Redoing Meso 1

beadbabe

Cathlete
I'm on the last two workouts of meso 1 and have decided to redo the entire meso since my 1rm are still kind of wonky,has anyone else decided to do this? I'm regretting not doing a 6 1/2 rotation.
 
I am also regretting not doing a 6 month rotation. Because of my travel schedule, I have been cramming each mesocycle into 3.5 weeks. Had I known what was coming, I would have just redone M1 when I finished it, but instead, I moved ahead. So now, I have 3 days left in M2, then the rest of next week is my rest week (while I'm gone), and then my plan is to do M3 when I get back. But I liked the changes I saw in my body more in M1. So I think when I complete the whole series, after a rest week and maybe a few cardio/circuit days, I will start the 6-month rotation (or at least the 5 month one).
 
Is there anyplace where the two rotations are described?

Sure, go to your wm and click on the "rotations" button. On step 1 click on "download a rotation" then "next". Step 2 click on "rotation by Cathe" then "next". Step 3 click on "sts strength rotation 6 1/2 months" then "next". You can then check out the rotation week by week. In the 6 1/2 month rotion you just repeat each week,so you do week 1 than repeat week 1 the next week and so on.
 
I am also regretting not doing a 6 month rotation. Because of my travel schedule, I have been cramming each mesocycle into 3.5 weeks. Had I known what was coming, I would have just redone M1 when I finished it, but instead, I moved ahead. So now, I have 3 days left in M2, then the rest of next week is my rest week (while I'm gone), and then my plan is to do M3 when I get back. But I liked the changes I saw in my body more in M1. So I think when I complete the whole series, after a rest week and maybe a few cardio/circuit days, I will start the 6-month rotation (or at least the 5 month one).

I,m glad I decided to redo, I just finished disc 2 week 1 and it made a big difference since I wasn't fussing with finding the right weight.
 
Yup, I'm redoing Meso 1. Since I am very overweight and have knee issues I planned on doing another rotation of it. Then on Meso 2 I might start the 6 month type of rotation where you do each week twice. I'm just playing it by ear. I never did any 1rm tests, don't preview the dvd's or print out the workout cards. I have weight trained before so I can pick what weight that I think I can handle fairly well.
 
Yup, I'm redoing Meso 1. Since I am very overweight and have knee issues I planned on doing another rotation of it. Then on Meso 2 I might start the 6 month type of rotation where you do each week twice. I'm just playing it by ear. I never did any 1rm tests, don't preview the dvd's or print out the workout cards. I have weight trained before so I can pick what weight that I think I can handle fairly well.

For what it's worth, I also thought I would skip the 1RM tests and just pick up the weight I thought I could handle (been doing Cathe WO's for 5 years). After reading so many posts about the tests, I finally did some of them (only those with 4 or 5 stars in the guide) and it turned out that I was choosing weights that were too light. For example, I thought for endurance, for chest presses, 35# BB sounded about right -- that's what I was using for some of the other WO's. Turns out for M1, I needed to be lifting more like 50#s, and now in M2, I'm up to 55 and 60. I never would have even attempted doing those before, and I found out, from the 1RM tests, that I actually could handle that much weight. So you might think about doing a few of the tests just to make sure you are accurately gauging your ability.

Good luck!
 
You are so very right Melclear! The 1RM testing makes a world of difference.


For what it's worth, I also thought I would skip the 1RM tests and just pick up the weight I thought I could handle (been doing Cathe WO's for 5 years). After reading so many posts about the tests, I finally did some of them (only those with 4 or 5 stars in the guide) and it turned out that I was choosing weights that were too light. For example, I thought for endurance, for chest presses, 35# BB sounded about right -- that's what I was using for some of the other WO's. Turns out for M1, I needed to be lifting more like 50#s, and now in M2, I'm up to 55 and 60. I never would have even attempted doing those before, and I found out, from the 1RM tests, that I actually could handle that much weight. So you might think about doing a few of the tests just to make sure you are accurately gauging your ability.

Good luck!
 
For what it's worth, I also thought I would skip the 1RM tests and just pick up the weight I thought I could handle (been doing Cathe WO's for 5 years). After reading so many posts about the tests, I finally did some of them (only those with 4 or 5 stars in the guide) and it turned out that I was choosing weights that were too light. For example, I thought for endurance, for chest presses, 35# BB sounded about right -- that's what I was using for some of the other WO's. Turns out for M1, I needed to be lifting more like 50#s, and now in M2, I'm up to 55 and 60. I never would have even attempted doing those before, and I found out, from the 1RM tests, that I actually could handle that much weight. So you might think about doing a few of the tests just to make sure you are accurately gauging your ability.

Good luck!

You got me worrying that I was not doing it right so I did a couple 1rm's and I have been spot on. Very Kewl. I usually know that if I'm not saying bad words or making loud noises at the end of a set that I've not gotten the right weight.
 
I'm on the last two workouts of meso 1 and have decided to redo the entire meso since my 1rm are still kind of wonky,has anyone else decided to do this? I'm regretting not doing a 6 1/2 rotation.

I have just come to the same conclusion. I will finish up meso 1 on Tuesday. I am going to take my week off from lifting, then the following week I will devote to redoing my 1 RM and then begin Meso 1 again. I think I will do the 3 1/2 month rotation. I am dying to get to Meso 2 and 3.

I didn't have heavy enough weights when I was doing my 1 RM so I didn't do all of them before starting STS and I am really regretting it. Hence my starting over.

I know people say that they have "been lifting for a long time and know the weight they can lift" but I just don't believe it. I believe completely in the 1 RM and am so impressed that Cathe and co. came up with this - took the time to make it so easy for us to test ourselves and create our workout cards for each disk. I am a scientist and analytical by nature so I love the quantitativeness of all of this. I really feel like I am getting the most out of my workout.
 
Some of my 1RMs have been too heavy

I was surprised my how much I could lift while doing my 1RM upper body testing. Then I was sore for several days.

Last night I started STS Disc 1 and found the wt suggestions for Chest Flys way to heavy for the number of exercises we did.

Has anyone else had this problem? You can do the weight for 1 exercise, but find it to heavy for multiple exercises? I also had this problem with biceps. It suggested 10, which I did. Next exercise I had to drop to 8 and couldn't complete number of reps. Next set I had to drop to 5 which was not heavy enough - need a 6.5!
 
I did the same thing and was glad to find that I was guessing right too! I usually do reach failure by the end of the workout and love the fact that this endurance portion didn't rely on a gazillion reps like most endurance workouts but just tailored it with a rep percentage and shorter rest periods. I used to shy away from Cathe's endurance routine because I couldn't pull them off. STS rocks Cathe!!!!

By the way, my arms look much better and I'm only in week 3...haven't even done much cardio. Make more workouts!!!
 
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I entirely agree with you - the 1RM approach is truly what is making this program work for me. I love having a target that's predicted based on my personal limits! My 1RMs were a real eye-opener. Also, there's something psychologically satisfying about knowing that I "should" be able to lift extremely heavy weights that it helps me work even harder.

Hopefully Shock Cardio will also have a goal-setting phase; CardioCoach's use of the HR zones has also helped me push my limits, but who knows what Cathe might come up with :eek:

The six month program is also helpful; it's letting me adjust my weights after I learn how to do each set of exercises.
 

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