Body Parts Phase

ashaw

ashaw

Cathlete
I just finished my Upper/Lower body split workouts and for some reason I actually want to go and do another week of the total body workouts before moving on to the Body Parts Phase. I think because I haven’t fully decided how I want to approach this phase. I was originally going to do the Mish Mosh premixes 3 times a week as laid out in one of the rotations but after looking at the workout times, they seemed a little on the short side so I’m thinking of one body part per day but in the order I saw in an old post about the flow of the CTX 6 day a week program. Someone suggested doing the workouts in the following order:

Back
Chest
Legs
Shoulders
Biceps
Triceps

I’ve also floated the idea of doing the chest and triceps together in one session because it would be just a little over a hour and that’s doable for me. The way the one body part per day is outlined in the rotation means working out on Sunday, which isn’t an option for me because that’s my dedicated rest day.

Soooo, I’m gonna put my thinking hat on for all that and blast out another total body week. Speaking of CTX, I still want to do that program in its entirety. I only made one workout, Leaner Legs, and then the whole week got messed up because of the Kevin situation. I loved Leaner Legs though.

 
I know what you mean ... so many options ... I was originally going to do the Mishmoshes, but also wanted to experience the full workouts. So I changed up my rotation and did 2 weeks of the "Parts" altho I did combine the Bi's & Tri's into one workout as they also get worked in the other Parts. I'm now doing the Parts premixes for August.
 
I did the first body parts run through of the rotation, and found it less satisfying after Total Body Parts and the Split phases, so I changed the second run through to:
Extreme premix-back and biceps +bonuses Foam rolling
Extreme premix chest and triceps +bonuses. Foam rolling
Recovery mat yoga
mish mosh premix: biceps and back. Foam rolling
mish mosh premix: triceps and chest. Foam rolling
I left legs and shoulders as separate days, but added the double it abs workout to shoulders.

and that worked for me.
 
vivbc said:
I did the first body parts run through of the rotation, and found it less satisfying after Total Body Parts and the Split phases, so I changed the second run through to:
Extreme premix-back and biceps +bonuses Foam rolling
Extreme premix chest and triceps +bonuses. Foam rolling
Recovery mat yoga
mish mosh premix: biceps and back. Foam rolling
mish mosh premix: triceps and chest. Foam rolling
I left legs and shoulders as separate days, but added the double it abs workout to shoulders.

and that worked for me.
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Wow, those are long workouts ... my body would probably rebel and increase cortisol & inflammation. Glad it works for you ... that's dedication :)

ETA: I agree with you on keeping the legs & shoulders as is ... I didn't feel satisfied when I did the first Mishmosh for those. I intend to experience most of the premixes in August, but then I may very well keep Legs & Shoulders separate as originally produced. I was thinking of doing the Xtrain & STS rotation after August, but it uses the Mishmoshes so August's Premix rotation will give me more info to make a decision...
 
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I've been sticking with the 12-week rotation pretty much verbatim, except I've been alternating adding on the bonus material each time I come across a body part in the rotation (ie - week one was shoulders + bonus, then the next time shoulders appeared, I left the bonus off).

Trusting Cathe and crew's expertise in why they chose to parse out the workouts in this way in their suggested rotations.

If there's anything I'm surprised at, is that I used to think 30-40 minutes on just one body part sounded over-the-top. Now I get it - (and get my ex who was a gym buff who'd spend up to 2 hours focusing on a body part). 30-40 minutes per body part almost doesn't feel like enough.

I exclude the Legs workout from that observation, however. That one is long enough - lol!

After this rotation, however, I'll be mixing things up as I shared in I think another thread. Going to try out the body parts mishmosh variations and intermix those with full body workouts and then upper/lower workouts. And then I'll be doing the 8-week XTrain/STS 2 rotation after that.

I really do love all the variation that can come from these workouts.
 
ashaw said:
I just finished my Upper/Lower body split workouts and for some reason I actually want to go and do another week of the total body workouts before moving on to the Body Parts Phase. I think because I haven’t fully decided how I want to approach this phase. I was originally going to do the Mish Mosh premixes 3 times a week as laid out in one of the rotations but after looking at the workout times, they seemed a little on the short side so I’m thinking of one body part per day but in the order I saw in an old post about the flow of the CTX 6 day a week program. Someone suggested doing the workouts in the following order:

Back
Chest
Legs
Shoulders
Biceps
Triceps

I’ve also floated the idea of doing the chest and triceps together in one session because it would be just a little over a hour and that’s doable for me. The way the one body part per day is outlined in the rotation means working out on Sunday, which isn’t an option for me because that’s my dedicated rest day.

Soooo, I’m gonna put my thinking hat on for all that and blast out another total body week. Speaking of CTX, I still want to do that program in its entirety. I only made one workout, Leaner Legs, and then the whole week got messed up because of the Kevin situation. I loved Leaner Legs though.
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Just started phase 3 today and I'm doing the following:
Mon: STS 2.0 Body Parts: Chest and Triceps
Tues: Step cardio
Wed: STS 2.0 Body Parts: Back and Biceps
Thurs: Floor cardio (kickbox or hi/lo)
Fri: STS 2.0 Body Parts: Legs + Shoulders
Sat: Indoor cycle cardio
Sun: Rest

I might try the following if I find the Friday workout too long or exhausting:

Mon: STS 2.0 Body Parts: Chest and Triceps
Tues: Step cardio
Wed: STS 2.0 Body Parts: Back and Biceps
Thurs: Floor cardio (kickbox or hi/lo)
Fri: STS 2.0 Body Parts: Shoulders + a CTX, FitSplit, or 4-Day Split cardio segment
Sat: STS 2.0 Body Parts: Legs + a CTX, FitSplit, or 4-Day Split cardio segment
Sun: Rest
 
jillybean said:
Just started phase 3 today and I'm doing the following:
Mon: STS 2.0 Body Parts: Chest and Triceps
Tues: Step cardio
Wed: STS 2.0 Body Parts: Back and Biceps
Thurs: Floor cardio (kickbox or hi/lo)
Fri: STS 2.0 Body Parts: Legs + Shoulders
Sat: Indoor cycle cardio
Sun: Rest

I might try the following if I find the Friday workout too long or exhausting:

Mon: STS 2.0 Body Parts: Chest and Triceps
Tues: Step cardio
Wed: STS 2.0 Body Parts: Back and Biceps
Thurs: Floor cardio (kickbox or hi/lo)
Fri: STS 2.0 Body Parts: Shoulders + a CTX, FitSplit, or 4-Day Split cardio segment
Sat: STS 2.0 Body Parts: Legs + a CTX, FitSplit, or 4-Day Split cardio segment
Sun: Rest
Click to expand...
These are mish mosh premixes correct?
 
I'm in the third week of 6 weeks of the body parts workout and decided early into it that I wanted to do one part per day and get all areas in every week so I rewrote my rotation. I just didn't think it would be beneficial for me to go more than a week before I repeated an area.
 
Ashaw, I see you are contemplating how to structure the Parts Phase. I restructured my rotation also to try the workouts "as is" for 2 weeks. I did sacrifice my dedicated cardio days. However, since I'm lifting pretty heavy (for me), the Chest & Back days also have a cardio factor, as well as Leg day. I did the MishMosh #1's last week & added in the Bonus chapters to lengthen the workouts. This week I'm doing the "No Repeats" premixes. Next week I plan on doing the 2nd MishMosh premixes. Then I might do the full Legs, Chest, Back with the shorter No Repeats premixes for Shoulders, Bi's & Tri's tacked on -- maybe... or I may go back & repeat the TB workouts for my final week. There are so many ways to try these workouts ...

Even for the shorter Parts premixes, you're probably still getting in a lengthier workout per upper body part than for a Cathe 3-day split like Xtrain or RWH, & definitely more than a TB workout. Legs are another story.
 
Debinmi said:
Ashaw, I see you are contemplating how to structure the Parts Phase. I restructured my rotation also to try the workouts "as is" for 2 weeks. I did sacrifice my dedicated cardio days. However, since I'm lifting pretty heavy (for me), the Chest & Back days also have a cardio factor, as well as Leg day. I did the MishMosh #1's last week & added in the Bonus chapters to lengthen the workouts. This week I'm doing the "No Repeats" premixes. Next week I plan on doing the 2nd MishMosh premixes. Then I might do the full Legs, Chest, Back with the shorter No Repeats premixes for Shoulders, Bi's & Tri's tacked on -- maybe... or I may go back & repeat the TB workouts for my final week. There are so many ways to try these workouts ...

Even for the shorter Parts premixes, you're probably still getting in a lengthier workout per upper body part than for a Cathe 3-day split like Xtrain or RWH, & definitely more than a TB workout. Legs are another story.
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Thank you! Those are some great suggestions. I never thought about the No repeats premixes. I’m doing another week of total body while I make up my mind!!!
 
I just started my first week of Body Parts and after a lot of planning this is what I came up with:

M- Legs
T- Shoulders express premix & a Mobility workout (either STS2.0 or Perfect 30)
W- Back & Biceps - No Repeats Premix
Th- Cardio or Yoga TBD
F - Chest & Triceps - No Repeats Premix
S- Cardio TBD

I wanted to do the entire Legs workout with the bonus, which I did this morning and absolutely LOVED! My legs and glutes were talking to me while I was grocery shopping this morning! I'm also wanting to keep shoulders to a minimum since I've had neck and shoulder problems in the past and don't want to spend 40+ minutes entirely on shoulders this week. The rest will be No Repeats premixes, which after looking, still clock in at solid workout times. Then I plan to shake things up by doing the workouts CTX style with all bonuses in this order: Back, Chest, Legs, Shoulders, Biceps, Triceps. That way I can get a feel for each entire program and the bonuses. The only thing I won't get to do is cardio. Then I'll probably go back and try the Mish Mosh premixes with cardio and recovery/yoga in between.

After I finish STS 2.0, I want to go back and give CTX another try. I planned that one for March, but it got upended because of dealing with the Kevin situation and although I did Leaner Legs, I missed Tuesday's workout and then couldn't get back to the complete program, so that's on my radar. Along with a active recovery week of P.volve.
 
After doing the shoulders no repeats premix, I realized that I loved the exercises, but I felt like I didn't get enough work, so I've decided to do a crazy pivot for the rest of this week. Legs & Shoulders are done......so I'm gonna pull out the Slow & Heavy series and finish my week with the Chest & Back and Biceps and Triceps workouts and then next week do the body parts a la CTX recommendation of Back, Chest, Legs, Shoulders, Biceps and Triceps. I plan to tack on bonuses as well. I might need to back off the weight on the subsequent sets on Shoulders, but that's OK.

I also did Perfect Flow Mobility and loved it. So, the way I have the workouts planned for next week means no cardio, but that's OK. I can't do them the way Cathe lays them out in the rotation because a Sunday workout isn't an option for me.

So Slow & Heavy for the rest of this week and then back to STS2.0 body parts for next week!
 
I felt the same way with the No Repeats premixes- so added on sets of some of the exercises... looks like you have a back-up plan! :)

I actually really enjoyed the Parts workouts "as is". I did them for 2 weeks, but missed my cardio for those 2 weeks. I have this week to finish up my STS2 rotation using the MishMosh#2 premixes (+ some cardio!). I'm thinking I might do a "de-load" week next week ...
 
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