Good morning!
Jennifer - That's FANTASTIC that you got through those ski abs!! Those are tough, tough, tough! I hope you did the Happy Dance when you were done! How would I compare STS to P90X? Hmmm. STS is more thoroughly developed, and the constant change to the exercises really does stimulate change and development better than P90X's approach. It's easy to hit a plateau with P90X because you do the exact same workouts for the 12 weeks, and they didn't use the 1RM system. Encouraging people to lift a percentage of their 1 rep max was the key that made STS work, IMO. I'm sure that I, for one, would not have picked the weight loads I did, if not for the 1RM testing. Also, STS takes you through 3 different kinds of lifting, in a periodization process that's been the staple of weight training for decades. P90X gives you the option of picking one kind of lifting, and sticking with it throughout the program. It's really a hypertrophy-stage focused program. STS takes you through all the phases of muscle development: endurance, hypertrophy, and strength. What I appreciated about STS was that I could choose my own cardio: what and how much to do. P90X gave you 3 cardio workouts and had you repeat them for the whole 12 weeks. I got very bored, very quickly. The first round I did exactly as they told us to. The second round I inserted some of my other cardios. The third round I only did the upper body workouts, and totally subbed my other cardios and yogas. I also did it as STS was designed: endurance reps for the first month, hypertrophy reps for the second month, and strength reps for the third month. I liked that approach the best. I think, overall, STS is a better system, but is much more complicated than P90X. The amount of equipment needed for STS is quite large, compared to P90X. And calculating your weight loads for each and every workout can be an extra step that people might not want to take. Also, Tony never uses a barbell, for ANYTHING. Some people like that; they prefer only dumbbells. Tony's the guy for that. Many people find the lower body/leg work in P90X to be fairly light, especially compared to Cathe. I added in a 2nd leg day, using a Cathe workout. But in the original P90X program there actually is tons of leg work, it's just disguised. The PlyoX routine and YogaX routine do fantastic stuff for the legs. If you're doing the rotation as designed, you do get a lot of lower body. Tony is very motivating, IMO, but not everyone agrees. That's a personal call. He's goofy, and he looks like he's having a ball. Cathe's just as motivating, but in a less goofy way.
I've got to get going. If there's anything more specific you want to know about either program, just let me know.
There's no Insanity for me today. I'm off to the Y in 30mins to instruct and aquafit class, immediately followed by a spin class. That'll be enough for me today. I'll pick up the Insanity rotation tomorrow, with PCC, and STS Disc 16 Chest. My back is pleasantly sore from STS Disc 15 Back yesterday. It's allllllll good.
Have a great day!
Sandra
