Cathe STS Total Body - Thoughts

STS Total Body is phase 4 in Cathe's Shock Training System which is a system about building strength, muscular endurance, and muscle definition. Where the other phases in the system work the various muscle groups across three (or four if you are counting abs) different workouts, STS Total Body aims to work the entire body in one workout.

The main part of the workout clocks in at 66 minutes long. It features a warm up, a series of trisets, an abdominal section, and a stretch.

The warm up uses a barbell to warm the muscles. I forgot about this. I don't like warming up this way - starting off with weight right away. Cathe does caution that the barbell should be light in weight. During the warm up you are doing dead lifts, barbell rows, squats, lunges, shoulder press, upright rows, and some bicep curls. The reps are maybe around 8 to 10.

The main part of the workout features tri-sets done for two sets each. A tri-set is when you do three exercises back to back before you rest. The first set, you do the exercises for 16 reps. The second set is only for 12 reps. I am thinking you are getting about a 30 second rest in between the sets but I am not for sure.

I think a nice feature would have been to add a clock counting down the rest period as was done in the other phases of the workout.

However, with that said, the workout does move at a nice steady pace. There is no rushing, just very methodical.

The main part of the workout seems to lean towards working the legs. There are three tri-sets for the legs. Shoulders has its own tri-set, but back and biceps are combine in one tri-set and chest and triceps in another. Frankly, I would have like to see more exercises for the triceps and biceps.

Now, Cathe does include extra upper body chapter points outside the main workout as add-ons but there is not a bicep chapter point. Triceps are once again work with chest in the form of dips. I would have like to see a different exercise here and in the future may swap the dip exercise with another triceps exercise.

The core section features seven different ab and back exercise. A couple of the exercises use a band and a light dumbbell.

This DVD has a great set of premixes. In fact there are 8.

1. Timesaver: Compound Only Exercises ......about 54 minutes

2. Lower Body Only....about 23 minutes

3. Upper Body Only....about 24 minutes

4. Timesaver: No Bonus Burn.......61 minutes

5. Timesaver: No Bonus Burn + No Abs..... about 52 minutes

6. Timesaver: No Abs...... about58 minutes

7. Timesaver: Compound Only + No abs....about 45 minutes

8. Timesaver: Single Sets....about 46 minutes

I really like keeping my workouts under an hour, so next time I do this workout, I will do one of the Timesaver options.

The music is okay. Mostly background. At times Cathe is moving to the beat of the music and at other times she ignores it.

I really like the backdrop that Cathe use for her set. It is suppose to be a as if you are looking out of a hotel at a beach in Hawaii. The set itself is a bit crowded with all the cast members and their equipment.

Speaking of the equipment, there is a lot but it is pretty stationary once you get it set up. I think the only real movement of the equipment is changing the position of the platform for the "one leg elevated lunges". I just use the topper to the high step for that exercise.

Equipment used - dumbbells, barbell, the Tower, gliding disc, band, club step with extra risers

3 1/2 stars