Total Body Recommendations?

Newwmn3

Cathlete
Hi ladies! I am again reaching out for some advice. I am ready to switch things up a bit and shift the focus from adding muscle and weight to "leaning out" and gaining some definition to show off the new muscles I have added over the past 7 months while not losing weight or any of the muscle I have worked so hard for. I am thinking that I should spend some time utilizing Total Body weights workouts (3 days a week), 2 days of Hiit or Metabolic Hiit, and 1 day of steady-state cardio like a nice hike or kickboxing would be a good choice. Has anyone utilized this kind of mix and had good results? What are some great Total Body workouts of Cathe's that I should try? I ADORE STS Total Body and will use that for sure. What else is good? I use Cathe OnDemand, so I could try anything recommended. And if anyone is aware of a great rotation with the kind of focus I'm looking to use, I'd love to hear about it. Thanks so much! :)
 
Hi - I'm on a total body 3x per week schedule at the moment, and what I've learned is that it's good to do 3 different total-body workouts per week. Overall, you'll get to hit everything! Not every workout needs to include deadlifts (or squats, or lunges etc), a long as they're included at some point during the week.

I know it's not quite what you asked - but I thought it might be worth adding.
 
Hi - I'm on a total body 3x per week schedule at the moment, and what I've learned is that it's good to do 3 different total-body workouts per week. Overall, you'll get to hit everything! Not every workout needs to include deadlifts (or squats, or lunges etc), a long as they're included at some point during the week.

I know it's not quite what you asked - but I thought it might be worth adding.

Yes, this!!
 
I am also just starting a 3X TB workout a week rotation.
I am mixing up : STS Total Body, ME, MM, MIS, Power Hour, Supersets, Total Body Trisets, High Reps, and push/pull. I try and get one easier one a week (supersets, push/pull, total body trisets), but otherwise am not too technical about the types of workouts and how I mix them. Burn Sets give nice upper body add ons if I ever feel under worked on a light day :)

I am trying to get in 2X cardio a week and 1 metabolic/week, but I have found I am more tired than before (previously a 3X/week circuit/metabolic and 3X/week cardio type of routine). Not sore/DOMS or lightheaded, just not as energetic as normal. Probably because my eating is not as protein rich/fuel oriented as it should be considering the strength training.

I am trying to mix in one HIIT/week (Plyo,Low impact,tabatacise, or a short weider ruthless workout), 1 metabolic (Athletic training, Afterburn, Supercuts, Flextrain) and maybe 1 day of a mixed workout (X10, Crossfire, To the max). But these are pretty flexible and I move them around depending on how I am feeling on a particular day. Also, I am trying to get in 2 (separate from the workouts) yoga and/or stretching routines in a week. STS extended stretch is nice for adding on to the workouts.

Cindy
 
Hi - I'm on a total body 3x per week schedule at the moment, and what I've learned is that it's good to do 3 different total-body workouts per week. Overall, you'll get to hit everything! Not every workout needs to include deadlifts (or squats, or lunges etc), a long as they're included at some point during the week.

I know it's not quite what you asked - but I thought it might be worth adding.

Awesome, thank you!!! That helps a ton cuz I wouldn't have thought to do 3 different ones! Are you working from a rotation that you created?
 
Hi Christin,

Cathe's total body are push and pull, super sets, muscle max, high reps and power hour.

Last but not least pyramid total premix.

Let me know if you want a rotation. I will post here. :)

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

Thanks Nathalie! Heck yes, I would LOVE a rotation suggestion! The more the merrier! :)
 
Has anyone utilized this kind of mix and had good results?

Hi, christin,

To reply to question above, I did 3x total for years----3-4 years before venturing split. I was in a decent shape.
Results gained at the time were: weight and inch loss, toned physique, Vo2 max improved, endurance both
cardio vasculaire and strength. Last but not least my metabolism improved and kept my weight undercontrol.
Till now nearly 9 years I have not gained any weight back. In fact I am still trimming without being on any strict diet.

Hope this answer your question:).

As to your rotation, please let me know how long you intend to embark on this new venture;);).
A month, two or 3 months? I will do a rotation containing what you listed above. I know you want
definition:):).
 
Christin, I'm doing a Nia Shanks lifting programme. At the moment it's 3x total body per week & as much / little other stuff as you want. Every 5 weeks it changes to 4 day splits. It keeps me guessing, and it's working miracles on my 45 year old bod!

Nia's program is the bomb. I've been doing her program along with Justine and Roz. Every one of us has had a lat explosion. Can't go wrong with Nia.
 
Christin, I'm doing a Nia Shanks lifting programme. At the moment it's 3x total body per week & as much / little other stuff as you want. Every 5 weeks it changes to 4 day splits. It keeps me guessing, and it's working miracles on my 45 year old bod!

That does sound interesting. How does the program work? It's not DVDs is it? Where did you purchase it from?
 
