STS CHECK IN DISC 2

[FiddleFit]

Disc 2....The Day After

Good morning Cathe! How are you feeling The Day After?

Again, I LOVED reading your detailed account of your experience! Fabulous! You may not have been able to keep up with Cathe 2008, but Cathe 2009 is still able to work harder than most of us!

I completely agree 100% with you about the chins/pulls being an integral part of the program. I love what they do for my back. I was able to hang with you for 5 unassisted chins in the first round, then had to start putting my toe on the high step at the bottom for a split second break before pulling back up, for the last 7. In the second round of chins, I was only able to knock out 3 u/a, before having to start the toe-touching. I do always try to make the last chin/pull up a slow negative, to really make sure I've "spent" the muscles. I did a couple of unassisted pull ups at the end, before going to my toe touches. Obviously chins are "easier" than pulls because we use our biceps more in the chins. Given how much weight the 1RM calculator has me rowing, I have a feeling I'll be doing more u/a pulls by the end of this program!

I was using the green Dynaband for the band work, and found it to be a "nice break" from the weights. Does that mean I should be using the purple band?

My back, and especially my lats, are talking to me today. What a great feeling! It's not crazy pain, just lots of stiffness that I worked out a bit with Disc 3 (NICE workout!!) this morning.

Week 1 of STS has been terrific. Thank you so much!!!!!
Sandra

 

[Cathe Friedrich]

My guest has arrived...

Good Morning Mr. DOMS, I've been expecting you!

Just as I expected my lats and tri's are having an upper body party today. Yes, the noise is high upstairs today. OUCH!

I had time to read all of your posts but now I have to go teach Silver Sneakers....about the only class I can realistically complete today.

I will be back thoughout the day to add some comments to your posts. I am really enjoying our time together. Thanks for joining me in our STS journey.

Bye for now....(so glad I don't have to physically wave my hand right now )

 

[THARTMAN]

Hi cathe!!! I am really enjoying STS!! I am doing the 6 month rotation and I started February 2. The 1RM has forced me to use heavy weight....I have been slacking in the weight department it is keeping me honest!! I am stronger than I thought!!
Have a great day!!!!
Tracy

 

[larks mom]

Pull Ups

I'm in week 3, did disc 8 yesterday. The tubing I used for disc 2 didn't seem like enough of a challenge, so for discs 5 & 8 I used my Total Gym. That worked felt it!

I'm loving STS, find my DOMS ease a lot after a cardio workout - I make an extra effort to swing my arms around and around.

Can hardly wait to do legs tomorrow.

 

[SueNJ]

...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.

...

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

Cathe, this is very valuable information! I've been going with too much resistance on the tubing with my pulldowns, and haven't felt it as I thought I should. I just figured if some resistance was good, certainly more would be better. I guess not...

I swapped disc 3 (legs--did that one yesterday) with disc 2, and will be doing disc 2 tomorrow morning, with the bands adjusted accordingly.

 

[kryptychyck]

Disc 2 done today

I am a day or two behind. I did disc 2 today. It was a nice workout. The pullups and chinups were a killer. I had to do them using a Smith Machine bar and my knees bent. I reduced the weight on some of my exercises. I definitely worked to the max and it was great to challenge myself.

 

[drover]

howdy

LOL! crackin up at some of ya'll. i am also in week 3. did disc 9 today and feel it in my back. the legs will come later i'm sure. ok, how do ya'll get the smiley faces down here in your message? i can only get it to go up top.

anyway, cathe, I LOVE STS!!!! not that it hasnt' already been said, but these are fabulous, i love having everything i need, so i don't even have to think. i just do what it says on the workout sheet. WAAAYYYY COOL!!!!!
thanks so much for all the time ya'll put into these, and thank your family too, cuz they must be very understanding to share you with us as much as they do.

i know i'm probaby not suupposed to do this, but this week i've had to do the 3 in a row, so tomorrow is disc 8. it was either that or miss one and i cant stand to miss one.
cathy

 

[workout4life]

Cathe,
I'm loving STS. I did disc 2 yesterday. I am so sore today, especially my triceps. I'm also still feeling Monday's shoulder work too. LOL!
I might have to get the tubing for pull ups, right now I'm using a pull up bar with an assisted band. It works but I can only get about 4 pull ups at the most with the assisted band.

 

[NancyAZ]

I did W1D2 today since I was out of town yesterday. I was really fatigued by the end of this workout and found that my recommended weights were pretty far off. I nearly klunked myself in the head during the crossbody triceps extensions because I couldn't get my arm back up and had to back way down on those!

We do have a pullup bar in a doorway, but I didn't feel like changing rooms to give those a try, since I knew I wouldn't be able to do any anyway. I used the dining room table as my "bar" and did some straight-leg pullups and some bent. Not very many of each, but I did manage some.

 

[Cathe Friedrich]

Glad you found it helpful Sue! Yes, if there is much too much tension then other muscles (sometimes not even related to back) TRY to take over to make things happen. That's when you run the risk of muscle contraction turning into muscle spasm....not good.

Cathe, this is very valuable information! I've been going with too much resistance on the tubing with my pulldowns, and haven't felt it as I thought I should. I just figured if some resistance was good, certainly more would be better. I guess not...

