Using the Workout Manager for STS – Learn How

When we first made STS we designed it to work with our Workout Manager to help you not only select the correct weight for each exercise, but also to help you stick to your exercise program by keeping a journal of your progress. STS is the only home workout program that tells you what weights you should use for your workout by using One Rep Max testing and by allowing you to print a workout card for every routine in the program. With the New Year just starting we thought it would be a good time to explain how to use and navigate through the Workout Manager for STS users.

First, there two are two ways of accessing and using the Workout Manager for STS users – STS icon and the Calendar icon:

A.       STS icon – The STS icon is located at the top of the Workout Manager. This section contains information specific for STS users:

1. Quick Print an STS Workout Card – If you don’t need to make any changes or adjustments (reps, weights, etc) to your STS Workout card then you can quickly print an STS Workout card for any STS workout here. You can also print your STS workout cards through the Calendar icon. Using the Calendar is the recommended way to print your STS workout cards as it offers you the ability to make changes to your cards reps and weights as well as view video clips of every exercise and to create notes for your workout card.

2. Links– Instructions and information about the STS program that may be helpful to you all in one easy to find place.

B.       Calendar – The Calendar Icon is the recommended way for STS users to use the Workout Manager. After clicking on the Calendar icon the first thing you may want to do is to download an STS Rotation.

1. Rotations – We currently offer four official STS Rotations. Users have also created their own rotations that you may want to try. To add these to your calendar just go to the Calendar, click Add Workout, select STS Rotations from the drop-down, select a rotation, then click Save. The entire STS workout program will then be downloaded into your calendar – simple right?  The following is list of our Four official Rotations:

i.      STS Strength Rotation……3½ months

ii.      STS Strength Program Rotation with Squat Rack……3½ Months

iii.      STS Strength Program……6½ Months

iv.      STS Strength Program Rotation with Squat Rack……6½ Months

2.  Print an STS Workout Card – After you have downloaded an STS Rotation or workout it’s simple to print a workout card. Here is all you need to do:

i.      Just click on the date in the calendar of your scheduled STS workout.

ii.      On the right sidebar click the “Show Details Link”

iii.      Now click on the “Edit Workout” button and your workout card will load.

iv.      Make any Changes to your workout card you want to and then click the Print and Save button at the bottom.

v.      Make sure to have “Print Background Colors and Images” enabled in your browser.

vi.      Click “Print” on the next screen showing your workout card and in your printers dialogue box just follow the steps you normally do in printing any document. Our current Calendar tutorial is now slightly out of date, but should still help you to understand most of these steps. A more current tutorial will be released shortly.

3. Edit an STS Workout Card – Just follow the same steps as above for printing an STS workout card in the Calendar until you get to the page  with the STS workout card.

i.      Click on the “1RM Edit Icon” in the next to last column of your workout card for any exercise you wish to edit.

ii.      If you have not taken a 1RM test for that particular exercise you will be taken through the steps to do so.

iii.      If you have already taken a 1RM test for an exercise, but either found the weight to be too heavy or too light you will be prompted to enter the weight you would like to use for this exercise. This is a really neat feature because it will reverse engineer your 1RM for all future workouts for this exercise and change the recommended weights based on your change.

iv.      You can also add notes next to every exercise and view a video of the exercise as it was performed in STS.

v.  After your workout enter your actual reps and weights on your card.

vi.      Don’t forget to click “Save” when finished.

C.       One Rep Max Testing – Taking a 1RM test is easy. All you do is select a weight for each exercise you want to test for that you think you can do about 10 times maximum with good form. Then perform the exercise doing as many reps as possible. For example, say you wanted to do a 1RM test for Barbell Curls ( exercise #178 ). You would simply load your barbell with a weight that you thought you could lift about 10 times with proper form . Let’s assume you think you can do 10 standing barbell curls, with a total barbell weight of 50 pounds. Next you would perform the exercise and write down the total reps you actually did .

Next, go to the 1RM calculator and select “Barbell Curl Standing”  ( exercise #178 ) from the exercise list. For the next step, you would enter “50 lbs” for your weight lifted and “12 reps” for actual reps performed. Click the calculate button and our 1RM calculator shows that your maximum lifting weight (1RM) for “Barbell Curl, Standing” is estimated to be 72 pounds. Once we know this number we can easily tell you what weight you should use for any intensity level or amount of reps we want you to do.

D.       One Rep Max Calculator – Our One Rep Max (1RM) calculator is very simple to use . Start by clicking on the 1RM calculator icon. ( A video Tutorial is also available in the Workout manager Tutorial section about this feature)

i.       Select the exercise from the drop down lists that you tested as outlined in the previous step

ii.      If you used a pair of dumbbells for the exercise just enter the weight of one dumbbell.

iii.       Enter the reps you did with proper form.

iv.      Click the calculate button.

v.      Your 1RM for the exercise you just entered will be stored in the Workout Manager and will be used to calculate your weights for STS.

vi.      One Rep max testing is not accurate for exercises that primarily use body weight, require  technique or use a rep pattern. For a list of recommended exercises to test for in STS – Click Here

(You can easily determine the importance of each 1RM exercise by checking the exercises rating in the chart: five stars means it is highly recommended that you establish a 1RM, while one star indicates an exercise that is not as essential to establish a 1RM.)