STS first time!

I was using a protein powder but I stopped. I think I'll go back to it next week and change things up. For now I just use Greek yogurt in my smoothies for protein and only do my breakfast smoothies on the days I do STS, Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

I just add frozen fruit, the yogurt, a little silk coconut milk, and believe it or not, baby spinach. Just a handful or two. I have a plain ol Cuisinart blender and it works fine. I'd love a Ninja though. Maybe for Christmas.

cokonkel - My shoulders look pretty dang awesome too and it's only the first week... although I did do a GS rotation for three weeks before starting STS. What I really want is that back definition, where you just move your arms and see all of those back muscles bulging... I can't wait to get that kind of definition.

Betty - This is the protein powder I use... http://www.amazon.com/Accelerade-Pr...8OJE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328733932&sr=8-1

I got it when I thought I was going to be doing a P90X rotation and didn't want to spend the money for their recovery drink. It has the same protein to carb ratio but way less expensive.

Jean - My aunt has lived all over MD I think! She was in Silver Springs for a while as well. Are the slots still in Waldorf? LOL! I love MD, I think it's metropolitan enough for me, but not too country. If I ever decide to leave NY I think I'd probably settle there.
 
I was wondering where Jen went too! We got a brief check in from Rachel and Leanne must have disappeared shortly after I joined because I don't remember too many posts from her...
We need to totally do another check in after we are done with STS...like an STS graduate thread or something. I love coming on here! I have never been able to stick to a program/rotation until STS and while I give some credit to the program itself coming on here has made a world of difference to my commitment! The camaraderie really makes me excited to do the workouts! Like, I'm not alone and it also makes me accountable!;)

You guys should try the Plyo legs workouts. I actually bought Meso 3 on it's own a while ago just for those workouts and I did them for awhile on their own. I love 'em! It's really a cardio workout with leg strength as a side benefit! :) I had Meso 3 then I was like, aw heck, why not get the whole STS series and give it a shot? I'm so glad I did!
I love Carolyn's post to you Jean about the leg workouts. I'm the same "just do it, just do it...!" Peer pressure!:p

Marie- you are totally going to love CCC! It is a great cardio workout. It was my very first Cathe workout actually! I did it ad nauseum when I first got it, then took a break for awhile since I was getting tired of it...then did it again recently and remembered why I loved it so much in the first place!:D

As far as my whey protein, I've been buying a big old jug of it from Sam's club. I can't remember the brand but it's their brand, I think... it tastes pretty good. I think I like the vanilla a little better, I have the chocolate flavor now and it's just okay.

Oh still so sore. I was a train wreck today with DOMS. Getting in and out of my car was a chore!:eek:

Colleen
 
Disc 3 this morning. LEGS LEGS LEGS! I LOVE working LEGS! LOL! I actually have done that disc before, when I was doing my GS rotation a few weeks ago and really didn't feel like doing the floorwork in the GS Legs disc. Went heavier this time around though and I am SURE my legs will be screaming at me later on today. Lately the DOMS doesn't even wait 24 hours, by the end of the day I'm feeling it.

I'm actually looking forward to repeating the week. I feel like now that I know what's coming I can heavy up as I need to and really build the endurance before moving on to the next week. I also like that I can add in my own workouts on the other days. I love Cathe but I have some other workouts that I miss and want to fit in as well.

gratefuldog - CycleMax looks like such fun but I don't have a spin bike. If you do I suggest you get it, just for a change of pace. I thought about getting the download and trying it out at the gym with the stationary bike but I don't know... I don't think it will be the same.
 
Oh I thought you were trying to decide which one to BUY not which one to DO! LOL! I considered replacing my treadmill with a spin bike, but I just feel like a treadmill is more versatile. Plus I've had it for years, it's been with me for three moves now, it's my baby.

AT might have you swearing, I know I do in that first 20 minutes or so!
 