Hi, christin,

To reply to question above, I did 3x total for years----3-4 years before venturing split. I was in a decent shape.
Results gained at the time were: weight and inch loss, toned physique, Vo2 max improved, endurance both
cardio vasculaire and strength. Last but not least my metabolism improved and kept my weight undercontrol.
Till now nearly 9 years I have not gained any weight back. In fact I am still trimming without being on any strict diet.

Hope this answer your question:).

As to your rotation, please let me know how long you intend to embark on this new venture;);).
A month, two or 3 months? I will do a rotation containing what you listed above. I know you want
definition:):).

Awesome! It sounds like it did good things for you and I hope it will for me, too. Let's start with a 1 month rotation. I'm going to experiment and see how I feel after 30 days then go from there. I will be using Cathe OnDemand so, unfortunately, I won't have access to premixes for most things. I do own RWH in its entirety and a ton of cardio and metabolic ones but no other weights ones at this point. I have access to Workout Blender, too, in case that helps. Thanks so much for offering to do this!!!! You rock! :)
 
That does sound interesting. How does the program work? It's not DVDs is it? Where did you purchase it from?
Christin,
Nia's website is niashanks.com
However, I can't find the link to Beautiful Badass (the program that Karen, Justine, and I are doing). K+J, can you find it?
It's a great deal -- paper program (downloads, no DVD -- you just work at your own pace and with your own weight loads, which I LOVE) with video tutorials, and the whole thing is $27 I think.
For metabolic, and keeping with the paper program theme, Jen Sinkler's Lift Weights Faster 2 is totally blowing my mind (I think it's liftweightsfaster.com) -- it's a HUGE resource. So much info. I'm already a smarter lifter, and I've only had her program a couple weeks.
 
Christin - it was Roz and Karen who persuaded me to give Beautiful Badass a try. Probably the best training decision I've ever made.
Here's the link:
http://www.niashanks.com/beautiful-badass-blueprint/

Note that it's a strength training system, rather than hypertrophy. Most of the programmes are very low-rep, which has worked really well for me, I've got much, much stronger, and gained quite a bit of muscle. Just about all the moves are the big, compound moves done heavily enough to tax your entire body. You need a barbell, squat rack and pull-up bar.

As Roz said, Lift Weights Faster is wonderful, too. All the workouts are between 10 and 30 mins, and are graded by difficulty, and organised in chapters depending on what equipment they use. It's been fun to do a different workout every day.
 
Christin, I'm doing a Nia Shanks lifting programme. At the moment it's 3x total body per week & as much / little other stuff as you want. Every 5 weeks it changes to 4 day splits. It keeps me guessing, and it's working miracles on my 45 year old bod!

Justine,
Which program are you doing?
I am doing the Train to be Awesome program right now, but I'm also doing other w/os. I joined Gold's for the summer (and will go back to home once school starts again) so I've been doing the Les Mills workouts there; bodypump, bodycombat and body attack. I would love to add in a metabolic w/o. I have been happy with what I see too, also 45 :)
 
Awesome! It sounds like it did good things for you and I hope it will for me, too. Let's start with a 1 month rotation. I'm going to experiment and see how I feel after 30 days then go from there. I will be using Cathe OnDemand so, unfortunately, I won't have access to premixes for most things. I do own RWH in its entirety and a ton of cardio and metabolic ones but no other weights ones at this point. I have access to Workout Blender, too, in case that helps. Thanks so much for offering to do this!!!! You rock! :)

Hi Christin,

As promised, Please find below, a 3x per week total body rotation. This rotation solely contains cathe’s dvd since you mentioned you have cathe’s live. The aim is to mainly work anaerobically for both lifting and cardio segments. Why because working anaerobically i.e you will be lifting 70%-80% of your one max to produce growth hormone. Why? Because it’s the friendly hormone to muscle building. I know you want definition. Gaining definition is essentially about building, recruiting muscles rather than *just* toning them. By no mean I imply working less than 8 reps you do not build any. Neither do I imply you won’t get any result with light weigth.Definition is about building and increasing size. You won’t increase your clothes size trust me! ;);)Plus as you stated before, you are a hard gainer so I am confident this should work. First week is MIS you can lift light to medium on this. I suggest you lift the heavier as safely as you can for the other weeks.


Week1

Mon: MIS.

Tues: 30/30 Hiit plus Yoga Relax.

Wed: MIS.

Thurs: KPC.

Frid: X-train All out low impact.

Sat: MIS.

Week 2

Mon: Muscle Max.

Tues: Rockout Knock out.

Wed: Muscle Max.

Thurs: 40/30 Hiit.

Frid: RwH Low impact#1 plus yoga relax.

Sat: Muscle Max.


Week 3

Mon: STS Tot.

Tues: IMAX2 or any other steady pace of your choice.

Wed: STS Tot.

Thurs: To the max or Cross fire.

