Shana:
STS will include the greatest variety in terms of weight training approaches and will be the most over-arching, comprehensive training program you can buy. Sounds like a sound investment to me. It will take you through endurance (higher reps, lighter weight, relatively speaking!) through to moderate weight and finally to fewer reps and heavier weight strength work. This system will give you the best results because it includes both muscle confusion and progressive overload, both of which you need to make the most of your muscles, see what they can do for you, and what sort of strength you can build. This approach has the best possibility of making changes in your body.
How much else should you get depends upon your budget really. I would not rush out and buy everything now, but select a few DVDs for now, something to cut your teeth on and get started building some muscle and strength before the STS comes out. So, go ahead with Gym Styles, MM and maybe the other 2 series you mentioned (4 DS and S&H). With just GS and MM you have a lot to be getting on with, especially because it can take 4-6 weeks of serious training and commitment to a program to see results. It is at that point that you start to gain a sense of how your body reacts to different training methods and then you can start to tweak, decide if you want to add in some endurance lifting (like the Pyramids DVDs for example) or continue with strength work but with a different focus (S&H). The good thing about 4DS, of course, is that it is a comprehensive training program all on its own with multiple cardio offerings, a total body weights program and enough premixes to allow you to do anything you want with the program. If you are enjoying Cathe's cardio, it sounds like this would be a good investment for you too. Maybe put S&H on hold for now?
Don't be in too much of a rush! Cathe's DVDs aren't going anywhere, and she's always developing new projects. So, if you spend judiciously now, you will have cash to spend on the project she develops later in the year, if you are interested.
Re: cardio. Researchers and exercise physiologists recommend reducing cardio sessions to a select few sessions of High Intensity Interval training only. They say that this works the heart, helps burn body fat without requiring your body to tap into your muscles to break them down for energy supply, as can happen, they say, with prolonged cardio sessions. You can compare the body types and muscular development of sprinters versus long distance runners, for example. The degree to which ordinary folks like you and me, who want to be healthy, fit, look after our hearts and bones and be the best "us" that we can be, should be concerned about this is up for grabs and largely, in my opinion, for us to decide. I am not a body builder, I am not about to enter a Ms. Olympia contest and I like cardio so I am not giving it up or significantly reducing it.
Again, it comes back to what I said earlier: it all depends on your goals and motivations. I want to be a runner, a good runner. I love endurance work, but I also care about my bones and heading off osteoporosis, so I am sticking with the heaviest weights I can manage too. The experts would say that these two goals defeat each other. Well, it's my body and I am going to do what makes me happy!
Hope this helps Shana! Remember: there aren't really any rights or wrongs (except maybe eating Big Macs on a daily basis!), there is only what works for you. You have to take other people's advice and experiences (including mine) into advisement while you work out a program (the particular combination of cardio and weights) that makes you healthy, fit and happy.
Clare
