STS first time!

No workout for me today! :)

Carolyn- like the other girls said, CSS is like AB but slightly easier and includes the step bonus. I'm not sure if your rotation calls for the bonus step part but when/if it does you could sub in the step part from AT after AB. The problem with doing AB is that it is considered a HIIT workout due to it's intensity and I believe CSS is considered more steady state cardio, so subbing that in may give you too much high intensity cardio for the purposes of the rotation. I know I've read somewhere that you aren't supposed to do HIIT workouts more than twice a week I believe. Do you have any other steady state cardio type workouts (even if not Cathe) that you could sub in for CSS?

Okay, Jean asked me to post my chocolate chip oatmeal recipe so here goes. Gotta warn ya guys it's not exactly "clean" or Oxygen magazine worthy but they are delish! :p

Chocolate chip oatmeal cookies
2 sticks salted butter (softened, NO substitutes)
1 1/4 packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
2 TBLSP milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 cup flour
2 cups oatmeal
1 12 oz package semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter and sugar together, add eggs, milk and vanilla. In a separate bowl mix flour, salt and baking soda. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Then add oatmeal, then lastly chocolate chips. Drop by spoonfuls on cookie sheet. bake 10-11 minutes (not letting cookies get overly browned/cooked, they taste best and stay nice and chewy/soft if you take them out when they just barely start to get brown) Cool on wire racks. Nummy!

Eva- you are going to love the leg workouts in STS! There are no pulsing lunges or squats or partial reps at all that I can recall. Do you have the Plyo legs from Meso 3? Those workouts are the best! :D I like to use them on their own for just a quick leg/cardio day once in a while. Fun stuff! BTW, we're almost the same height! I'm 5'2" and you're right...the weight has nowhere to hide when you're short! I gain 5 lbs and I immediately go up a size in clothing!:mad:

Family is coming over tonight to celebrate Easter. My sister is leaving for Jamaica tomorrow so we can't do it on Sunday. She's a travel agent so she gets all these free trips to check out new places for clients. So jealous!
Have a great day everybody!
 
Good Morning! I was MIA yesterday. I did my cardio and went to work, but I had some serius coding to do for my doctors. And, then my receptionist was out of the office so I was at the front desk. And it was Friday and a full moon. So all the crazy ones came out of the woods. :p

So, Today I started off with 45 minutes elliptical and Ab circuits. Tonight is Afterburn!!!

I missed chatting, and OMG I missed alot.

Jean---Thanks for missing me. It means alot. But, I am back. Congrats on you pushups. That is truely amazing. Also, way to go with Turbo Barre.

Colleen- I can't magine doing step without shoes. I would think it would bother your ankles. And thanks for the cookie receioe,, looks delish. I will have to add those ingredients to my grocery list.

Marie---TBT is awesome. I do the entire DVD most of the time. It is a killer workout!

Carolyn---You will enjoy LIS/STS rotation. I sure do. When I was doing STS I missed LIS. When I did LIS I missed STS. So noe that they are combined I am having a good time. CSS---you have to get. Watch the previews, I think you will need to add to your wishlist. When I do CSS I am drenched when I am done. I absolutley love it. Normally my lower body is screaming the next day. Which I know you enjoy DOMS as much as I do. But, I do agree with everyone that Afterburn is a good sub.

Eve---Welcome. Hope you are enjoying STS.

Okay, so I just got home from the farmers market. I got some red and white grapefruit that I need to go section and mix for a delish snack. So I will be in the kitchen for awhile. I LOVE white grapefuit. When I was little, all I had to do is walk outside to pick fresh grapefruit, oranges, lemons. I grew up surrounded by groves. Now I have to buy all my fruit and its just not the same. But, our farmers market is awesome. They normally get fruit that you can't get a your local Publix.

Oh, my crops are coming along nicely. My squash is starting to flower. My watermellons just sprotted. I am so excited!!!!

Okay, gotta go...will be back later. :D
 
Missy- I definitely wouldn't recommend doing high impact step aerobics without shoes unless you have been working out barefoot for quite awhile. I'm a seasoned barefoot exerciser and even my feet got tired after 30 minutes of AS. It takes a really long time to build up the endurance, not just in the muscles of the feet and ankles but also in the ligaments, tendons and fascia. In fact the strength of the muscles will come fairly soon but the other stuff takes much longer. I started out with just pilates and yoga for a long time. Then I added low impact cardio and then gradually higher impact plyometrics in short intervals (with my cushy puzzle mats of course, you need that shock absorption especially in the beginning). I gradually increased the length of time and intensity until I finally tried step aerobics without shoes. The LIS workouts with the low impact drills on the step were perfect to start out with. I also keep a tennis ball on hand to massage the bottom of my feet and arches when they start to feel tired.

