? For everyone doing STS by-the-book now...

SirenSongWoman

Cathlete
The day (or two) after doing the workouts are you sore? How would you rank the soreness you feel against other workouts? Do you feel challenged? I really need to have an idea what everyone else is experiencing. Thanks.
 
fatigue

Hi,

I'm doing the 6 month program and I just finished week 2. I have not been sore, but my muscles are definitely fatigued and I personally like that better than soreness. After much deliberation, I did do the 1rms, so I feel like I'm using the appropriate weights suggested by the program. I've been lifting consistently for years, so I don't know if that has anything to do with my particular results.

Tracy
 
I did my 1RMs, too, and am doing the 3-1/2 month rotation. I will complete Disc 6 today. I've experienced DOMS from each of the past five workouts. Nothing excruciating...just enough to let me know I'm affecting those muscle fibers. I'm finding that for the last one or two exercieses of each workout, the weights I'm using are a little less than the prescribed 60-65% of 1RM. I attribute this to the intensity of the previous exercises performed and the 30 sec. rest periods. Cathe's right. Thirty seconds fly by when it's all you've got for a rest between exercises.
 
Hi I also finished disc 6 yesterday, I have experienced immediate soreness from disc 6, and delayed from the others, but it's been a "respectable" soreness, not a "crazy, I can't walk" soreness.

I did the 1RM tests, knowing what weights to use helps to minimize pausing the dvd, and sometimes I look at them, like no way, that can't be right, then I do it anyway, and it was right! Challenging, but right.

I am doing the standard 3.5 month rotation.

And btw, I love it, I mean really love it. Something about the program is making me work harder and doing everything I can to make sure I get in all of my workouts 6 days a week. Twice so far, my head was killing me or work just wiped me out, but I came home and did it anyway, and felt so much better for doing so, generally in the past I would just wave it off as DOR day, but not with STS!
 
I am doing disc 6 today and I would say that I for the upper body workouts I have not been sore, but I definitely feel my muscles the next day. I have been a little sore after lower body. I would also agree with Dela, I am LOVING this program, and have not missed a single workout either! STS has motivated me to really stick with the schedule!
 
I was just going to post about soreness. I did the 1RMs and didn´t have any soreness for my UB, but did indeed feel like I was using the right weights. LB, though, WOW, did that yesterday and felt it almost right away, and today...still really sore! So, what does that mean, my UB is in better shape or what?
 
I am doing the 5 month rotation...Repeating Meso 1 and 2 and i will go through Meso 3 once.
I completed week 2 today with disk 3 and am feeling pretty tight right now even though I did the extended stretch.
Even though I did do my 1RM's, the first week I had a few excersizes that I felt I could either lower or up my weight , so I feel in doing it the second week I had a more effective workout because I knew exactly what weight was going to get me to failure. Essentially I felt I could push harder the second week.
So far the most soreness I have felt has been in my legs. And most of that was in the hams. All those deadlifts:eek:
I too feel that STS is pushing me to workout harder than I did before, even though I have always tried to do a pretty consistent weight workout, I feel that with STS I do not have to work to try to keep it interesting and challenging because Cathe took the guess work out of it for me. I know I will be using this for a while.
Sorry so long. Just excited to share.
Rachel
 
I've been doing Cathe and FF Rotations pretty consistantly for the past year (or more?..I forget).

I'm doing the Standard 3 and 1/2 Month STS, and completed Disc 6 yesterday.

I had done my 1RM's the week before I started. Mostly all upper body, only deadlifts for lower body.

I felt the first week I really pushed my weights , moreso than I have in the past. (Fitness Freak rotations pretty close though). I definitely worked until failure.

I find when I do the weights and feel like I've pushed the weight to my limit (as in failing last 1-2 reps), I feel DOMS in that muscle, lasting 2-3 days even! That's for upper body.

For lower body, Disc 3 got me good. New exercises really got in there, and I had MAJOR DOMS for 2 days, especially in my BUTT.

I did Disc 6 yesterday and have minor DOMS in my lower body today. Definitely not as bad....

What's your experience ?
 
Hi ~ I'm following "by the book," as you mentioned but not experiencing much soreness. I'm wondering if this has somehting to do with the learning curve in a workout. What I mean is, typically with other Cathe workouts, it's not until the second run through that I can really focus on the mind-muscle connection. The first time through I'm sort of getting used to pacing, set up ... stuff like that. For this reason, I'm seriously considering doing the six month rotation. I've finished the first three workouts and think I'd like to go through them again to really 'nail' them. I'll see how that works and then decide how to proceed.

One more thing: I've heard this mentioned and am having trouble with weight recommendations (according to 1RM tests) for legs (especially squats). While I respect the work Cathe and crew put into designing this workout to be followed precisely, I'm still a believer in instinctive/intuitive training to some extent. I've been working out for at least as many years as Cathe. The weighted vest has been a great tool but I'm already using it (40#), along with my heaviest dumbbells, in the endurance tapes. I'm not a Russian shot putter on steroids; blame it on Cathe and those exhaustive squat sets in other workouts like "leaner legs," etc. I'd gotten to a point where I was going pretty darn heavy in those. So now, rather than go super heavy in mesocycle one, I'm gonna go a little lighter and try adding my own reps to failure or immediately repeating an exercise (like squats, primarily). It is an endurance workout, so I will try to endure. As long as my form's good (primary concern of course), this will at least give me room to grow for the workouts that require heavier weights.

