STS DEAL OF THE DAY!!!!!

Pam, I bought the Cardio Supersets as well - I did it once - and I like it a lot! Though certain moves with the disk make my back feel funky - not all of them, but some. I'll just have to be aware - and replace those moves with something else.

So, I did Basic Step today! Well, I started it anyway. Even though I rewound it a ton, I felt pretty good about it and thought I was AT LEAST halfway done and Cathe then says "you're all warmed up, we're going to move into the combinations…" All righty then! So yeah, I pretty much took 45 minutes to do the 7 minute warmup. LOL! But that's just ME - don't anybody else get discouraged if you want to buy it! :) This will be a fun challenge for me - I'm looking forward to it. I can only imagine it's good exercise for the brain as well, right?

Funny about your making up your own moves. But hey, as long as your heart rate is still up and you're having fun - then it's all good. :)

I also did an AB Circuit after STS yesterday - I did STS in the morning and the Yoga based abs in the evening.

Brandie, how do you like the squat rack routine? Is it a complete separate cycle or is it (optionally) incorporated at all into any of the other mesocyles?
 
Brandi--I love your idea of adapting STS to other exercises! The progressive increase in weights is like having a trainer push you ever day to do more, but in small enough increases that you don't get hurt and hopefully not so sore and tired that don't want to do anything for the rest of the day and the nx ;=))

Did you do the 1RM testing before starting STS the 2nd time?

Dawn--How did you like your Step workout today? I do a lot of hiking and I find step workouts really increase my strength for climbing the hills.

P.S. Your email only showed up after I posted this. Internet has been acting strange today. I think it is important to change any workout so it works for you, esp if it is causing pain. I won't do any sliding on disks. I had an ACL replaced in my knee a few years ago. Side wards movement is largest cause of injury to an ACL (was mine) and I am not going to take the risk of re-injury, so I adapt the exercises.
 
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Dawn & Pam,
I don't know if you'll see this, but I hope your first week of STS is going well and you're getting used to those quick equipment changes! Last night would have been Disc 2 for you guys....how do you feel today?;)
 
Nancy, thanks for checking in! So, I wasn't sore at all after Disk 1 but today my back is talking to me for sure! My intention was to do HiiT today but I changed that to a walk on the TM and Yoga Relax! LOL.

I think what got me was the pull downs with the tubing. I don't do that exercise much and although it feels quite easy to do - apparently it's really working the whole back!

I am loving this though! The idea of having 34 more DIFFERENT DVD's coming up - is just really cool. It's so opposite of the dread-factor - I get so excited to do it!

Pam, how's it going for you?
 
Hi Nancy--Thanks also for checking in with us. I am enjoying doing these workout. They hurt so good! I think I have said this before, but I have never pushed it much with upper body workouts, so this is great. I was tired after Disk 2 yesterday and was not sorry that it was raining outside so I could not work hauling rocks up the mountain side ;=)) Today I did one of the shorter premixes in Cardio Supersets.

Dawn-I agree with you about being excited about the upcoming disks! I wake up in the morning, thinking, Oh Boy, I get a new workout today!

I found the hints Cathe gives about technique helpful also.
 
Dawn-Did you get your rack? Mine came yesterday and I just put it together today. Seems well designed. A couple of the features I didn't realize until I watch their youtube, available through their website. I am looking forward to using it tomorrow for legs.

Hope your back is feeling better.
 
Yes Pam, I bet you were happy to see that rain!

My back is feeling so much better already. I wonder if it wasn't half just stiffness from sleeping. I think I may hit the HiiT workout this evening after all. :eek:

For those of you who typically trained your upper body more than twice a week before STS - did you find that you missed it? It feels odd to me to go 4 days without training upper body.
 
Pam, yes I did get the squat stands. I had NO idea what some of those pieces were either until I watched the video! I have to work on getting the perfect height to use it as both a bench rack and squat rack so I don't have to keep adjusting it. Trying to adjust those at the same time was tricky - I'll have to recruit somebody to help me.

Can't wait for the day when I really NEED this thing! Yay.
 
Popping in on you guys! Which squat rack did you get? I just ordered the Valo BD-9. It should be arriving some time next week. I'm jealous I can't start yet. Glad to here you are having such a good time with it!!
 
Hi atompki & Nancy--Glad you keep popping in to viist! I got the Valor BD-3. Like Dawn, it took me a little time to figure out how all the pieces went together. The 2nd one I put together in just a few minutes.

In some of the reviews I read, people mentioned using this rack for chin-ups and pull-ups. I don't have regular doors here (all pocket & sliding glass doors) so no place to put a chin-up bar over a door, so I am going to try doing it with this rack. Did a few pull-ups and chin-ups today and as long as I keep my body directly below the rack, it worked fine. Cathe showed a modification of putting feet staight out and on the floor, when I tried that, it was scary, as the rack almost went over.

Dawn are you doing Disk 3, legs tomorrow? I plan to, than I think Saturday needs to be a rest day.
 
So sorry for slight delay ladies! My push notifications aren't working right now.

