Swim*Bike*Run…with STS Muscle! by Shana

I am a classic ectomorph. Me putting on muscle is a near monumental task and for a long time, I didn’t even bother trying even though I longed for the muscular, athletic look. I have never been athletic at all – I was in band in high school so I wouldn’t have to take P.E.!

In my 30s, I joined a gym and worked out, but didn’t have much success in adding muscle. I discovered Cathe in 2008 when I quit the gym to try home workouts, but I wanted a home workout that would not disappoint. Well, Cathe did not disappoint and my fears about not being able to workout as hard at home were quickly put to rest. Cathe got me in better shape than I was ever able to attain at the gym.

When the preorder for STS came about, I jumped on it and last year, I took my first journey through STS. It was amazing and I began to see some definition in my body. Right after I finished the first round of STS, I entered my first sprint distance triathlon. I wa s not a swimmer and I didn’t really care much about running, so I had some work to do! The biking part was the only thing I had any hope with.

STS had built a really fine muscle base and my swimming endurance built amazingly fast over the summer. I entered

more races that summer and started to get the hang of it. In September, I started STS again and finished another 3 month rotation, and am now on my 3rd rotation of STS.

Now that race season has begun, the versatility of STS is proving to be irreplaceable as I have discovered new ways to use it. I can vary the mesocycles, the weeks, whatever I need to do to prepare for a race. It never gets old and the possible variations amaze me. Never in my life had I followed a rotation through until STS – it gives me the balance I need. And the muscle I have built has not only given me even better definition that I ever thought possible, but that muscle has also helped save me from injuries during training.

No longer do I have the aches and pains that I used to get in my joints because with STS, I have built the muscle up nicely around those joints. I am healthier now than I have ever been in my adult life, and people actually NOTICE my arms and comment now – and no longer do I hear that they look like sticks 🙂 And thanks in part to the 1RM pushing me to new limits, I lift weights that I never thought possible for me.

It is an amazing feeling, the feeling of strength… not just muscular strength, but inner strength as well. My daughter, who is 10, is taking an interest in working out, and is competing in triathlons too. She is begging me to let her come with me on the Texas RT so she can meet Cathe. What a fabulous example I am able to set, all because I could bring my workouts home and do what I love, and show her the possibilities of the amazing human body. She watches STS and follows the moves with very light weights, and because of the excellent form tips that Cathe gives on STS , I am able to teach her the correct way to do those moves, plus I stay injury free as well!

I totally credit STS for the body that I am building today and for the muscular endurance I feel as I train and compete. I will always be the ectomorph, but with the immense help of STS, for the first time in my life, I have become an ATHLETE. Oh, and the running – I discovered that I had the strength, I just had to have the *want* and the mental strength. STS – the Shock Training System – it shocks your body, it teaches you that you can reach within yourself and find strength that you did not even know was there. And with that you realize – anything is possible.