I was actually noticing the other day how great my arches have been looking lately. I've had fallen arches and flat feet for years (at least since high school). That always led to over pronation and foot, ankle and lower back pain before. Now my arches have come back, my ankles are stronger and I don't have lower back pain anymore since working out without shoes! I even found this article when I googled about my arches, curious if the barefoot exercising is what brought them back: How to Improve Arches | eHow.com

Also, the full moon! Of course! That's why I had so many kooky people the other day! It never fails! ;)

Gotta go...BBL
 
Oh Carolyn- I had to say...I was trying not to say it...but I agree with Missy. You should try to get CSS if you can afford it (she says as she quickly runs and ducks for cover:eek:). It's a great workout!:p It does sound like it's used a lot in the LIS/STS rotation. One caveat about that workout, for me at least, is that I have to modify the disc jacks, cross country ski move and momentum lunges on the discs because those moves really bother my knees. I don't know if they would have that effect on you though...how do you do with the disc jacks in AB? You feel okay after? I take those moves to my rebounder. The bonus step part is pretty reminiscent of the step portion in AT I think.

Congratulations on fulfilling your wish list Jean! I'm really close to having the majority of Cathe's workouts now! I just got Imax 2 and Cardio plus weights in a trade as well as Body Max 2! The only stuff I don't have is some of the really old workouts (pre 2002), 4DS, LIC, the 2 yoga's and Muscle Max. I actually had many of those and wasn't crazy for them so I traded them awhile back. I sort of wish I had kept Muscle Max though...:eek: I almost always have traders remorse when I trade my Cathe workouts so from now on I'm going to hang on to them in case I want to try them again in the future. Sometimes my needs and tastes change with time and something I didn't like once before becomes something I like later.

TTYL
 
Carolyn---I do not take Creatine but also read alot about it in Oxygen mag. I was always wondering if you should take it as a supplement, being that we life weights. And yes, I am guilty about recommending to purchase DVD's, but it is an investment in your health. Without our DVD's what we we exercise too? Its cheaper than a stinkin gym membership. hahaha :p

I have been thinking for several months that I need to purchase the entire hardcore series to go along with all my others. Do you ever use those DVD's? The only thing that is holding me back, is that they are pretty old. I have all of the new stuff: STS, LIS, STS cardio,intensity, lower body blast, high reps, B&G, drill max, low impact circuit, body max 2, cardio fusion, 4 day split. Should I buy Hardcore series? I see in alot of the monthly rotation she incorporates the hardcore series. What are your thoughts?

Okay, gotta go. BBL. :D
 
I was AWOL from the forum for a couple of days because I was dealing with horrible allergies. I didn't miss any workouts but felt crummy. Usually my prescription meds work well but the last two days, my allergies won out. I'm feeling better now.

cokonkel - glad using more than one band worked for you. I used my hardest three this week (together) and it felt like more of a workout rather than almost nothing.

Oh my gosh, you guys are talking about pizza, chocolate chip cookies, and pumpkin muffins. :eek: Although the fruit and veg table talk balanced things out. :p

I should have my turbo tower early next week. :)
 
Good Morning! Happy Easter! Don't eat too much candy and or sweets today. And make sure you make time for Abs!!! It seems that when I work my Abs I tend to be more strick in my eating. Yesterday I hit them early morning and was health conceious all day. Yeah!!!

Mar--I hope you are feeling better. My husband cut grass all day, and when he was done he was a mess. Dirt, Pollin, and of course fresh cut grass.... He was a train wreck! At least you did you workouts!!! I am excited for you in regards to your turbo tower. When I got mine, it did make things easier. And, it sure makes Turbo Barre alot of fun!!! :)

Okay, off to do abs and cardio!!! Have a lovely Day! :D
 
Happy Easter and Passover!

This morning I did LIC. I think I finally got that 4th combo down! It was alot of fun, and I am enjoying getting back to my cardio now that I'm on a rest week. My biggest challenge today is avoiding all the chocolate around me!

Carolyn, I didn't want to say it either, but you need CSS, it is a great workout and it includes a 20 minute bonus that I like to add on as well.