Did disc 15 today, back and biceps. I had to readjust the 1 rep max for the preacher curls...I don't know how I managed to be off so much on those! I started with 12 pounds and quickly had to go to 10 lbs and even then it was pretty much to failure.:confused: I had to readjust some of the tricep ones too...it's been a work in progress. I think by the time I'm done with STS my
1RM's will finally be right!:rolleyes:

I'm enjoying this so much I'm starting to think it would be fun to pyramid back down after Meso 3...then again I'm really missing my circuits and kettlebells! Like you said Cammie, STS is so nice because you can do other workouts since your just committed 3x week to the program. I don't think I could do a rotation like P90X or PeakFit where you have to do just that instructor's stuff 5-6x a week. I know I'd just develop dread for it. Cathe is the only instructor I can do a lot of and not tire of her! I do find that with STS though I can't do some of my really intense circuit workouts and forget about my kettlebells:(! I'd really like to do the LIS/STS with you guys but I think I want to do a month or two of circuits just to give those workouts some love and then maybe dive in with you guys!:D

Jean- I was thinking about you today! With the lower body, you mentioned maybe trying Butts and Guts and I was thinking that may overwhelm you since it is a really tough one! Maybe you could just do some of Cathe's total body workouts like High Reps or STS total body to start with since they include some leg work but don't focus as much on it. You could also try some of the STS leg workouts, B&G or Lower Body Blast but only do part of the workout, or do the lunges and squats with no weight at all, and/or just do half the reps that Cathe does. I'm afraid if you jumped in and got horrible DOMS it might scare you off to lower body work, but if you take baby steps and really take your time to work up to it you could get the benefits without so much grief. It might take a little longer but you would eventually get those great legs and tushie that Cathe is famous for delivering!;)

Carolyn- I was planning to do Hiit 40/20 tomorrow but now you've got me wanting to do AT! It's so hard to decide when all your workouts are so awesome!:D
Betty- how's Meso 1 going? Are you loving it or dreading the pushups? :eek:
Marie- those Brownies sound yummy! I got some inspiration for my smoothie this morning thinking about chocolate. I have this Dark chocolate peanut butter (peanut butter and co. brand all natural), I put a spoonful in with my recovery smoothie today. Mmmmm, nummy!:p

Hopefully I'll be getting my elliptical this weekend! It's a maybe...my hubby has to round up some friends to haul the old monster. I'll definitely be getting it within a few weeks though since the lady who sold it to us is moving to Ohio in a month so I'll have it in time for recovery week.

Sorry for the novel girls!:eek: Talk to you all later!
Colleen
 
Oh Carolyn, I wanted to add about the upper body definition...I'm sure your probably being too critical of yourself and you're likely way more cut then me! It's just I've never had any muscle at all on my upper body so I'm pretty proud of my teeny weeny muscles! LOL:p
 
Oh man, Carolyn, your son sounds a lot like mine! He's only 7 but he is just like me...passive and introverted. He makes friends easily but when he gets in a big group of kids he just tends to play by himself, especially if there are agressive or extremely extroverted type kids who are the center of attention. He has been targeted a few times by bullies already.:( Last year this one kid pushed him off the top of the slide at school and he broke his wrist!:mad: There was another incident this year but with a different boy who kicked him. They were two different kids and the teachers described them both as kids with "behavior problems"...so they weren't the popular kids but the ones with emotional issues. He is such a small, skinny little kid that I worry about how this will play out as he gets older. Fortunately his elementary school is really good at intervening with bullying and the kid from last year who pushed him isn't even at the school anymore. It is soooo hard!
My daughter I think will be fine since she is a lot more extroverted and leader-like (sometimes I call it bossy!). I have no idea where that came from!:eek: She's only 4 though so who really knows!

I hope things come out okay for him! Hopefully Cathe helped relieve some tension for you!!
 
Betty- I did end up finding someone on the VF board that lived near me and had a Tower she bought in 2009 and never used. It was brand new and she sold it to me for 50 dollars. I can't believe I lucked out like that.

Jean- GS is Cathe's Gym Styles. I did a rotation of those DVDs for three weeks to get me ready for STS.

As far as other workouts that I own... My other favorite is Ilaria Montagnani. She does the Bodystrikes and Powerstrike workouts which incorporate kickboxing and some karate moves Her body is amazing and her form is impeccable. She is totally my girl crush. She and Cathe are my two faves. I tried a few Kelly Coffey Meyer workouts because the folks at VF seem to really like her but have yet to warm up to them. I am keeping them for now and will give them another shot later on then decide if I want to keep them or not. I also have a few Janet Stone yoga DVDs which I do like and should probably do more but since I'm in cardio and strength training mode right now those are on hiatus. I do like Janet Stone yoga though, it really stretches me out and feels really yummy.