Frid: RwH Low impact#2 plus Yoga relax.

Sat: STS Tot.

Week 4

Mon: High Reps.

Tues: Hard strickes, main program or long premix.

Wed: High Reps.

Thurs: Pyramid Hiit or Tabatacise.

Frid: RwH Plyo Hiit#1 plus yoga relax.

Sat: Power hour.

I will be reading your updates with interest. In fact I will do this rotation and will report here;).

Please get in touch if you have any question

All the best:):):),
 
Last edited:
Justine,
Which program are you doing?
I am doing the Train to be Awesome program right now, but I'm also doing other w/os. I joined Gold's for the summer (and will go back to home once school starts again) so I've been doing the Les Mills workouts there; bodypump, bodycombat and body attack. I would love to add in a metabolic w/o. I have been happy with what I see too, also 45 :)

Sara, I'm doing the Double Progression from Beautiful Badass - I'm halfway through. Next week I lower my reps (3x3), so that should be fun!
I'll have to have a look at Train to be Awesome. For metabolic and HiiT I'm using Lift Weights Faster. A 10 minute 'finisher' after a lifting session, and a longer (30 mins or so) one on my in between days.

It takes a bit more dedication at 45, right?
 
Christin, I'm doing a Nia Shanks lifting programme. At the moment it's 3x total body per week & as much / little other stuff as you want. Every 5 weeks it changes to 4 day splits. It keeps me guessing, and it's working miracles on my 45 year old bod!

Christin,
Nia's website is niashanks.com
However, I can't find the link to Beautiful Badass (the program that Karen, Justine, and I are doing). K+J, can you find it?
It's a great deal -- paper program (downloads, no DVD -- you just work at your own pace and with your own weight loads, which I LOVE) with video tutorials, and the whole thing is $27 I think.
For metabolic, and keeping with the paper program theme, Jen Sinkler's Lift Weights Faster 2 is totally blowing my mind (I think it's liftweightsfaster.com) -- it's a HUGE resource. So much info. I'm already a smarter lifter, and I've only had her program a couple weeks.
Nia's program is the bomb. I've been doing her program along with Justine and Roz. Every one of us has had a lat explosion. Can't go wrong with Nia.


Awesome! It does sound good. My only concern is that, because I am only a 7-month seasoned lifter, I would need help with form. Using DVDs is a huge help for me because I can see form modeled properly throughout the workout. Timing is also a factor such as how quickly to do reps and how long of a break to take between sets. What are your thoughts on that? Also, I see she has 2 choices via the link Justine provided. Which one would you recommend? By the way, I am kinda digging her website. She sounds like one cool chick!

As a sidenote, I created a nice little workout on Workout Blender that combined all 3 sections of Total Body Trisets, making it an 84 minute total body workout. Ouch. I think I may scale that one back next time.....lol! My 43-year-old bod was like "What are you doing to me, woman?!?!?" ;P

Christin
 
Hi Christin,

As promised, Please find below, a 3x per week total body rotation. This rotation solely contains cathe’s dvd since you mentioned you have cathe’s live. The aim is to mainly work anaerobically for both lifting and cardio segments. Why because working anaerobically i.e you will be lifting 70%-80% of your one max to produce growth hormone. Why? Because it’s the friendly hormone to muscle building. I know you want definition. Gaining definition is essentially about building, recruiting muscles rather than *just* toning them. By no mean I imply working less than 8 reps you do not build any. Neither do I imply you won’t get any result with light weigth.Definition is about building and increasing size. You won’t increase your clothes size trust me! ;);)Plus as you stated before, you are a hard gainer so I am confident this should work. First week is MIS you can lift light to medium on this. I suggest you lift the heavier as safely as you can for the other weeks.


Week1

Mon: MIS.

Tues: 30/30 Hiit plus Yoga Relax.

Wed: MIS.

Thurs: KPC.

Frid: X-train All out low impact.

Sat: MIS.

Week 2

Mon: Muscle Max.

Tues: Rockout Knock out.

Wed: Muscle Max.

Thurs: 40/30 Hiit.

Frid: RwH Low impact#1 plus yoga relax.

Sat: Muscle Max.


Week 3

Mon: STS Tot.

Tues: IMAX2 or any other steady pace of your choice.

Wed: STS Tot.

Thurs: To the max or Cross fire.

Frid: RwH Low impact#2 plus Yoga relax.

Sat: STS Tot.

Week 4

Mon: High Reps.

Tues: Hard strickes, main program or long premix.

Wed: High Reps.

Thurs: Pyramid Hiit or Tabatacise.

Frid: RwH Plyo Hiit#1 plus yoga relax.

Sat: Power hour.

I will be reading your updates with interest. In fact I will do this rotation and will report here;).

Please get in touch if you have any question

All the best:):):),

Nathalie, you rock!!! This looks great!!! Thank you so much!!!
 

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