STS CHECK IN DISC 2

I'm typing away here, hoping that Cathe's going through a lot of discomfort right now ;).

I did Disc 1 on Monday, and Disc 2 today. I also did No Equipment abs on Monday, and the Weights & Plates abs today. Both workouts left me feeling *very* well worked, especially for so-called "endurance" workouts LOL! I'm beginning to wonder if someone slipped me some steroids during my 1RM testing week, because this 60% stuff is feeling pretty hard!

Cathe, if I have a hard time finishing the 15 reps (but still manage to do it, with decent form), am I *really* going to be able to increase the weight next week, AND still do the 15 reps? Or next week, if my heavier weight takes me to failure at, say, rep #12, do I still consider that a success? Or should I be lowering my weights if I'm getting so tuckered out before 15 reps?

This is the first time I've done a back/front split and I'm finding the post-workout feeling to be a bit unusual. I guess I've gotten used to my push/pull muscle groups, or upper/lower groups, being tired together! Thanks for offering a whole new way to feel uncomfortable, Cathe!

Overall I found the workout very challenging. Good things can only come of this! My lats are already sore, and I think my triceps are tired, but the back fatigue is dominating at the moment. I have a very hard time isolating and fatiguing my back to this level. Excellent stuff!

For my Tuesday cardio I did LIC cardio premix, because when I put my IMAX2 in the player, it didn't work! :(. I've worn it out! My legs were pretty tired from the plyo-cardio-core class I'd taught on Monday, so this was a blessing in disguise. LIC was a better choice for me. I'll be doing Disc 3 Thursday morning, so Friday is my rest day. Saturday I'll do my usual swim 'n spin at the Y, and I'll KPC it on Sunday. I haven't done a full Cathe lower body workout in ages, and I'm sooooo looking forward to this! I'll have the basement set up and ready to go before I go to bed tonight.

So, Cathe, when do you break open the box of epsom? And are you following your own cardio rotation, as well? What are YOU doing on your non-STS days?

Shocked good,
Sandra
 
exercise bands are evil!!

Good Evening Cathe and fellow STS junkies-

I started the day in dark of the morning cursing the maker of exercise bands while completing disc 2. (evil! evil I tell you!) ;) Was it really necessary to add them time and time again? I dont care how sweet and energetic you sound Cathe selling the band work as a nice "bonus", its still evil! lol What makes it even worse is that I realized that its time to move up to the next tension band so the evil will be increasing next time by my own choice (its like I joined a workout cult and the brainwashing is starting to take hold). :p

Anyway, despite my band rant, this workout felt really good to do. I enjoyed being able to use the heavier dumbbells to do the back work (hooray for deadlifts)...gives a good psychological boost to reach for them knowing that you are capable of more than you usually see yourself doing. All my 1RM's were spot on for this workout. Also, I adapted to the shorter rest periods much better than disk 1 which made the workout flow better as well.

I hope Cathe and rest of you that survived the workout today will continue to post your thoughts, I do enjoy reading everyones experiences.

Mary :D
 
Loved disc 2. I think this was my favorite back work ever!!!! Now for my question referring back to disc 1 (as well as future discs)....

Cathe, is it better to try to do the push ups on my toes and only go half way down (because that is about as far as I can go if I want to get back up!) or go to my knees and go all of the way down?

Thanks!

Karen
 
Enjoying disk 2

One question....when I did my 1rep max for exercises using a barbell, I recorded one weight, ie. total weight of 10 lbs. so I recorded 5 lbs. When I print my workout, is the weight listed still for one weight? I ask because my weights seemed high. Hope this makes sense!
 
I did Disc 2 today and loved it as much as Disc 1. I can't believe how the time flies by on these workouts. And I have DOMS in places that I have never had them before thanks to Disc 1.

I do find myself reading the workout card and thinking, " Well gee I can lift heavier than that!" But I've stayed with the weights listed on there and once the workout is over, I feel like I've really had a great workout and probably couldn't have gone heavier. I ran short on time this morning and didn't do the extended stretch until this afternoon. Is it ok to do that?

Thank you ,Cathe, for finding yet another way to challenge us and to take us to a whole new level in our fitness adventure! I just know that I'm going to be in the best shape of my life thanks to STS and I'll be 56 this year!!!