I think if you're not into high impact and are ok with kickboxing Ilaria would be good cardio for you. You can check out some of the clips of her workouts on youtube.

I do love Cathe but I do shy away from many of her workouts that are higher impact. Although I have lost weight I'm still not exactly a small gal and I don't want to accidentally injure anything trying to do some of Cathe's higher impact workouts. I saw clips of the Hiit DVD and immediately knew it wasn't for me. Maybe later when I get stronger and lose more weight. I do like the Low Impact Hiit on the Intensity DVD, this week I actually did that set of exercises twice before doing Disc 2. Cathe answered my question in her thread today and said that the new workouts would be a mix of impact and show modifications for the higher impact so I'm happy about that. The LIS series workouts have been a great addition to my collection and I hope these new ones will be as well.
 
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Carolyn your so funny! I have to admit I've posted after a few glasses of vino before! :p It's so hard with kids because you want to back away and let them work that social stuff out themselves to some extent, build independance and all. I don't want to be one of those "helicopter" moms...but it is soooo hard! Especially when you see they are exactly like you! It's rough. I don't mind when he takes after my good qualities but the other stuff I'll keep.:eek: I've also seemed to pass on some of my anxiety/nervous tic stuff to him. He was doing this music concert last year with his class and I could see how nervous he was as he was doing this squinching thing with his eyes. I was like "my poor baby! I know exactly how he's feeling!!"

Cammie I know what you mean about Kelly Coffey Meyer. I went on a kick for awhile collecting her workouts because of the raves on VF too and I realized I just didn't click with the workouts. I don't mind her actually...but the workouts just didn't do it for me. I didn't find them satisfying for some reason. I traded all but Circuit Burn on the Exchange listing but now I've even got that on my latest trade list! Hmm, I'll have to look into Janet Stone yoga. I love yoga but I'm super picky about which dvd's I like. I know I need to do it more often but just like you I've been on the cardio/strength stuff and I just can't seem to fit it into my week these days!

Must get to bed if I have any hope of working out tomorrow!:eek: Night girls!
 
Betty I am happy to see another person from the Boston area who loves Cathe. I have yet to meet anyone who has even heard of her, including the instructor at my gym. I even lent my KPC dvd (one of my favorites) to a friend a few months ago and she hasn't done it yet. She did Insanity, but I told her this one would be more fun.

Carolyn I know what you mean about the kid stuff. There have been times when I have wanted to call another kid's parent so much but have backed off. I think its because it triggers something I already went through. But our kids are much more resilient than we give them credit for - I think this stuff bothers us much more than it does them.

I did disc 3 last night. It wasn't too bad for my legs, but my forearms were killing me and I had to drop down on some of my weights. I can't imagine increasing the weight as the weeks go on, I will never have big forearms!
 
cokonkel - KCM is definitely an acquired taste I think. I get why she's so popular, but I'm just not clicking with her for some reason. It's a shame because while I love Cathe's workouts I like to find other DVDs to add to my collection for variety. I guess I'll just keep looking.

Mary - I had to put down the weights yesterday after the squats into calf raises because my forearms just couldn't hold up the weights, 17.5 in each hand. I think I also did that because while I don't mind calf work, I would rather do it without weights, my calves are big enough as they are thankyouverymuchCathe!

My inner thighs are on fire from yesterday's leg workout. I'm trying to remember what specific exercises I did that worked my inner thighs enough to give me so much pain. I don't mind though, inner and outer thighs are the weakest parts of my legs so I'm fine with them getting stronger.

I did Ilaria's Atletica for cardio and Cathe's Weights and Plates from Ab Circuits this morning. I'm determined to get this core stronger. I actually enjoyed that and I usually don't enjoy ab work (hence the weak core!). Of course I used my side and glide discs instead of paper plates. I'm actually happy she's including them in the new workouts, because I want to use them as much as possible, they're too cute. I feel better about preordering the new DVDs after she answered my question about the impact. When they announce an end to the presale date I'll revisit and then decide if I want to preorder.
 