This is just an example of my approach. Don't know if it's helpful. I guess I'm just saying that I see the import and value in following STS as intended, but too, to quote Cathe, "This is your workout" and "listen to your body." I'm impressed by STS on many levels. I think it's great. Having said that, in some (not all) areas, I'm not feeling as challenged as I thought I would be. This could be due to my own errors or the aforementioned "learning curve." I'll look into these areas first. Then, if need be, I'll adjust and adapt accordingly, to make the workouts work for me. ~ Lori
 
I just finished disk 3 legs and am really sore. Of course I haven't done any leg work(other than rowing on my concept 2)for a year or so since doing P90X and my butt is really feeling it now on the 2nd day. I have not been doing any lunges or anything because I was worried they would bother my knees and I have a metatarsol problem on the ball of my left foot so bending it for the lunges really hurt on the sides. My knees are not any worse and I sure feel it in the hams and butt and some in the lower back. Upper body was sore in the tri's but just a general good workout feeling in the rest of the upper body. Also I am 64 and was worried I would not be able to do very well with the legs but made it through except for the wall squats with the dumbells. Just could not get low enough to pick up the dumbells.

Susandean
 
The day (or two) after doing the workouts are you sore? How would you rank the soreness you feel against other workouts? Do you feel challenged? I really need to have an idea what everyone else is experiencing. Thanks.

Yes, I am sore the day after doing STS, sometimes 2-3 days, but it's a good soreness. I guess I'd say it's more than most other workouts (except B&G) though that may be because I've been doing them so long. STS is definitely a challenge and I'm loving it :) I'm doing the 3 1/2 month rotation, with 3 days of cardio each week, taking Sundays off.
 
I just finished week 1 and am planning on doing the six month rotation.

I am not sore, but I feel like I challenged myself during the workouts. Doing the 1RM tests helped. After I did the workouts, my muscles felt fatigued throughout the remainder of the day, but they weren't sore. The only DOMS I have felt was a little bit in my forearms on the day after Disk 1 (must have been the reverse curls).

I've been lifting weights consistently for some time so I didn't really expect to experience significant DOMS. But I am pleased with the level of fatigue I am experiencing during the workouts and the feeling my muscles have shortly after the workouts.
 
Hi ~ I'm following "by the book," as you mentioned but not experiencing much soreness. I'm wondering if this has somehting to do with the learning curve in a workout. What I mean is, typically with other Cathe workouts, it's not until the second run through that I can really focus on the mind-muscle connection. The first time through I'm sort of getting used to pacing, set up ... stuff like that. For this reason, I'm seriously considering doing the six month rotation. I've finished the first three workouts and think I'd like to go through them again to really 'nail' them. I'll see how that works and then decide how to proceed.

I feel similary to poetree in that I need to do a workout a couple times before I can really start getting the most out of it. I've done Discs 1-3 twice each now, and the second time was definitely more productive. It looks to me like the upcoming discs have a lot of the same exercises, which will make it easier to get past that "first time learning curve."
 
Susandean
You are a real inspiration. 64 I think you said you were and still hanging with Cathe:)
I think you are only as old as you feel. And you sound like a 30 year old to me.;)
Rachel
 
My mind says 30 but the body is starting to say 64.

I can relate to that, SusanDean, except my body says 67. :D

I am doing the 3 1/2 month rotation and have finished the first six disks. I did the 1RMS for most of the exercises. I have had slight DOMs.

SusanDean, I am also a P90X grad, 3 times. I did a lot of subbing though for its cardio, core and yoga. With the X, my first attempt at negative pullups resulted in major DOMS.

Lunges can be problematic for me, also. I have osteoarthritis in my big toe which bothers me sometimes while doing them. The plus side to that is it helps my form, as it makes me put less weight on my rear leg during lunges.

For wall squats, I used yoga blocks to set my weights on rather than trying to pick them up from the floor.

poetree_n_motion, last summer I did a faux STS-like rotation. I have a squat rack but could only go as high as 85% 1RM for squats. Attempting to go a little higher I could tell my lower back didn't feel right and kept at the lower weight load. I realized I lacked lower back strength. The supermans and deadlifts Cathe has included in STS should help me with that.
 
I'm starting week 3 on Monday. I'm not very sore, but I hate being sore and am doing everything I can to prevent it. Such as:

Doing the extended stretch after each workout

Not pushing myself has hard as I could {but I'm pushing harder each workout since I'm not getting as sore as I expected to be}

Taking a hot bath either right after workout or later in the day.

Stretching throughout the day.

HTH.
 
Hi Lakeside,

Glad to see someone else my age doing this. I also have the same big toe problem, must be a 60's thing. Yeh for you doing the X 3 times!!. I also had to modify the yoga and pullups in the X. I think I will be doing the longer STS rotation also. I just did my second time with disk one and am still pretty weak with the pushups even dropping to my knees. So I am thinking I might just repeat the first week untill I can feel myself getting stronger with the pushups even if it takes 3 or 4 weeks. I got a perfect pull up and put a heavy band on it and it really springs you up for an assist. Makes me feel good to do 7 so far. I hated having to drag a chair out to use my leg for an assist.

Susandean
 
Hi Everyone,
I am still in week one and have completed disc 1 and 3 (I wanted to start with legs because of the order I finished from a previous rotation) I was moderately sore in the quads, hips and hams from disc 3 - surprisingly since it didn't seem as hard - but fun and the time flew by. Disc 1 was hard (variety of new push-ups especially the staggered ones) and my arms felt nice and pumped during the workout. It also flew by. I think I needed to go heavier on some exercises - so I stopped rewound and chose a heavier weight. I am slightly sore a day later. I will push harder for week 2 - it's true that you tend to hold back when something is new - until familiar with the pace and intensity. Anyway - I really love STS and can't wait for disc 2! The workouts are FUN and really motivating. I find that I want to get the cardio days over with so I can back to STS. I might sneak in a plyo legs workout for second leg blast (trouble area) because I have been really looking forward to those the most. Sorry this is long too - but it is so fun to share with everyone.
 

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