STS Weeks 10 & 11 (Workouts 13, 14 & 15)

For more information on the STS program see STS Overview and Prep.

 

I have now entered Mesocycle #2—hypertrophy. And it is clearly a different animal from the outset. First, Mesocycle #1 was endurance and focused on circuit training with brief rests between exercises—you alternated between muscle groups and kept moving constantly. In Mesocycle #2 you stick with one muscle group until you’ve worked it completely then you move onto the next muscle group (at least with the upper body workouts—lower body workouts are not done the same way as the upper body workouts). You start at 70% of your 1RM and the reps range from 8-12. You do 3-4 sets of each exercise and, at least in the first two upper body workouts, that is (things may change as I progress through Mesocycle 2). You do 12 reps the first set, 10 reps the second set and 8 reps the third set. If you do a 4^th set, you do it to failure. And finally, you get 60 seconds of rest between each exercise.

 

This makes Hypertrophy very different from Endurance. For one, you are not rushed. What I like about this, is that in Mesocycle #1 equipment changes were rushed and sometimes difficult to do in the time she allots (particularly with a barbell). It also sometimes made it impossible to use some of my equipment like my bench. Well, not so in Hypertrophy. I was able to use my bench fully because I had the time between exercises to adjust it properly. In Mesocyle #1, I just ended up using the step with 5 risers for everything because of the limited amount of time between each exercise but in Mesocycle #2, so far at least, I am able to incline, decline and lay my bench flat as well as adjust the rack and change plates on my barbell—and no rush! 60 seconds is plenty of time to do this.

 

Also, the necessity and use of the Extended Stretch fits this mesocycle so much better than it did in Mesocycle #1. It’s not really needed in the upper body workouts. You have time between exercises, so you are stretching throughout the workout and an extended stretch at the end of the two upper body workouts isn’t really necessary. The lower body workout is the workout that really needs the extended stretch. And thankfully, the lower body workouts in Mesocycle #2 are all shorter than they were in Mesocycle #1, so tacking on a 15 minute stretch at the end is not such an inconvenience. I have to add though—at the end of Disk #14 Legs we actually got a stretch! A whole minute and a half! I tacked on the extended stretch anyway.

 

Disk #13 Chest, Shoulders & Triceps: 65 minutes; 4 minute warm up, 60 minute training time and 1 minute stretch. The 1 minute stretch at the end isn’t really a full minute of comprehensive stretching. It’s more a single tricep stretch and then Cathe talking. But that is ok because hypertrophy is different. During the time between each exercise you stretch, so a long stretch at the end is completely unnecessary. In fact, the last exercise is a tricep exercise so that tricep stretch is all that you need at that point.

 

The workout starts with two warm up flat bench press sets—so your barbell is lighter for the first two sets.

Equipment needed: bench or step with 5 risers, barbell, dumbbells, chair and stability ball.

 

Exercises:

Flat Bench Press (barbell) (warm up set)

Flat Bench Press (barbell) (warm up set)

Flat Bench Press (barbell) 12 reps

Flat Bench Press (barbell) 10 reps

Flat Bench Press (barbell) 8 reps

Chest Flys (Flat Bench) (dumbbell) 12 reps

Chest Flys (Flat Bench) (dumbbell) 10 reps

Chest Flys (Flat Bench) (dumbbell) 8 reps

Incline Bench Press (barbell) 12 reps

Incline Bench Press (barbell) 10 reps

Incline Bench Press (barbell)  8 reps

Incline Chest Flys (dumbbell)  12 reps

Incline Chest Flys (dumbbell) 10 reps

Incline Chest Flys (dumbbell) 8 reps

Seated Front Press Alternating Arms (Elbows Forward) (dumbbell)   12 reps

Seated Front Press Alternating Arms (Elbows Forward) (dumbbell)  10 reps

Seated Front Press Alternating Arms (Elbows Forward) (dumbbell) 8 reps

Seated Front Press (dumbbell) To Failure

Alternating One Arm Standing Lateral Raise (dumbbell) 12 reps

Alternating One Arm Standing Lateral Raise (dumbbell) 10 reps

Alternating One Arm Standing Lateral Raise (dumbbell) 8 reps

Seated Lateral Raise Both Arms (dumbbell) To Failure

Seated Rear Delts (dumbbell) 12 reps

Seated Rear Delts (dumbbell) 10 reps

Seated Rear Delts (dumbbell) 8 reps

Flat Bench Tricep Extensions (dumbbell or barbell) 12 reps

Flat Bench Tricep Extensions (dumbbell or barbell) 10 reps

Flat Bench Tricep Extensions (dumbbell or barbell) 8 reps

Flat Bench Tricep Extensions (dumbbell or barbell) To Failure

Side Leaning One Arm Overhead Extensions on Ball (dumbbell) 12 reps

Side Leaning One Arm Overhead Extensions on Ball (dumbbell) 10 reps

Side Leaning One Arm Overhead Extensions on Ball (dumbbell) 8 reps

Kickbacks One Arm (dumbbell) 12 reps

Kickbacks One Arm (dumbbell) 10 reps

Kickbacks One Arm (dumbbell) 8 reps

 