Well my legs were feeling fine until I did Afterburn this morning - ouch! I skipped the pushups because I looked ahead to Disc 4 tomorrow. I am not looking forward to all those pushups. I have to drop to my knees and my wrists get sore.

Carolyn, I live north of Boston, about 10 minutes from Salem NH, where I do all my shopping.

Cammie-cam, I love Atletica also but don't think I'll do it again until after STS. That one is tough - good for you!

Mary
 
I liked Disc 3 Legs! I didn't have to modify that much! The hard ones are the squat-and-pick-up-weights, squat-and-drop-weights; I find I have to use pretty light weights.

Carolyn, Colleen, DON'T beat yourselves up for raising gentle children. What a wonderful thing gentle, sensitive children are. Just continue to teach them assertiveness and those bullies will lose interest.

Colleen, that's so funny what you said about our kids taking on our good and bad. I feel the same exact way! Those things that I find annoying in myself, I don't want mirrored in my kids!:mad: My eldest, a freshman in college, is introverted, but I've learned that he just takes a long time to think things through before he acts. Frustrating that he thinks too much. He's too quiet! I teased him about whether anyone noticed him in high school. The louder or outgoing other kids are, the more he hangs back. He has an assignment in college--come out of his shell more!

Don't you know that the more adversity there is in school, the more it challenges and pushes your child to excel and be empathetic? And the jocks and popular kids don't end up being successful because things came too easy to them in school!:D

Mary, you're much closer to Carolyn! KPC is my absolute favorite workout, the most awesome! I love kickbox! Must get your friend on it. You and I are on the same discs. I'm starting 4 on Monday. I do MWF workouts. Interestingly, my arms aren't killing me, just slightly sore.

Ugh, I hope the weather pattern changes and the snow that's predicted for Saturday doesn't come! Been feeling like spring this week!

Have a great weekend everyone!
 
Betty- Thanks for your kind words and advice about the kiddos! We have so much in common on here...I love it!:D
Oh, and I loved the leg discs in Meso 1! The one where you squat or lunge to pick up a weight and put it back down is killer (in a good way!). I am just starting to feel less sore from the Meso 2 leg disc from Wednesday (!). I'm starting to wonder if I'm going to be able to keep to my 2 leg days a week with Meso 2. I really want to do Trisets lower body, but maybe I'll tackle that in Meso 3 since I'm doing the Plyo leg discs. I've already done those so I know I won't be as sore as I am now! My biceps are a little sore from yesterday but not bad. Those preacher curls really get me! I love feeling my biceps getting harder and stronger. STS is so cool!:eek:

Cammie-did you notice Cathe posted that their will be low impact only premixes on the new dvds? I bet that's going to make a lot of people happy! I love some impact, but I know I would use those premixes sometimes as well.

maryk- with your wrists getting sore during pushups...I got these push up bars by Reebok at Target. They're not the ones that rotate (I think those are called "the perfect pushup" or something). These ones are pretty stable. I really like using them since they keep your wrists in neutral alignment. I even use them for mountain climbers and sometimes burpees too. It's not always convenient to use them but it really helps limit the time your wrists are flexed while doing all those dastardly pushups!

Carolyn- I can't believe you ran in 20 degree weather!:eek::eek: I was shivering just reading that!! I'm a total baby when it comes to the cold. My husband and I are constantly readjusting the thermostat in the house. I'll bump it up a few degrees, then he comes behind me and puts it back down again.:rolleyes: Stinker. ;)

Later girls!
 
D'oh! I tried to put my name in my signature and I seemed to have lost my ticker! I checked the usercp and it shows up there...what the heck did I do?

ETA: I guess you can have the ticker but not anything else in the signature thing? I'm so technologically handicapped! I did manage to upload a pic of my kiddos though! :)
 
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Hello-

I completed disc 18 and I did Bodystrikes 1 today.