@ Dawn: the squat rack routines are intense, but I liked them a lot. I use the traditional Olympic (45 pound) bar with my cable gym's squat rack. I have not incorporated the squat rack routines with the first 3 mesocycles. I did Plyo Legs with Meso 3. I did the squat rack routines with my own creation: Meso 4.

@ Pam: I know what you mean. I explain my experience with STS along with how I came up with Meso 4 in my most recent blog post, link below. It took almost 6 weeks for me to get through Meso 4, but when I finished, I had never been so strong in my life. I'm doing it again this time, too! So excited!!!!

My Experience with STS - The Cathe Nation
 
daybreak said:
Yes Pam, I bet you were happy to see that rain!

My back is feeling so much better already. I wonder if it wasn't half just stiffness from sleeping. I think I may hit the HiiT workout this evening after all. :eek:

For those of you who typically trained your upper body more than twice a week before STS - did you find that you missed it? It feels odd to me to go 4 days without training upper body.
Click to expand...

Dawn,
About training your upper body twice per week: I know how you feel about that! Last year I was doing Gym Styles and felt out of sorts with the split routine aspect of it. Another Cathlete named Kathryn explained to me that because we lift SO HEAVY and SO THOROUGH with the split you will experience more severe DOMS and get great results due to the increase in growth hormone throughout your body. She was right! I am still very sore after doing Disc 13 on Wednesday! I went very heavy (for me!) on the chest and I am really feeling it (more than I would with doing total body 3x per week)! I am greatful that tonight is Disc 14 Legs! Be patient and let your body adjust to this new type of training.
 
Pam and Dawn, what option are you going with for micro loading? That's the last thing I need to be able to start.
 
atompki--I have both wrist weights: .5 & 1# and adjustable sets and also have .5 & 1# gloves. I like the wrist weights more than the hand weights as I notice them less when wearing and the glove weights sometimes bother my thumbs. I have had trouble with tigger thumbs and don't want to start that problem again. So, if I had to do over again I would only get the wrist weights.

I have several sets of the adjustable wrist weights. I can increase these in either .5 and 1# amounts, up to 5 or 10 (depends on which set, on how much total weight I can increase them to). These can also be use as ankle weights.
 
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Brandie--Thanks for sending the link. I found your article about creating a Meso 4 helpful. I am working on setting up a Ab Meso and your article gave me some good ideas. I would like to get a copy of your excel worksheet. I would be glad to send you a copy of the Ab Meso when it is finished.

Dawn--Did you do Disk 4, Legs today? I found it easier than the upper body ones, but I have worked more on strengthing legs. I am looking forward to nx weeks workouts.
 
Toni, I just have two sets of wrist weights (1 pound and 2 pound). That let's me increase from 1-3 pounds on each hand - which worked perfectly. They are really comfortable too. :)

Pam, yes I thoroughly enjoyed Disk 3 - legs! I've been doing GS Legs and Lower Body Trisets leading up to this - so I didn't find it horribly difficult either but it was so fun! How about those wall squats picking up the weights - what a great exercise.

Oh another exercise I had never done is the one armed side push up in Disk 2 - loved that!

Brandie, thanks for the info on the squat rack routine and your blog post - that was fun to read. It's amazing how much can be done with all the content in STS.

Nancy, thanks for the help on the split training. That's interesting about the growth hormone. The structure and proven effectiveness of STS is one thing that makes me so excited about it. I just always did my own thing before - can't wait to see what a "real" program will do for me.

I was actually sad this morning that I didn't have STS disk to wake up to. Oh well, I'm still conguering the Basic Step - so that will be my exercise fun for the day. :)
 
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Dawn,
I loved those side push ups, too! Cathe has so many push-up variations...and it seems like they are ALL in M1 chest workouts ;)! Yesterday I did Disc 14 Legs and it was BRUTAL!!!! Those tri-sets really do the job! I increased my weights and REALLY felt it! I have to buy some more wrist weights because the the ankle weights I'm using for microloading are just too bulky and take too long to get on and off. I'm going to hunt for some adjustable ones that go in 1/2# increments.
Hope you loved your 1st week of STS....it only gets better from here!
 
Nancy, it is so great to hear you are still loving it 14 disks later. How are the legs today?

Hey, what do most people do on their rest day? I was thinking one of the Stretch Max segments. Or is it better to do nothing? I don't really feel like I need to rest (physically) but maybe the break is a good thing - both physically and mentally?
 
Hey...hope you don't mind if I reply even if I'm haven't started yet :) I usually don't do anything on my rest day whether I feel I need the rest or not. I just like to give my body a rest. However, that will change this summer. I'm going to bike with my hubby on rest day. We don't go far and I keep my gears low so it's not much of a workout for my legs or heart. Plus it's fun :)
 
Toni, of course I don't mind you chiming in - the more the merrier! :D

I've never had a defined rest day before - I would always just take one when my body asked or my schedule required it so this is new for me. But I like it - it really feels like a reward.

Biking is so fun! That's great you and your hubbie do that together!
 
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