Disk #14 Legs: 48 minutes; 4.5 minute warm up, 42 minute training time and 1.5 minute stretch. As I mentioned in my wrap up of Meso 1, I will be deviating from 1RM for all Legs workouts from now on. Not thrilled with the results I got (lower body-wise only) in Meso 1. I do not want bigger thighs! So I used my best judgment. I am still happy with the end result of this workout. Legs is set up in triset format. All this means is that 3 exercises are done back to back, circuit-fashion. For this workout you do 3 different trisets, each triset is repeated 3 times. To break down the triset more—each exercises is done for 10 reps. The workout ends with calf raises. The calf raises are not done triset fashion. Well, not exactly. You do 3 sets of calf raises; each set has 20 reps. So… a triset I guess? Between each triset you get one minute recovery. Had I gone 1RM for this workout it would have been brutal. I still found it a great, challenging workout, but I did feel a little guilty that it wasn’t killing me like I know it should have. The second time I did this workout I pumped it up a little by doing a short interval between each triset–20 seconds of jumping jacks. Then I still got 40 seconds of recovery. I did notice a difference. The workout seemed a bit tougher.

 

Equipment needed: high step with 3 risers, a chair, dumbbells, barbell and Slide N Glide disks or paper plate.

Exercises:

First Triset (repeat 3 times):

Squats (dumbbell)

One Leg Elevated Lunges (high step with 3 risers, dumbbell)

Deadlifts Wide Stance (dumbbell)

 

Second Triset (repeat 3 times):

Static Lunge (dumbell)

Plie Squats Alternating Hand (dumbbell)

One Leg Slide Back Lunges with Paper Plate or Slide N Glide Disk (dumbbell)

 

Third Triset (repeat 3 times):

Stiff Legged Deadlift on Platform (barbell and high step with one riser)

Side Slide Lunges with Paper Plate or Slide N Glide Disk (dumbbell)

Squats Narrow Stance (dumbbell)

Calf Raises (dumbbell, high step with one riser and chair) (3 sets of 20 reps varying the tempo)

 

Disk #15 Back & Biceps: 54 minutes; 4 minute warm up, 51 minute training time and 30 second stretch. This workout was so tough! The one minute rest between exercises was definitely needed to come back strong. And by the end my forearms were aching!

 

Equipment needed: dynaband, dumbbells, barbell, chair, stability ball and a pull up bar or tubing.

Exercises:

Lat pulldowns with band

T-Pull with band

Y’s with band

Pull Ups Overhand

Chinups Medium Grip

Chinups

One Arm Row (dumbbell and chair) 12 reps

One Arm Row (dumbbell and chair) 10 reps

One Arm Row (dumbbell and chair) 8 reps

One Arm Row (dumbbell and chair) to failure

Barbell Rows 12 reps

Barbell Rows 10 reps

Barbell Rows 8 reps

Barbell Rows to failure

Deadlifts (barbell) 12 reps

Deadlifts (barbell) 10 reps

Deadlifts (barbell) to failure

Barbell Curl 12 reps

Barbell Curl 10 reps

Barbell Curl 8 reps

Barbell Curl to failure

Seated Alternating Curl (dumbbell and chair) 12 reps

Seated Alternating Curl (dumbbell and chair) 10 reps

Seated Alternating Curl (dumbbell and chair) 8 reps

Preacher Curl on Stability Ball Double Arm (dumbbell) 12 reps

Preacher Curl on Stability Ball Double Arm (dumbbell) 10 reps

Preacher Curl on Stability Ball Double Arm (dumbbell) to failure

 

My Rotation Calendar

Week 10:

Day 1: Disk #13 Chest, Shoulders & Triceps

Day 2: Breathless Body

Day 3: Disk #14 Legs + Extended Stretch

Day 4: Disk #15 Back & Biceps

Day 5: TurboFire Fire 60

Day 6: Peak 10 Cardio Strength Remix

Day 7 Rest

Week 11:

Day 1: Disk #13 Chest, Shoulders & Triceps + TurboFire Fire 30

Day 2: Peak 10 Cardio Interval Burn Remix

Day 3: Disk #14 Legs + Extended Stretch

Day 4: Disk #15 Back & Biceps

Day 5: Power Strike (4)

Day 6: Bob’s Workouts (both of them)

Day 7: Rest