Carolyn-I hear you about your son. My son attracts people who think it's fun to tell him lies about things. My son is a very gentle and very cheerful child. He's also very naive, because of the Asperger's Syndrome. Just before Christmas. This kid told my son something that scared him. He wouldn't tell me what he said, because this kid told my son if he told me, he would kill my son and me. The kid is freaking ten! I emailed the teacher and I got a call from the principal the following morning. The principal told me he was taking the threats very seriously and there would be serious consequences for this child. It had been going on for a while and we tried to let my son take care of it, but this kid escalated the whole thing with this egregious threat.

Welcome Sherry and Cam. Sherry, I will be at the Chicago RT. Cam-I lurve Ilaria, too. I had never considered doing Atletica while doing STS, but I guess if you keep the weights low, you could. I might do it tomorrow. :)

I am doing Tonique Premier as an extra leg day, in addition to Tonique Mat. I like the exercises, it's like fine tuning the smaller muscles. But it is constant talk about "getting sexy" and attracting attention, it comes across as rather shallow. I don't deny vanity as a motivation, but there are other reasons I work out as well.
 
gratefuldog said:
I know Cammie, I too have decided to order after she answered my question about how much step would be involved. The suck part is, is that I don't need anything else, so I have to pay shipping. If I do that, then the presale isn't such a great deal afterall. You can get her new dvds for $22 on Ebay with free shipping. I guess I will go thru checkout and see what the shipping cost is for presale.
I hate double wave loads. I don't feel like I am getting much out of it. I hope next weeks workouts don't have them.
Carolyn
PS: Rachel have you given up on posting? Miss ya. You too Jen.
Click to expand...

Free shipping would have really been a great incentive for this pre-order,but I'm sure they decided not to do that to instead get folks to buy other in stock workouts. It's all business, so I can't be mad at that. Cathe has definitely created a mini empire here. :) But you're right, the lack of free shipping definitely turns me away... at least for now.

Betty - the exercise where you squat and pick up and then drop the weights with the stability ball on the wall? I just hold the weights and go up and down when they do, but never below the 90 degree angle because any lower would be bad for my knees. Trust my legs are shaking and all I'm doing is holding the weights so I think it's working. :)

coconkel - Low impact premixes make me very happy. Especially because some days I feel like low impact and other days I can do higher impact. It's great that Cathe is trying to make everyone happy and I am SURE that's not an easy thing to do.

gratefuldog - I'm doing two days of Legs too. The plan is to do Lower Body Blast on Monday and The STS Legs disc on Thursday so I give my body a few days to let the muscle soreness settle down.

EpcotChick - Hello! I went to Epcot in 2010 to see Captain Eo since I missed it when I was a kid. I saw it 7 times, it was the cutest thing ever. I love Ilaria, everything about her vibe on her DVDs is really great to me. I have Bodystrikes 1 but haven't done it yet, I will have to put that one in my rotation next week. Legs legs and more legs!
 
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Happy Saturday! Love getting a little more sleep!!!

Carolyn! Thank heavens there's not much snow! Yet! I have such a huge dread factor with snow! Sure, it's beautiful when it's coming down, but what a mess later. And it makes it sooo cold!

Ladies, I finally made to Catheite status! Yay!

Carolyn and Mary, I think the Salem NH Marshall's is the one I went to in September. Either that, or it was Nashua! I can't keep it straight. (In any case it takes me an hour to get there.) I'm on my electronic device and I don't know how to navigate this Cathe app. If I exit to Google, I might lose my post.

Now, about my lower-body DOMS. I certainly have some, but different that I've ever felt before! May I say that I loved the variety of exercises in Disc 3 Legs! They're not the usual squats and lunges with barbells on your shoulders. I just hate those, and they go on forever. Add on low-ends and it's a killer!
 
I just did Disc 4 - wow, I really needed the extended stretch after that one. Cokonkel, I will look into those pushup bars, they sound good.

Carolyn, I was in Plaistow all last weekend, my daughter had a volleyball tournament at Infinity Sports. I went to that Walmart looking for some weights, and got some weighted gloves but not much else. I remember driving past the Marshalls but I was too worn out to stop, sounds like I should have gone in. I've gone to the Marshalls in Salem and the one closer to home but they never have any Cathe.

I was actually looking forward to a snowy Sat. Oh Well!
 
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