Mar, I hope your allergies are better. Mine usually kick in around now and are bad for a few weeks, but whatever I'm allergic to hasn't come out yet.

Have a great day everyone!
 
Oh man, the kids got up today at 6:30 and found their Easter baskets before we even woke up! They were gorging themselves with candy for a few hours and watching cartoons when we finally got our butts out of bed. They are going to be flying high on sugar today!

Carolyn- as far as the Hydraplenish I usually take 2 a day. When I first got it my knees were really achey (it was when I first hurt them) so I was taking 4 for the first month or so but boy do you go through a bottle fast that way! I usually get mine on Swansons.com which is by far the cheapest place I've found it. Actually I've been getting all my supplements on there lately due to price (I feel guilty not supporting my local food co-op though where I used to get my stuff...:eek:). I don't take creatinine but I did read about it in Oxygen, too. I probably won't though since I feel like I'm already taking so many things as it is!:eek: Actually, Mark and I got it an argument about stuff like vitamins, fish oil and supplements the other day. He reads one article by one doctor who's opinion is that taking vitamins are useless and he decides it's a waste of time and isn't going to take the ones I give him anymore. Finally I was like, whatever dude...do what you want! Just don't give me crap when I take what I take!

Mar- I started getting allergies a few years ago and I swear I didn't know what was going on at first! For the first year or two I kept thinking I had a cold that just kept hanging on. Then I was finally like...D'oh! Allergies! Duh! They aren't always super bad, quite often I'll forget to take the claritin but when they do peak I'll have to make sure to stock up on it!

Jean- I'm sorry you aren't starting to like your rotation!:( Are you noticing any results yet that keep you motivated to keep going? Any change in your lower body yet? It's probably too soon to tell. Are you getting less sore after the LIS workouts now?

I can't decide what I want to do today! I was thinking LBB with the standing + leg conditioning drills premix, then I was thinking AB, now I'm looking at Lean Hot Body by Patrick Goudeau. I can't decide!:confused: I'm thinking I need maximum calorie burn after the tremendous amount of calories I took in yesterday with my family over.:eek:
Have a great holiday everybody!
 
Okay---I finished my elliptical workout and did Ab circuits medicine ball and no equip abs. Now my abs are nice and sore.

My hubby and I have some gardening to do with our crops, so looks like we will be outside for awhile.

Jean---Stick with this rotation and when you start seeing results I am sure you will come around to enjoy it. Do you not like it because of the LIS workouts? Is it because of there is only a rest day? Just curious? I love it!

Everyone---Stay away from all the candy today!!! Only eat a little. Just remember....What you consume in calories you must burn off!!! :p

Colleen---I too have read that vitamins are useless. But, I believe that help. I take a multi everyday, I also sit in an office with 1,000% of germs daily and for the most part stay healthy. My husband is normally the one to bring sickness home. But, also your body gets use to being around germs and is tougher. :)

Okay, gotta go!!!! BBL!
 
Ho boy, I just ate one of my chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and it was worth every. single. calorie!:eek:

Today I wound up doing Patrick Goudeau's Lean Hot Body and Cathe's ab circuits, weights and plates. I really like LHB, but I do have to modify some of the moves. There is just no way in this life or any other I'm going to attempt to do a one legged burpee into a push up. Just ain't happening! Of course I'll never do another tuck jump without my trusty rebounder either! :)

You guys will have to let me know what you think of the Syn-ake. I've been using this new bottle and I swear I'm not feeling the same effect as when I first was using it. I would literally see the wrinkle relax within minutes before but now I feel like I'm noticing it less. I'm not sure if it's in my head or not though! I try to really take care of my skin...I always use sunscreen, try to drink lots of water, and I know taking fish oil helps too. I also credit the hydraplenish and of course I've used just about every over the counter cream you can name!:eek: I can really see the wrinkles pop out when I've spent a long time out in the sun and forgot the sunscreen or when I'm dehydrated! Makes me feel really old!:( It also doesn't help that my family grays really early. I have a lot of grays and I color my hair to banish those suckers! My mom and uncle were totally gray by the time they were 30 (although mom has always colored her hair too so it's harder to tell!). My younger brother is 28 and he already has salt and pepper hair (his hair is/was dark dark brown).