Have a good evening,
Bev
 
Hi Cathe & Everyone,

I really enjoyed Disc 2. I can't believe how fast time goes in this series. I am going to be sore tomorrow :)

Cathe, I know you won't be able to answer all of our questions, but if you happen to read my post, and can answer, I'd appreciate it. My favorite form of cardio is kickboxing and I usually take 2 classes at the gym. One on Tuesday and one on Wednesday. I am just wondering if it's ok to do kickboxing workouts the day after a muscle endurance workout? Thursdays instructor has us use 1-3 lb. handweights during some of the punching drills, and I figure I will just do the drills without weights, but I would like to make sure it's ok to do Kickboxing workouts on my cardio days.

I must admit ladies, I'm a little nervous about Friday's leg workout, lol.
 
Loved this one! I did learn that my make-shift pull-up and chin-up equipment doesn't work for me. I put my body bar across two chairs. The bar was too low. I need to come up with other ideas. Does anyone have suggestions?

Just finished a nice warm bath. I really needed it!

Stebby
 
Just finished up - FUN! I am feeling it, in a good way. I was so tired and thought I couldn't do it, but it ended up being just what I needed. Now I am completely energized :)
 
Hi Cathe,

I finished Disc #2 today. Initially I had some shoulder DOMS from Monday's workout, but as the workout progressed, I felt my body stretch and relax into the movements a bit more. This workout was quite enjoyable. I had to abbreviate the second set of chinups to 5 and was only able to crank out 8 of the pull-ups; I use a pull-up bar with an Iron Woody band.

The only exercise I wasn't sure if I performed properly were the Y's with the band. I'd like to see that on an upcoming CatheTV episode. I don't think that I was properly positioning my hands.

At any rate, great workout! I finished it up with Medicine Ball abs & 20 mins on the elliptical.

Thanks,
FitGirl-ATX
 
Yeehaaa

Hey all.

Finished up Disc 2, time flew, and I just love the mix. Not doing 3 sets is such a nice change. My back will be feeling this one. All those rows.... And the bonuses were truly on the cusp of rotten. But I enjoyed every minute;). I took advantage of the extended stretch as well.


Iris, I too, am a bit afraid of #3...but come disc #38, it will be a fond memory.:D

Off to enjoy a glass of wine....
 
Today was STS Disc 2 - Back and Triceps. I don't have a setup to do the chin ups or pull ups (nor to I have one of cathes bands that hooks over the door) - so I improvised! I put one of those squeeze ball things for forearms in a sock and then tied the sock to one of my tubings that I had. I then put that over the door and it worked great! (except the tension could have been harder on the band...must find my "tough" tubing) Here is my breakdown:

120 Lat pulldowns with band
113 Dumbbell Rows Both Arms – 25#
714 Dips on chair
363 Straddle Pushups
**Pushups?? I thought this was back and triceps???
104 Chinups
738 Seated Overhead Extensions One Arm (dumbbell) – 10#
**Probably could have gone heavier here
134 One Arm Row (dumbbell) – 30#
167 T-Pull with band
716 Flat Bench Barbell Triceps Extensions – 16#
**actually used a dumbell for this
83 Barbell Rows – 52#
176 Y's with band
721 Kickbacks One Arm (dumbbell)- 11#
133 One Arm Horizontal Row (dumbbell)- 20#
1052 Deadlifts (dumbbell) -25#
**Using the tips that Cathe gave us about form made a big difference! I think I used to let my shoulders round a little before.
703 Close Grip Bench Press (dumbbell) – 20#
726 One Arm press Down with Band
104 Chinups –
737 Seated Overhead Extensions Both Arms (dumbbell) – 20#
83 Barbell Rows- 52#’s
**This second round almost got me
111 Double Arm Rows with Band
739 Side Leaning One Arm Overhead Extensions on Ball (dumbbell)- 10#
134 One Arm Row (dumbbell)- 30#
**This second time around was tough
1052 Deadlifts (dumbbell) – 25#
720 Kickbacks Double Arm (dumbbell)- 13#
**Killer - especially those "holds" at the very end!
724 One Arm Band Kickbacks
142 Pullups
712 Cross Body Kickbacks (dumbbell)- 12#
**These were tough on those last 4
120 Lat pulldowns with band
740 Side Lying One Arm Pushups
164 Superman on Floor Arms & Legs Elevate
 
Schedule change!

DH and I will be doing the STS discs on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday (so he doesn't have to get up at 5:00 a.m. three days a week with me). We'll be doing Disc 2 tomorrow (Thursday), and Disc 3 on Saturdays.

We have a reason to get up tomorrow morning! I'm excited to move on to the next workout!
 
