STS 2.0 Journey

ashaw

ashaw

Cathlete
I started week #3 of STS 2.0, took an off day Monday because I didn't sleep well the night before and I felt some residual soreness. When I was doing my cardio on Saturday morning, I felt a little tweak in my left calf. I thought nothing of it, because it went away after some foam rolling and didn't bother me at all during Super Sets yesterday morning. Well, when I went to do cardio this morning, I felt it during my session and kept things very low impact, but I still have a lot of soreness on the back of my leg. I've been foam rolling, icing and wearing my compression sock. The strange thing is, I can get on my tip toes with no calf pain. Its tight when I walk. Tomorrow is supposed to be Tri Sets and even though that workout doesn't have a lot of lower body, I'd rather err on the side of caution and put a pause on STS 2.0. I'm going to dig out my P.Volve 21 Day Butt Lift DVD and equipment that I used last year while rehabbing my knee and I can figure out a way to still fit in solid upper body once or twice a week with Upper Body 1 & 2 and Premixes from the other STS 2.0 dvds. While I'm really disappointed to have to stop (well I don't have to, but I'm choosing to), I'd rather go back to P.Volve, treat the discomfort and see where I am in a week or two. The one thing I loved about that P.Volve lower body dvd is that I got a great lower body burn using ankle weights, ankle bands, gliding discs and the P.ball without lower body strain. And I don't need my knee brace for that one. I still have some of the free trial left with P.Volve but it is too hard to stream the workouts using my phone and Roku player. I'd rather stick with the lower body dvd and use Cathe for my upper body work.

And Hot Girl summer is literally hot girl summer. I've lived in Houston, TX my entire life and don't remember it ever being this hot. The weatherman just said last June was hotter than this one, but I'm not buying it!
 
I am also taking it easy on lower body due to hip bursitis. Trisets Total Body has an Upper Body only premix that misses out Groups 1 and 7. Supersets also has an Upper Body premix but includes the shrugs and calf raises group, but I was OK with the calf raises. It is mainly lunges that I have to be careful with as I am having balance issues due to my hip. I am OK with static lunges, but I can only do moving lunges with very light weight or no weight and going slow. This is an improvement on a few months ago though, as back then I couldn't do any squats or lunges.
 
Thank you! Wishing you all speedy recoveries too! The silver lining is that once I feel comfortable lifting heavy for lower body again, I’ll certainly be doing the rotation as written with all the recovery in between weight lifting days. It’ll give me a good chance to see how I do with no cardio for a period of time. I’ve already put away my barbells and got out all my P.volve equipment. Good thing is Ill still be doing upper body with Cathe.
 
I am enjoying upper body workouts :). More variety because there are more “body parts”
for alot of different exercises….I am trying to do casual walks on the treadmill too, and
of course, walking Jack :). But, I tell you, walking him last week, was so painful…. I know there was times I was digging my nails into my hands…..but he knew “mom” wasn’t quite right & bless his heart, he walked slower….

and I hear you, Hazlady, on the lunges, I never had any problems with rear/front lunges,
but I might be skipping those step over front lunges…
 
I thought about continuing with STS 2.0 but lifting much lower, possibly no weight for lower body and after really thinking it over, I came to the decision that I don’t want to risk further injury by doing squats, lunges, etc. if I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna go all in and go heavy. At least with P.volve I can get solid lower body workouts that are gentle but thorough.

Jack sounds like a sweetie. Dogs make the world a better place.
 
aqua girl said:
I am enjoying upper body workouts :). More variety because there are more “body parts”
for alot of different exercises….I am trying to do casual walks on the treadmill too, and
of course, walking Jack :). But, I tell you, walking him last week, was so painful…. I know there was times I was digging my nails into my hands…..but he knew “mom” wasn’t quite right & bless his heart, he walked slower….

and I hear you, Hazlady, on the lunges, I never had any problems with rear/front lunges,
but I might be skipping those step over front lunges…
Click to expand...
Aww...how sweet Jack is for his tuning into you!
 
This morning I did a foam rolling session focusing on my calves and achillies area and then did the first P.volve workout in the 21 Day Butt Lift series and felt great. This workout used the P.ball which looks like a ball the size of Cathe's fitness ball attached to a large canvas strap. You put the ball at the top of the inner thighs and do floor work and standing work with and without gliders. I felt nothing in my left calf or back of leg. In this program, you do modified squats call P.sits and shallow lunges with your leg straight back instead of both legs bending into deeper lunges. I'm just happy that I can still workout while rehabbing my calf area.

Tomorrow is a longer workout with light ankle weights and gliders and I've decided that Saturday I'm going to do Perfect 30 Upper Body + the bonus (one of my absolute favorites) instead of a STS 2.0 Upper Body. I'd really rather save STS 2.0 for when I can get back to the actual rotation. But, the one good thing is now I will be doing those recovery workouts in between instead of 3 days of cardio. I have to say, that I enjoyed P.Volve this morning because it was much gentler and not nearly as intense as what I've been doing for the past 2 weeks, but I still felt like I got a good burn and by changing things up, I'm working muscles in my butt and legs that I haven't worked since stopped P.Volve last September. As Cathe says, change is always good. I am looking forward to seeing what difference the recovery days make in my overall strength and performance once I'm able to get back to STS 2.0.
 
Today's been a week since my calf strain/injury and things felt totally normal when I foam rolled it this morning before starting my P.volve workout. This morning's workout was tough as it involved stepping patterns using light ankle weights, gliders and upper body moves with the P.band, which looks like a pair of gloves with resistance tubing attached to each hand and you do upper body moves, plus it closed out with some mat work and then more gliders in plank position. I really, really enjoyed this morning's workout because I could feel a lot of work in my hips and glutes. Its like these super targeted moves really shape and sculpt the butt. I'm going to finish out this week of P.volve and see how I feel Sunday before doing another more advanced week of P.volve or getting back to STS2.0. However, I'm floating the idea of doing a week of P.volve in between each phase as a active recovery week. I'm also going to be very conservative in what cardio I do. The thing I've enjoyed about P.volve is the workouts are about 30 minutes and that means that Luca gets a longer walk in the morning!
 
I’m happy to report that after a week of P.volve, my calf feels totally normal and I’m ready to get back to STS2.0!

Yesterday, I finished a p.volve series called Essential Strength and Sculpt and I loved it. In fact I had a really hard time deciding between doing another week of P.volve or getting back to STS2.0. I’m ready to hit the weights again so I’ll be doing the final week of the total body dvds and then next week move to the upper and lower splits. I haven’t decided which recovery workouts I’ll be doing but I’ll be doing recovery for sure. I’m also considering Perfect Flow, Yoga Max or Yoga Relax. I do plan to do cardio on Saturday just because I like to burn it out before going into the weekend. I’m so thankful that my calf healed up so quickly. I credit the foam rolling and P.volve to my quick recovery.
 
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