STS 1RM Testing

[mspina]

I know I am late to the party, but I'm finally going to start an STS rotation. Which means 1RM testing!!!! I'm a little overwhelmed with how to approach this - I'll go zip over to the STS forum to see if there are suggestions over there as well, but I wanted to see what others did to get through it.

I was thinking about starting with Disc 1 and doing all the 1RM suggested exercises, then moving to Disc 2, etc. I assume that I can get through more than 1 disc per session, as I'll just go for broke for one set then move on. Can I possibly get through the first week of Meso 1 in a single session? Or is that nuts???? Is there a better way to approach this?

Thanks for any and all suggestions here!!!

 

[upnorthchick]

Hi mspina! I'm definitely NOT an expert on the 1RM testing but I found it was less overwhelming for me to test about one body part per day. Using the STS Guidebook as my guide, I would highlight/mark each "back, tricep, bicep, etc." exercise and test for it. I would then record, in the guidebook, what weight I used and how many reps I completed for that exercise. After finishing the body part I was testing, I would then enter those numbers into the STS calculator. Some body parts took a day + to test but I generally spent about 30 min total per day with the testing.

This worked for me. When I was doing STS I found the testing to be spot-on 98% of the time

Good luck with STS....you're going to love it!!

 

[Dela]

Haven't seen one of these in a while! There are a lot of suggestions on the STS board, just go back to the dates closer to the release of STS.

Also, it should be in a sticky, look for the PDF that contains all the exercises, and rates them with 1 to 4 stars. Focus on the 3 and 4 star exercises and you get most of what you need. I ended up doing almost all of them, but I pre-ordered and had time to stretch it out over a couple of months.

One thing I liked to do, was just make a workout out of the tests and do as many in one session as possible, make sure to take enough rest time and don't do 2 in a row that use similar muscles. Then I would tack on a few before I did my regular workouts.

Have fun! STS is great!

 

[janie1234]

I know I am late to the party, but I'm finally going to start an STS rotation. Which means 1RM testing!!!! I'm a little overwhelmed with how to approach this - I'll go zip over to the STS forum to see if there are suggestions over there as well, but I wanted to see what others did to get through it.

I was thinking about starting with Disc 1 and doing all the 1RM suggested exercises, then moving to Disc 2, etc. I assume that I can get through more than 1 disc per session, as I'll just go for broke for one set then move on. Can I possibly get through the first week of Meso 1 in a single session? Or is that nuts???? Is there a better way to approach this?

Thanks for any and all suggestions here!!!

Hi Mspina!! How are you? When I did STS, . . .I actually watched the discs first then guessed as to the weight that Cathe, and Jai were using. I wrote down the exercise and lbs in a notebook, . . set up my workout zone and did the workout. If I felt it was to easy or to hard I made notes in my notebook. The 1RM was just way to hard for me to figure out, . . and I figured that since I have been doing Cathe workouts and I usually lift what Cathe, Jai, Lorraine, Brenda, and Cedi lift I could do what they were doing. It did not always work. Cathe, Lorraine, and Jai are pretty hard core but for the most part it did.
I also only have the first STS Meso one. I did that 3 days a week and ran or did cardio 2 days a week. I don't know if this makes sense at all but I hope you have fun doing the workouts.

 

[Worknprogress]

You are going to find lots of info on doing a search. I started the program months after everyone else so I was late to the party as well!

There are great suggestions from a lot of people. I read through a bunch and then picked what I thought would work for me.

The only suggestion I have for you is to not rush through. It is such a great program but it is a 3-month commitment (worth every minute!) that you really want to take the time to have your 1 RM's as accurate as possible.

I hope you enjoy the program as much as I did!

 

[mspina]

Thanks everyone!!!!! This has been really helpful. I was initially thinking that I didn't need to do the 1RM, I have done P90X a bunch of times, know what I can lift, etc. But I think that's naive - I'm actually excited about going through and doing this correctly. I was hoping to whip these off lickity split so I can start as SOON as I get the system, but I don't think that's all that realistic either (I'm training for a half marathon PR - so lots of hard running on the schedule right now). But I'll be sure that I'm ready to go as soon as my race is over (end of October - plenty of time to get the 1RM testing done properly).

I'm also eyeing up the lifting tower thing for the heavy barbell chest work...........

 

[llp]

Thanks everyone!!!!! This has been really helpful. I was initially thinking that I didn't need to do the 1RM, I have done P90X a bunch of times, know what I can lift, etc. But I think that's naive - I'm actually excited about going through and doing this correctly. I was hoping to whip these off lickity split so I can start as SOON as I get the system, but I don't think that's all that realistic either (I'm training for a half marathon PR - so lots of hard running on the schedule right now). But I'll be sure that I'm ready to go as soon as my race is over (end of October - plenty of time to get the 1RM testing done properly).

I'm also eyeing up the lifting tower thing for the heavy barbell chest work...........

I did my 1RM's quite a long time ago, where the workout manager wasn't quite set up, and there were lots of bugs. At that time, I don't remember what order I did things in, but, it was pretty hard to do online, because the pictures were not there, and I couldn't figure out how to do the exercise with no type of description!

I just took a look (right now)at the 1RM page in the Workout Manager, and it looks great for doing this online, if you have your computer nearby. This is what I'd do nowadays if I were starting with what I know now...

• Go to Workout manager from the forums: Click on Workout Manager, Click on One Rep Max. The 1RM Calculating page will come up.
• Under the 1RM Calculator, Step #1, you'll have a choice of Categories to test(All Exercises, Equipment, Muscle Group, STS)--I'd choose STS because then you won't test too many un-needed exercise that may be listed. I am not really sure there are non-STS exercises there, but, I wouldn't take the chance if I wanted to save time.
• Under the Category, you will see the Sub-Category and it will have you choose a Disk. Choose Disk 1.
• Under the Step 2 heading you can decide how to list the exercises, either by exercise name or by exercise number--->click on your choice.
• Click on "Choose from List"; from this pull-down menu, click on the first exercise in red on the list. There will be a video clip demo-ing the exercise-that is the coolest thing, then you know exactly how to perform the exercise!
• Pick up the heaviest weight you can perform the exercise in about 10 reps(I think those are the original instructions) and perform the exercise.
• In Step #3, just enter your numbers (weight and reps) and your 1RM will be calculated then update on the chart on the right side.

Now, just continue with the next exercise in Disk 1. When you are done with disk 1, go to Disk 2 and so on until all your Disks are completed.

Hope this helps, and hope you have fun!
Also, good luck with STS! I'm on my 3rd time through now! You'll find you may even keep changing your 1RMs as you go through each time(you get a little stronger).