Recommendations for S&H Routine?

[syzygy314]

Here are my thoughts:

I was always told I should work each major muscle group at least twice a week. I just got the S&H dvd and was thinking of rotating through the 3 workouts for six days with a 30 min cardio at the beginning.

Looking for your input - too much? Should I only do it three days a week and keep a 1 hour cardio in between or am I okay running through it twice a week?

Thanks for your input and expertise!

Tricia

 

[jloewe]

Here are my thoughts:

I was always told I should work each major muscle group at least twice a week. I just got the S&H dvd and was thinking of rotating through the 3 workouts for six days with a 30 min cardio at the beginning.

Looking for your input - too much? Should I only do it three days a week and keep a 1 hour cardio in between or am I okay running through it twice a week?

Thanks for your input and expertise!

Tricia

You can do it twice a week..just make sure you don't hit the same muscle group on back to back days, S & H is an awesome series, Cathe's form pointers are great, and this is the series that really made me fall in love with weight training.

Because it is an intense series, I would recommend following Cathe's advice and using this series in a shorter rotation cycle...maybe 3 weeks, max.

Enjoy!

 

[doodles-n-divas]

I love the SH dvds....great workouts!! In the past, I have seen good results with these dvds just doing each muscle group once a week with cardio and yoga thrown in on my days off from weights. It does take a lot of brain power to do these workouts....but I like the slowness since I can really feel all the muscle fibers. I have also used PUB and PLB every other week to break up the SH routine. That rotation worked well for me, too. I personally think that trying to get two days of each muscle group with the SH dvd set is too much...it takes a lot of concentration and your muscles need the time in between to repair and grow.

Good luck and happy lifting!

 

[Miss Lee]

I love the SH dvds....great workouts!! In the past, I have seen good results with these dvds just doing each muscle group once a week with cardio and yoga thrown in on my days off from weights. It does take a lot of brain power to do these workouts....but I like the slowness since I can really feel all the muscle fibers. I have also used PUB and PLB every other week to break up the SH routine. That rotation worked well for me, too. I personally think that trying to get two days of each muscle group with the SH dvd set is too much...it takes a lot of concentration and your muscles need the time in between to repair and grow.

Good luck and happy lifting!

I agree! S&H is pretty intense and I think once through is really enough. If you really want to hit every muscle group again how about doing one of the full body workouts like Supersets or Push Pull? I LOVE those workouts -- they have a high fun factor for me, they're a bit shorter that most other Cathe workouts, and a little less taxing than MM or ME. Another option for a good full body workout would be kettlebells. I love the Kettlebell Way DVD's!

 

[hriacobacci]

I always read the same thing so I was really skeptical about STS (only working each muscle group once a week) and it took every ounce of willpower I had in Meso 1 to not do extra weights. It's really working though and I have way more definition now than when was doing three days a week. Maybe it's just the muscle confusion thing? I have noticed in some of her rotations that she posts (which I've not tried yet) that she only does a muscle group twice a week.

Maybe it's about rep patterns, speeds, amount of weight that all factor in more than just saying 3 times a week? I'd be really curious to hear an expert opinion. Might save me for working harder rather than smarter.

Heather

Here are my thoughts:

I was always told I should work each major muscle group at least twice a week. I just got the S&H dvd and was thinking of rotating through the 3 workouts for six days with a 30 min cardio at the beginning.

Looking for your input - too much? Should I only do it three days a week and keep a 1 hour cardio in between or am I okay running through it twice a week?

Thanks for your input and expertise!

Tricia

 

[syzygy314]

Ladies - Thanks for all of your input! I think I'm going to start out with S&H M,W,F and my Couch to 5K on T, Th, Sat for three weeks and see what happens! I'll change it up after that for a couple of weeks and see where I'm at then. That should tell me whether I could handle or even need to do S&H twice through each week!

Thanks again!

 

[kathryn]

I wouldn't recommend doing these two times a week.
If you put your all into them, once a week should be enough.
One exception, perhaps, might be lower body. You might find that working lower body 2x/week works better for you. Just throw in a different lower-body workout during the week, something like:
day 1: lower body
day 2; upper body 1
day 3: cardio
day 4: lower body
day 5: upper body 2
day 6: cardio
day 7: off/stretch

 

[Lynn M.]

Hi-

I am in 100% agreement w/ Kathryn's rotation suggestion for you... S & H, if done w/complete focus is totally enough work for your muscles, particularly on the upper body.

I think if you are doing pretty intense cardio like running or plyo style work, you don't need another leg workout that week. If you are staying lower intensity, impact then you might want to consider adding a lighter leg workout in the week. I don't care much for the lower body workout in S & H..it isn't quite enough for me if I'm not doing intense lower body cardio. But, that's me and my lower body is my perpetual challenge for keeping fit.

Have fun, Lynn