I swapped disc 3 (legs--did that one yesterday) with disc 2, and will be doing disc 2 tomorrow morning, with the bands adjusted accordingly.

 

[Cathe Friedrich]

Oh, be careful on those crossbody kickbacks Nancy. Surprisingly even when you DO have the weight you should those last reps are stubborn and many time you just hit a wall and your arm stops mid rep. I can only imagine how that must have felt with too heavy a weight.

Hopefully next time goes smoother for you. In most cases, second time around proves to be more successful. Take Care!

I did W1D2 today since I was out of town yesterday. I was really fatigued by the end of this workout and found that my recommended weights were pretty far off. I nearly klunked myself in the head during the crossbody triceps extensions because I couldn't get my arm back up and had to back way down on those!

We do have a pullup bar in a doorway, but I didn't feel like changing rooms to give those a try, since I knew I wouldn't be able to do any anyway. I used the dining room table as my "bar" and did some straight-leg pullups and some bent. Not very many of each, but I did manage some.

 

[Peaceful Rainbow]

In most cases, second time around proves to be more successful.

I'm on my second week of the 6 1/2 month rotations and I'm definitely finding after repeating Disks 1 and 2 that not only does the workout flow more smoothly the second time around, but I'm not as sore. I'm really hoping that holds true for tomorrow when I do Disk 3, because it took my legs a couple days to get over that one!

 

[drover]

i was a bit confused w/the 6m. rotation. could ya'll explain it to me?
thanks, cathy

 

[dbelden1]

Hi Cathy:

Not Cathe, but some are doing the 6 month rotation by doing all three disks in week one and then doing them again the following week, then doing week two and doing it again the following week... etc. etc. etc... so this rotation would look like this:

Week 1: disc 1, 2 and 3
Week 2: disc 1, 2 and 3
Week 3: disc 4, 5 and 6
Week 4: disc 4, 5 and 6

so, rather than taking 4 weeks to do each Mesocycle, you take 8...

does that help

 

[dbelden1]

I'm on my second week of the 6 1/2 month rotations and I'm definitely finding after repeating Disks 1 and 2 that not only does the workout flow more smoothly the second time around, but I'm not as sore. I'm really hoping that holds true for tomorrow when I do Disk 3, because it took my legs a couple days to get over that one!

Boy, do I hear ya on this one! I totally agree that disc 3 is EVIL!!! I did the first two weeks when I got my STS series on 2/2, but was excited to start over again when Cathe announced when she was going to start! Disc 3 had me... ah hem... peeing standing up for 3 days!!! Disc 6 was not bad at all, but I agree that it seems that the DOMS are a bit less, but still feeling well worked the second time around!

 

[drover]

oh, cool, that would be fun. wish i had seen that before i started. i just love these workouts. i would have like the 6 mo. guess i'll just have to do it next time.
cathy

 

[drover]

oh, cool, that would be fun. wish i had seen that before i started. i just love these workouts. i would have like the 6 mo. guess i'll just have to do it next time.
cathy

 

[dbelden1]

oh, cool, that would be fun. wish i had seen that before i started. i just love these workouts. i would have like the 6 mo. guess i'll just have to do it next time.
cathy

So maybe it wouldn't be a complete 6 month rotation, but you could always start doubling up your weeks starting now or do it next time... either way, it is totally a personal choice and you can do whatever you like! That's the beauty of STS but either way, you will definately reap the benefits of doing the program!

 

[NancyAZ]

Oh, be careful on those crossbody kickbacks Nancy. Surprisingly even when you DO have the weight you should those last reps are stubborn and many time you just hit a wall and your arm stops mid rep. I can only imagine how that must have felt with too heavy a weight.

Hopefully next time goes smoother for you. In most cases, second time around proves to be more successful. Take Care!

That's exactly what happened . The next time I do this I should have a better idea of the weights, be over my cold <fingers crossed>, and have my tubing for the pulldowns.

 

[Cathe Friedrich]

Hi Shadow! Thanks for joining in.

1) You should always train with full range of motion being your main ingredient. You can can play with rep variations to stimulate progress and shock your muscles but you should always come back to your main ingredient. With that in mind I would say spend most of your time working through full range of motion on your knees and of course do some on your toes (in partial rep format) to recruit and challenge your muscles differently. This combination should help strengthen your "sticking point" so that you may one day do them all on your toes

2) I think I followed that in which case yes, that is fine.

3) I usually don't use music for this but you can use any music you like. You don't have to go to a specific beat, so anything that motivates you works.

Take Care!

Hi Cathe - it is so exciting to be able to do the STS workouts with you! Thank you so very much for your dedication to this huge project! If you have time, I do have a couple questions .
1. On the straddle push ups, I cannot bend my arms beyond halfway (this is true for any straight leg push up). So would I be better off to do them on my knees where I can use full ROM or to stay on my toes? Or alternate?
2. On the lat rows, I couldn't get myself lined up using the step like you did. Is it acceptable to put the non-support leg up onto the step to use as support for the arm that's not working? (Hope that made sense!)
3. For the Cardio Quick Fix, which of your workouts do you suggest to use for background music to go by?

Thanks, Cathe!