Betty- isn't it frustrating when the husbands won't let us make them healthier? You'd think they'd be happy about it but it's tough to get my hubby to eat well, exercise etc. He swears pork chops are healthy (seriously)!:confused:

Jean- I think it's a good idea you switch up your rotation if it's not making you happy. Just like me and the Meso 3 upper body workouts! If you aren't enjoying your workouts and they are just dreadful to you it's definitely time to change what your doing. I really believe that first and foremost, exercise should make you happy. It's nice when you can get the cosmetic results from it, but if you're miserable doing it that's not good! I'm glad you're going to give AT a chance though...who knows, that may be the one workout from LIS you actually like.:D

Carolyn- how was the movie?? My younger sister thought it was so cute and funny, which I thought was hilarious because she's a pretty cynical type chick! Totally didn't expect her to like a movie like that!

Night ladies!
 
I'm feeling better allergy-wise. I've had all types of allergies all my life. Meds do a good job of helping me with my plant/animal allergies usually. But I am also allergic to things that touch my skin. I have a Body Media Fit, which is made to wear all the time (they say to keep it off for an hour a day), but I'm doing great to be able to wear it 12 hours a day. Sometimes I have to not wear it for a couple of weeks to get my skin healed. I like that it will show me my 'movement' throughout the day. I've forgotten to take if off when I've gone riding on my horses...it says I burn thousands and thousands of calories when I do that. :D

I think I'd have trouble sticking with SST for months if I were buying a lot of new DVDs. I'm guessing but I bet I have 40 of Cathe's. I used to have a lot of the Firm and Karen Voight but got rid of the years ago. I haven't really tried anyone else so I guess I don't know what I'm missing. :p
 
Hello Ladies! It's Monday!!!! Very Busy today!

I did my cardio this morning and I am scheduled to do a STS DVD tonight!!!!

Just wanted to check in. Will be home in a few hours to exercise and then will check back in!!!

Gotta Go!
 
We just brought home my Turbo Tower and will be putting it up tonight. So tomorrow I'm going to "officially" start my 6 months of STS (even though I did week one twice already...that was practice). :p

Jean, yes my Body Media Fit is like the Body Bug except that you sleep with it too and it will record your sleep movement (not sure BB does that). I can't sleep in it because I can't wear it that long without my skin getting irritated. It's a great motivator for me to keep moving. If I have been sitting in front of the computer all day, I will see it on the graph as being barely over the energy I exert when sleeping. :eek:

Instead, when I've been out with my horses and other animals (not counting the cheat of riding my horse with it to give me mega fake burned calories) ;) I can see when I burned the most calories based on what I was doing. It encourages me to do more walking/hiking/moving. My goal is to burn 2500 calories a day.

When I bike, I don't wear it but instead I'm able to input the calories burned manually. Oh, the steps my BodyMedia says I have taken, during a walk, match very closely with my treadmill mileage and outdoor walking mileage. I walk approx 2000 steps a mile. I've been very happy with it since I got over the disappointment that I can't wear it when I sleep and sometimes I can't wear it for a couple of weeks, if my skin gets irritated.
 
Good Evening! Just finished my workouts. I got a late start. Had to go get hay!!! Then stack it in the hay barn. Then, i prepare dinner. But, I got it in. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical and then STS.

I feel like I will be sore tomorrow.

Betty---That looks like my collection. I keep all my Cathe DVD lined up side by side on a shelf too. Sometimes I just stair at them, trying to figure out which one to do!!!

Jean---good luck on making those delish cookies on Wednesday! Don't eat too many, but have 1 for me. I have all the ingredients on my grocery list for this weekend. I am sure my husband would love some cookies!!! (I would too) hahaha :p

I am exhausted.....going to bed. Chat with ya'll tomorrow!!!! :D
 
Morning ladies!

Sorry I was MIA yesterday! I thought I had posted but I guess I didn't. :eek: I had to take yesterday off because my daycare was closed and I didn't have anyone to watch the kids. It felt weird having a Monday off but oh so nice! :D Of course, on my days off I spend less time on the computer than I do when I work! I'm always running around doing stuff...I burn calories just picking up after the kids constantly and doing housework!

Usually I take Monday as my rest day but I had the time to workout so I did the Lower Body Blast standing premix + leg conditioning drills. I have this thing I do when I do LBB where I'll do the warm up, pause the dvd and do this kettlebell thing to really get my heart rate up there. You do 15 swings and 15 squat thrusts, then 14 swings, 14 squat thrusts, then 13/13, 12/12 on down to 1/1. Then I start the dvd again. After doing LHB on Sunday and that yesterday I'm wicked sore! I was planning on doing AT today but I'm going to do MMA Boxing instead to give my lower body a break! I have to go to Green Bay this weekend for an optical conference so there won't be any workouts for me this coming Saturday and Sunday.

