STS (Shock Training System) Mesocycle 3 : Strength - Thoughts

Cathe's STS Mesocycle 3 Strength is as its name implies about Strength. It is a 4 week program
and it consist of two upper body workouts and one lower body workout per week for a total of 12 workouts. All 12 workouts come together in a DVD case that in my opinion isn't very durable. Inside the case are clear plastic holders and more than half of the plastic is cracked. However the DVD themselves are just fine. I do like the case better than some of the other workout system cases that come with multiple DVDs.

The suggested rotation has you doing 3 workouts per week. The 12 workouts break down as follows.
Disc 25, 28, 31, & 34 are Chest & Back workouts
Disc 26, 29, 32, & 35 are Plyo Legs workouts
Disc 27, 30, 33, & 36 are Shoulders, Biceps, & Triceps workouts

With the exception of the Plyo Leg workouts, the exercises are the same for each week and only the rep count changes. In the Plyo workouts you are alternating plyometrics (lots of jumping) with weight work. Typically you are doing about 12 reps per leg for the Plyo Leg weight exercises.

Mesocycle 3 includes an optional set of leg workouts as an alternate to the Plyo Leg workouts and they are called Squat Rack Legs. The Squat Rack Leg workouts are for those who want a Pure Strength workout similar to the Upper Body workouts offered in Mesocycle 3. The Squat Rack Leg workouts come in there own separate case and the Disc are 37, 38, 39, & 40.

This is a series where you are suppose to be lifting heavy. As you go from week to week the rep count decreases for all the workouts except Plyo Legs. If you do the workout as design you are doing 4 sets of each exercise. The first week is 8 reps per exercise, the second is 7 reps, the third is 6 and then it goes back up to 8 for the fourth week. The reason that the rep count is going down is because as your move to the next week you should be increasing the weight that you are lifting.

These are some long workouts. The only workouts that are under an hour are the Plyo Leg
Workouts. All the workouts feature about a 4 to 5 minutes warm up but the ending stretch is
relatively short. However, each DVD comes with a 14 minute Extended Stretch. This stretch is the same across all DVDs.
What makes the workout long is the rest period in between each exercise. Because you should be
lifting heavy, you need the rest in between the sets so the muscle can recover.
The Leg-Squat Rack workouts have the longest rest at 150 seconds. That is 2 1/2 minutes. The Chest & Back workouts on average have 75 seconds between each exercise. The Shoulders, Biceps & Triceps workouts on average have about 60 second rest between each exercise.

I say on average, because the rest periods are not consistent with the upper body workouts. As you move from week to week, sometimes the rest would be 30 seconds and sometimes 60 seconds in the Shoulders, Biceps & Triceps workouts. For Chest & Back sometimes you would get 75 seconds and sometimes 65 seconds.
I found this extremely annoying because it messed up my rhythm and what I could do during the rest period. For instance, first I would walk around, then I take a drink a water, then I would record my reps, then I start my stretching, then I would start prepping for the next set. I couldn't be consistent with this routine because the rest are not consistent.
I am not sure if this was an editing issue or if this was designed. The rest seemed a bit haphazard
so I am thinking it was an editing mistake, especially because Cathe keeps stating over and over the importance of taking the full rest.
For Plyo Legs workouts, you are given 30 second rest between each exercise.

Speaking of the rest, Cathe takes this time to give a lot of form pointers. I found this to be
beneficial. However, there is a lot of reuse footage so you do hear the same thing again and again.

Each workout has a title bar that appears at the bottom of the workout. I love this feature. It
shows the rep count, your 1 rep max % (beneficial if you are doing that), the exercise you are
performing, targeted muscle group and how much time is left left in the rest.

Mesocycle 3 Strength are no nonsense to the point workouts. I know some find this cycle boring but I like it the best. I will say I don't do this workout as design. This time around I took out a set (only did 3 sets per exercise). That was to get the workouts under an hour.

These workouts are extremely well chaptered. So you can skip around at will pretty easily. The only thing about doing this is that you will most likely be altering your rest periods (either giving yourself too much or not enough depending on where the chapter point starts).
Also when I do Mesocycle 3, I add in the Squat Rack Legs and work the legs twice. Mostly this
is because I can't decide which (the Plyo Leg workouts or the Squat Rack legs) to do.
So a typical rotation for me would be:
Monday - Chest & Back
Tuesday - Plyo Legs
Wednesday - Shoulders, Biceps, & Triceps
Thursday - Legs Squat Rack

If you are wondering why the set is called Mesocycle 3. It is because there is a Mesocycle 1 focusing on Muscle Endurance and a Mesocycle 2 focusing on Hypertrophy.

For STS Mesocycle 3, I give it 4 stars.