A Peek into My Weight Workouts

If you've been reading my blog lately, you would know I am in the middle of the STS program. Many of you know of this program while some of you may not. It's like P90X on steroids. It is so much more complex and that is what I love! Cathe really put a lot of work into making a superior strength program for at-home workout enthusiasts. Here is a glimpse into my workout today, I hope it helps you better understand what I'm doing.

Click on Image to Enlarge:

To help you understand the chart a little easier I'll go over the workout sheet column by column.

Column 1: Obviously this is the exercise that is to be completed.

Column 2: This is your goal weight. Before you start the program you do a lot of prep by figuring out your One Rep Max. You then enter that 1RM into the STS system and it calculates your goal weight for each exercise in the STS program. It's a great tool!

Column 3: This is the actual weight you lifted for any given workout. Some days you're stronger, some days, not so much. Like those days you're coming off a flu for instance ; )

Column 4: This is how many reps you need to get in. If you find you can lift more or less than that, you need to adjust your weights. That last rep should always be a struggle.

Column 5: These are the reps you reached. Make sure they match the target reps and that you're struggling to get the last one in.

Column 6: Your one rep max (1RM) is the maximum amount of weight you can lift one time for any exercise. This was calculated at the beginning of the program.

Column 7: The % of 1RM is different for each mesocycle. The 1st Mesocycle you start out at 65% 1RM and end at 70% 1RM. In the 2nd Mesocycle you start out at 70% and work up to 80%. The 3rd Mesocycle you start out at 80% of your 1RM and end the program lifting 90% of your 1 RM for 8 reps. You will be amazed at the strength gains in this program. For an example, the last round I did, I started with 8 lb. dumbbells for my preacher curls and by the time I finished I was using 16 lb. dumbbells. The improvement is what matters, not the actual weight. For many 16 lbs. would be easy to start with but finishing the program lifting double the original weight is the real milestone!

Because I was sick for 2 days this week I had to double up 2 of my workouts to make up the difference. I did that today by also doing MMA: Boxing. I have a feeling my lats will be talking to me tomorrow : )

I hope this helps you better understand the process of STS and how beneficial it is. It is very planned out and detailed and that is the type of program I gravitate towards. I have a hard time just walking into a gym and lifting whatever, whenever. Even if you used the guideline of STS and used it at the gym, it would work wonderfully for you.

What kind of workout type are you? Organized, sporadic, rigid, freestyle, dedicated, etc.

Thanks for reading!

Nicole