Iris_g1 said:
Hi Cathe & Everyone,

I really enjoyed Disc 2. I can't believe how fast time goes in this series. I am going to be sore tomorrow :)

Cathe, I know you won't be able to answer all of our questions, but if you happen to read my post, and can answer, I'd appreciate it. My favorite form of cardio is kickboxing and I usually take 2 classes at the gym. One on Tuesday and one on Wednesday. I am just wondering if it's ok to do kickboxing workouts the day after a muscle endurance workout? Thursdays instructor has us use 1-3 lb. handweights during some of the punching drills, and I figure I will just do the drills without weights, but I would like to make sure it's ok to do Kickboxing workouts on my cardio days.

I must admit ladies, I'm a little nervous about Friday's leg workout, lol.
Click to expand...
Me too! Well, nervous - but anxious at the same time...is that possible? I previewed it last week and it looked tough... Ah, we can handle it!
 
Back with my report..Hello Lats!!!

Oh my goodness....I finished this workout about an hour ago and while I'm sure DOMS will be tomorrow's word of the day, todays word is LATS!!!! Please tell me I am not the only one whose lats are on FI-YA right now!

Before starting the workout I was still a little sore in my biceps and shoulders from Monday's workout but I seemed to loosen up with the arm movements in the warm up. I was also prepared to move really fast between exercises and to my surprise I had more time to get my weights together because realized I spent a little more time explaining things on certain exercises (ie: pull up variations). But that little extra time felt pretty good actually.

The four exercises that opened the program before chin ups were just perfect to get the heat in the muscle before the very advanced chin ups. I was really enjoying myself up to that point :D.

Then came chin ups. Well I haven't done them the way that I did in STS since we filmed because I was mostly using the gravitron unit in our gym. I had to pull much slower than I did on film....holy moly....do I need to do my homework on these again. I got 8 slow ones with the vertical hang and then quickly went into the horizonal position and finished out. That was the l-o-n-g-e-s-t 30 seconds of my life. I was pumped and my heart rate was beating out of my chest. I was counting stars (my lucky stars, that is) after that set :eek:. How did YOU feel after that?

The next time it came to do pull ups I used the red Fitness By Cathe tubing (that was still fastened to the bracket in the studio, ha) and that felt perfect. The resistance was just right that I could get nice range of motion against a very challenging resistance. I highly recommend elastic tubing if you are over-struggling with traditional pull ups/chin ups. The trick is to get tubing that provides the right challenge. If its too easy it takes too long before the muscles react to the contaction and if its too hard you can't even pull the band down through full range of motion to feel the move in the right places. But when it is just right, it works like a charm.

The third time we did pull ups/chin ups, I did the horizontal straight leg version. Again, I found myself thinking is 30 seconds up yet? Did you notice that nobody ever shouted out "time" when we got to 30 seconds? Where is Cedie when you need her? :p

Now how about that band work? I'm telling you the bands will not disappoint. And the lat pull downs with the band folded in half???....fuggedaboudit. I know I told you that our green bands are stiffer, but my word, I started to go down and nothing happened, lol, and then I said "oh no you don't" and gave that mean green stiff band a good hearty tug and down it went. Going slow really made different areas of the lats fire during different portions of the movement. That felt "nice".

The deadlifts felt especially nice in this program. It always came at just the right time. Felt great to have the lower back get involved after much demand on the upper back.

The tricep work had some nice new challenges along with the traditional and effective stand by's. I will always love lying extensions and close grip bench press, and I love crossbody kick backs too. I always get a nice swell in my muscles with those. But the side leaning over head extension was a great challenge, wasn't it? The gravity from that angle makes the tricep stretch and strengthen at the same time. A really nice way to get some DOMS in there. How about the band kickbacks and press downs. Owwee, they bite!

The side lying one arm push-ups are incredibly hard. Especially the version where you put your hand on top of your shoulder. That seriously increases the range of motion...singing "she's going down down down down"...ha. Well, I did make it back up (once, ha).

Overall, I really liked the variety and pace of this workout. As I did this workout I kept thinking ...."how would this workout feel for a person who didn't have access to any pull up bar of any kind or simply was not interested in doing pull ups"? I have to honestly say that if you are not going to do pull ups of any kind (horizonatal or vertical) you need to find challenging elastic tubing for this program. Not just "good enough" tubing, you need challenging tubing that gives you full range of motion and a challenging resistance all in one. But don't totally dismiss pull ups from your future. They are one exercise that every back deserves :D

I know I am going to feel this most especially in my lats and the long head of my triceps tomorrow. I'm so fired in these areas right now.

