to Airrosti physical therapy for a neck/shoulder injury. They showed me how to foam roll for my specific area, but they also gave me a handout, which I can't find for the life of me, that showed total body foam rolling exercises. I pretty much have all of it memorized and try to foam roll after every workout.