Strength gains w/ GS

[goldenrun358]

Have any of you recently done a rotation with the GS's? I just finished one and I have to say that I was not able to increase my weights a whole lot. In fact, I'm kinda frustrated because the push-ups, the dreaded drop sets, seem harder now that when I started four weeks ago. I was really trying to up weight on the chest work, but had to drop reps and was never able to eek out a few extra. I was stuck with 25lbs on presses and only 8 reps. I thought that by the end of the four weeks I would have been doing at least 10 reps.

So, what were your results with GS's? Any thoughts on why these seemed harder in the end than in the beginning? Today, I just felt totally weak and pathetic! Not the powerful WO I was hoping to enjoy!

What do you guys (ladies) think?

 

[pebblesus]

You know, I thought I was ODD for having this same problem. Not with the same series necessarily, but I have also found that sometimes I am weaker that I was at times in the past.. Good to know that Im not the only one
Id love to hear anything that anyone has to say about that. I really want to up my weights in several areas and am having a helluva time.
I guess we must be missing a boat somewheres..

 

[goldenrun358]

Seriously! Why is it so hard? There is this woman at the gym who is upping weight every week--still with good form. I don't know how she does it. A lot of body parts feel like they have stagnated. And I DO NOT want to be stagnated!

 

[LeanneM]

I'm in my third week of a GS rotation, and I've found the same thing to be true!

The one series where I feel like I always make strength gains is when I'm using S&H; even though my gains are small, I can usually add at least one half-pound Pace weight to my dumbbells each week. With GS, it seems impossible to increase my weights, even though I know it's not strictly an endurance workout!

Hmmm . . . anyone else have any ideas as to what that might be?

 

[goldenrun358]

I wonder if it has anything to do with the length of the rest? Sometimes this seems too dang-gone short! I'm begging for longer!

 

[Ginny V]

I've just come off of a four week GS rotation and noticed the same thing.

Now I'm moving back into a rotaion of PUB/PLB on 2 consecutive days, followed by one day of rest, then the Slow and Heavy 3-day split, with a one day chaser of HIIT on the elliptical. We'll see what that does for me. I've noticed before when doing a similar rotation that the GS doesn't increase my strength (for GS workouts), but when I transition into the Pyramids, I'm stronger than the last time I did them.

I'm so much stronger than I was a year ago (when I could hardly make it through a Cathe warmup - no exaggeration), and I wonder if it's just that once you hit a certain strength level your gains will slow down...sort of a "strength plateau" like a weight loss plateau when dieting. Imagine if Cathe continued to make rapid strength gains...we'd all be trying to find a deal on mini coopers for our presses

Really though, I think it's a matter of "seasoning" your muscle. The strength may come more slowly, but the quality of your muscle keeps increasing.

 

[happy mom of 3]

I just finished Fitness Freak's 4 week "Muscle Building and Staying Lean Rotation" that used 1st week GS,2nd week Pyramid,3rd week S&H,then 4th week GS again. By the fourth week, I was a lot stronger doing GS the second time around. Especially in the biceps and chest. It was a really good rotation. I wanted to see how I would do with a muscle endurance w/o, so I tried Jari Love's "Get Ripped and Chiseled" the following week and definitely made strength gains in all aspects. I've never done a whole rotation with GS, so don't know what the results would be.

 

[NatalieS]

Wow. I just decided to return my PUB/PLB and get Gym Style DVDs. Should I reconsider? I am interested in strength, toning and endurance. I am currently on a Muscle Max rotation.

 

[beth6395]

>I just finished Fitness Freak's 4 week "Muscle Building and
>Staying Lean Rotation" that used 1st week GS,2nd week
>Pyramid,3rd week S&H,then 4th week GS again. By the fourth
>week, I was a lot stronger doing GS the second time around.
>Especially in the biceps and chest. It was a really good
>rotation. I wanted to see how I would do with a muscle
>endurance w/o, so I tried Jari Love's "Get Ripped and
>Chiseled" the following week and definitely made strength
>gains in all aspects. I've never done a whole rotation with
>GS, so don't know what the results would be.


I just finished the Muscle Building rotation and I LOVED it and had amzing strength gains I now am doing Cathe's Oct 07 Back to Heavy Rotation and I also started eating clean I finished Day 5 with my 50 minute run so far I have kept with my weight from previous rotation so I can not say yet but I did buy 20 lb dumbells today.