Thought provoking question

C

Cristianne

Member
Hi Everyone, This is my first post, but I am not new to Cathe. I have been lurking here for ages. Yesterday as I was pumping with Cathe, I thought that I wish someone would pose this question because it would be interesting to see what each of you would come up with. Then it hit me, DUH, why don’t I ask y’all? Here goes.

Many of us buy each and every one of her weight-oriented tapes as they come out and this has dictated in part the order in which we add them to our rotations. So I was wondering, having used all of these tapes/DVDs over the years, if I had to start all over from the beginning as if I were new to weight training and somehow magically knew already which workouts would be most effective for me, what rotation would I design to get the maximum results in the shortest time possible -- having all the workouts at hand now to choose from.

I kept thinking about this last night and found it really fun designing this rotation. I am an ecto by the way.

First 6 Weeks -- Acclimation:
M MIS Up and cardio
Tu MIS Lo
W Cardio and Stretch
Th MIS Up
Fr MIS Lo
Sat Stretch & cardio
Sun Off

Week 7-12
M CTX upper & Cardio
Tu PS lower
W Stretch & Cardio
Th CTX upper
F PS Lower
Sat Stretch & Cardio
Sun off

Week 13-18
M Pyr U
Tu Pyr L
W Cardio & superman/planks from S&H CB and stretch
Th Pyr U
Fr Pyr L
Sat Cardio & Abs from S&H TB & Stretch
Sun rest

Week 19-24
M PH
Tu Cardio & stretch
W ME
Th Cardio & stretch
F PH
Sat Cardio & Stretch
Sun Stretch

Weeks 25-28
M S&H CB
Tu SH legs
W SH Shoulders Tri and Bi
Th Cardio & Stretch
F MIS or PH or ME
Sat Cardio & Stretch
Sun Stretch

Weeks 29 – 32
M CTX Up & Cardio
Tu Leaner Legs & Stretch
W BMax Up & Cardio
Th MIS Lo & Stretch
F CTX upper & Cardio
Sat Leaner Legs & Stretch
Sun off

Explanations: I put CTX upper in the second six weeks because it is my favorite, I wouldn't want to wait too long, but it would be too much to handle if I were a rank beginner in my first six weeks. Also, I don't stipulate which cardio because I can't do Cathe's cardio workouts. I buy the cardio ones anyway in that I love her ab work and stretches. When I say "Stretch," I usually combine three or more stretch sections from her numerous tapes/DVDs and go through her entire collection doing so -- I mix later ones with older ones, this way I get a real variety of stretches and I am doing something a bit different every day that I stretch. I have not included any workouts from the Body Blast Series because I haven't seen very good results from them -- all of us are different of course. I do love the ab, core work, and stretches from them though.

So what would you do?
 
Wow! No way I could do the pyramids twice in a week. I also can't do a whole pyramid workout in one day unless it's a weekend because it takes so much time to get through it. On the other hand, if you use the premixes just up or just down, that would be doable.
 
Christianne, this is one MEAN rotation.}( Wish I had this when I was starting out.

I'm also an ecto and find the PS series and the Pyramids to be most effective. I use S&H to break plateaus and boredom. I used only these three series last November and December and barely did any cardio. I got fabulous results.

Lately I've been doing more endurance and circuit training, and do use CTX a lot. I'd like to get back into serious weight training probably in May.

Thanks for sharing. I'm printing this one out.

Pinky:D
 
Wow this 32 week rotation looks AWESOME! I might decide to do it. It depends on how my muscles hold up & time factor just like Nancy stated. I might not be able to do this. My own rotations vary w/using S&H series/CTX series/PS series/Intensity series/Body Blast series usually in that order. I go from heavy to endurance back to heavy again, etc. or I just simply don't use the tapes at all for weight training. Right now I'm taking exercises from Cathe's tapes but lifting as heavy as I can doing 3 sets of 15 reps. Thanks for posting this; it really does mix it up quite a bit. Kathy
 
Sorry everyone, Oops, I should have given more time to this in terms of explanations. Regarding the pyramids, I pyramid up, as in use increasingly heavier weights for three sets as in the premix. Moreover, I do not superset the two exercises. I do the chest press, rest during the chest fly, then do the next set of Chest presses, then rest during the flys, then do the last set of presses then go back to the beginning of the chapter resting during the first set of presses and then do the flies. This way I can rest between sets. Otherwise it is way too much for me. Sorry to mislead you, no way I could do the entire pyramid twice a week either. I find that with the half pyramid and built in rests I can really max out the weight to failure.

Some day I would like to try doing the first exercise for five sets but continuing to raise the weight until the last set so that I am only able to maybe do three or four reps. Then do two sets of the second exercise with a moderate weight for about 10 to 12 reps each set if I can still move. This would be pretty much the way that Body for Life is structured. It would be interesting to see what results I would get.

When I say cardio, I rarely do more than 20 min and it is fairly low intensity due to an old injury.

Nancy, sometimes when I am short of time, I will do chest and back in the morning and finish with shoulders and arms in the early evening. That goes with any of the workouts that do the entire upper body in one day, one body part at a time. Oftentimes when I do split it like this, I find that I can lift heavier or finish more reps for my shoulders and arms then if I try to do it straight through.
 
Another correction, in the S&H rotation, I meant Shoulders, triceps and biceps on Wednesday. I accidentally wrote Chest, triceps and biceps. Chest is done on Monday. Sometimes if I am too sore from Wednesday, I will wait another day before doing a full body workout.
 
I didn't see Legs and Glutes in there. I think it's a terrific lower body workout. I like to aternate it with CTX upper body. I think the two of them are a great match.


I tend to match up Leaner Legs with Body Max Upper Body because they are comparable in length. Both have ab workouts so I just pick the one I want to do.

Your rotation looks great, but I would try and get Legs and Glutes as soon as your budget allows for it.
 
Hi Jane, Thanks for your suggestions. Those would be great combos. I do have Legs and Glutes. Unfortunately, I have an old leg injury and for some reason there are certain workouts such as L&G and LL that my leg just won't tolerate no matter how much I modify. As it is, in terms of the ones that I have listed, I have to modify a lot to work around my disability.

I think that your suggestions are terrific for those who are interested in what I came up with and want to adapt it for themselves. When I designed this rotation, it was based on what has worked for me and what I could handle vis a vis my leg problem.

I am really enjoying everyone's feedback.

Thanks again!:)
 
Hi Pinky,

>I'm also an ecto and find the PS series and the Pyramids to be
>most effective. I use S&H to break plateaus and boredom. I
>used only these three series last November and December and
>barely did any cardio. I got fabulous results.

That's terrific. How did you use the Pyramids?

>Thanks for sharing. I'm printing this one out.

You're welcome!
 
Hi Kathy, Thank you so much for sharing your routine.

What kind of results did you get with the weight-oriented tapes of the Body Blast series? They just didn't seem to work for me, or perhaps I was not going heavy enough. Cristianne
 
>How did you use the Pyramids?

I did something like this:

Sun: cardio
Mon: PS-upper body
Tue: PS-Legs
Wed: rest or cardio
Thu: PUB
Fri: PLB
Sat: rest or cardio

Pinky
 
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