Sleep well everyone!
 
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STS Disc 2 Check-in

Cathe:

It is so much fun to read your experience with these workouts. I agree that the heavy (red) Fitness by Cathe tubing is a great alternative to pull-ups.

I am previewing Ab Circuits and fixing to experience a new segment. I enjoyed the one with no equipment the first week, and the medicine ball ab workout is my favorite so far. I may give the weights and plates a whirl. Well, I may enjoy the weights and watch you have fun with the plates. LOL!

Sweet dreams! :)

Blessings,
Heather B.

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31 NIV).
 
Cathe..thanks so much for starting this incredible STS journey with us. :)
There's comfort in knowing that you're challenged while doing these workouts just like the rest of us. ;) I was a bit shy about checking in on Monday but after today's workout I just couldn't hold back. I'm loving these workouts and I feel so incredible after I'm finished. :)

Looking forward to legs on Friday...now that's something you don't hear from me..ever. :eek::D
 
Hi Cathe,

I do miss seeing you and Nancy....but am thrilled to be working out with you from Colorado. I will be doing the 6-month rotation to stay fit all summer long. I really enjoyed :) Disc 2 this morning!

Take care,
Sue

BTW, Jonathan still won't go near your DVD's!
 
Another good one!

I just finished Disc 2. I was SUPPOSED to get up this morning to workout because I was going out to dinner with friends tonight BUT...I just couldn't get out of bed. Sooooo, I was very good at dinner (salad with grilled chicken and oil/vinegar dressing) and then I came home and got right to working out. No excuses!!!

I was originally going to do all of the chinups and pullups using the band option since the only doorway that fits my pull-up doo dad is upstairs (and I can't do a chinup or pullup to save my life anyway!). I decided to use the bar on my treadmill like Cathe uses her Tower (I WANT ONE!!!). I was actually able to do all the chinups and pullups this way (WOOT-WOOT for me!!!). Now granted, my knees were bent and they weren't pretty, but I did them!!

Like other people have said, I found I had more time to get things set up. I did have to rush to get my weighted gloves on and off on a few occassions but other than that, everything went smoothly with timing. I found a could exercises where my Target Weight was just not possible. I didn't have enough things I could add to make it work. For example, my "dumbbell rows with both arms" target weight is 18. I have one set of Plate Mates weighing 1.25 pounds each and I have Cathe's weighted gloves. Those two things combined with a 15 pound dumbbell add up to 17.25. I also ran into that with "one arm row (dumbbell). I could only add up to 23.5 when my Target Weight was 24. My only thought (after the workout, now that I have time to think) is I could have gone up in weight. I have 20 and 25 pound dumbbells.

Anyhoo...what can I say? I LOVED this workout. The time went SO fast, just like in Disc 1. I could not believe an hour went by. I found the exercises very challenging but do-able, which I think is the goal in this phase. I have given myself a HUGE pat on the back because I was able to complete the "side lying one arm pushups." I tried them a long time ago and could not even complete one. Today I was able to eek out all 16. Again, they weren't pretty, and the last couple on each side were a little slow, but I DID IT!!!

Thanks to Cathe for a wonderful program. I am loving every minute of the torture!

Carrie
 
Cathe Friedrich said:
Now how about that band work? I'm telling you the bands will not disappoint. And the lat pull downs with the band folded in half???....fuggedaboudit. I know I told you that our green bands are stiffer, but my word, I started to go down and nothing happened, lol, and then I said "oh no you don't" and gave that mean green stiff band a good hearty tug and down it went. Going slow really made different areas of the lats fire during different portions of the movement. That felt "nice".
Click to expand...

And whose idea was the slow movement going up with the band on the second set of lat pulldowns...oh yeah, that would be YOU!!! And which one of those wise-guys in the back said thank you??!!

Carrie
 
I'm exhausted after a long day and doing disc 2 at 5:30 a.m. and am going to snooze here. I have enjoyed disc 1 and 2.

I have had to adjust my 1 rep maxes on a couple of exercises, but for the most part they are a pretty good target for me and encourages me to lift more than usual...nice.

I think the Double Arm Rows with band should be renamed to Band breakers as my dynaband snapped in two during this one. I've ordered another...it was shocking and thankfully I didn't get smacked too hard by the band! :confused:

Otherwise, I had a nice pump in my muscles after this a.m. See you guys on Friday!
 
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