Betty I love your avatar too! So fun, makes me want to snap a pic of my little shelf of dvds!:p That's so funny how you were like, am I hallucinating the knee thing and wrinkle thing? LOL I'm always the same way, sometimes changes are so slow and subtle it's like, "am I imagining this?". It's especially true with supplements. I always tell my patients when I recommend fish oil for dry eyes that it will take at least 6 weeks of consistent use before they'll notice it's helping and it won't be a sudden dramatic change, it's just all of a sudden they'll notice their eyes won't be as dry as before.

Jean- I have a few Karen Voight dvds but I only really like one. It's called Energy Sprint and it's a really old step workout by her. I used to do that one and Kathy Smith's Power Step all the time in college. I got so excited when I found it on dvd last year I snapped it up and did it as soon as I got it. It's still a decent workout but it is sooooo dated I have a hard time doing it now! It's so silly that I'm put off by stuff like that. Any time an older workout has that dated look with the spandex leotards and the big hair I just can't bring myself to do it anymore!:eek:

Marilyn- that body media thing does sound cool. It's so nice to have that kind of feedback to get an idea of how your body is working and burning calories at any given moment in time. I can imagine it's really motivating and keeps you moving. Something that sort of reminds me of that is that thing they put in newer cars where it tells you exactly how many miles per gallon you get as you drive to encourage you to improve your driving habits. My sister has that in her car and she says it really helps having that kind of instant, changeable feedback.

Missy- stacking hay, then cardio and STS...I bet you are very sore today!:eek: Whew! Oh and you guys can sort of feel slightly less guilty about the cookies. I mean, they do have oatmeal in them right? ;)

Carolyn- If it's not too far away you should totally go see Amy! She's in Portsmouth at the LensCrafters in the mall there. She's Dr. Amy Catalano and she'd be awesome, I'm sure! If you do make an appointment for your daughter make sure to let me know so I can shoot her an email to let her know you guys are coming!
I gotta tell you, I can't wait to try that letterboxing thing you mentioned awhile back. I'm still waiting for a nice warm weekend day when we don't have a crazy busy schedule but I think the kids will have such a ball!

Okay, time to get the kids up! Have a great day girls!
 
Today I did disc 1 (m1, w1) & sts yoga abs & extended stretch. The Turbo Tower gives me a much better way to do push ups since I can't do them straight legged (yet) ;) but doing them on my knees is uncomfortable due to various past knee injuries. Now I can do them using the Turbo Tower and as time goes on I can lower the bar more and more until someday I'm doing them on the floor. :cool:

I haven't looked at Cathe's new tapes for several years. I just coveted STS all that time and bought it when I was ready. So I'd never seen Turbo Barre until I just looked at it today. I'm definitely going to get it one of these days. Where do you guys put it in your workouts? Do you replace a strength training day with it or do you use it on more of a non strength training day? I guess my question is...if you are sticking with the STS rotation strictly, would Turbo Barre have a place in any week other than the week you take off from STS?
 
I did MMA Boxing today! It always amazes me how much I sweat in that one! Perfect steady state/moderate cardio. Plus the core section in that one is really awesome! I have to remember that and pull it out once in awhile when I feel like doing abs since it's only about 10 minutes but works me good!

Mar-I find TB really tough to fit into my schedule. I think it's fine to do it with STS because it's not heavy weights, but I always wanted to do cardio on my non-STS days and TB doesn't really raise my heart rate enough to be considered cardio, I don't think. It tends to be something I just do when the mood strikes and if I have the time.

Gotta go. TTYL!
 
Good Afternoon. How is everybody today?

I have been very busy! I ran this morning! Tonight I am doing B&G. I am looking forward to it. My rotation stated Low Impact Challen but I think I would rather do B&G. So I am going for it.

Mar---Turbo barre is a good workout, but like Colleen said, it does not raise your heart rate. So I always do cardio after. But, I do like it. You can definately feel the burn.

Carolyn---I would have also choosen CCC to replace CSS. And, yes I feel like the energizer bunny sometimes, but last night I think my batteries died after all my chores and workout. I was so tiered I showered and went straight to bed. All it took me was maybe 3 minutes to go to sleep. And I didn't move till the alarm went off this morning!

Okay, gotta go. BBL! :p
 

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