Help me decide...STS or CLX?????
 

I have both of them and am committed to spending the rest of the summer and part of the Fall doing a rotation. Like in really sticking to it. My goal is to lean out and go beyond my comfort zone.
Which series should I do first? I am SO undecided. Have never done either program so not sure what to expect.....;)

I have done both and feel that STS is a far better program but I also found it far more demanding. I did it as Cathe designed it with one rep max and all. I made significant strength gains tho I did not lose weight or inches. When I did STS I had been following Cathes monthly rotations for years.
I followed this with CLX and kind of soldiered thru the rotation. Charlene drove me nuts. I found some of the exercises awkward and it was hard to go as heavy as I may have liked because of this. If I remember correctly all the warm ups and cool downs were the same and it got tiresome.
STS is really designed to be a complete and thorough serious strength and endurance system. I did not feel that way about CLX. I know many loved CLX but I did not. But then again at that time I was a big Cathe fan.
I guess I am saying is that I think STS is a better designed and more complete system but it is demanding. I did not lose weight or inches with CLX either.

I don't have STS but I have Cathe's pre STS weight workouts. I tried one workout from CLX. I love everything else about Chalene. I prefer Cathe or working out on my own for weight training so much that I never went beyond one workout from CLX.

My perception based on just one workout, which is not a good basis at all, is that lifting with Chalene is less intense. That may not be a bad thing.

I love Chalene in Turbofire and PiYo but hated her for strength training. Much prefer Cathe for that.

Judy,

I have and have done both of these programs and there's not a lot of similarities between the two. I've outlined my impressions about each program below.

STS
-3 day split with cardio of choice between weight days
-3 different mesocycles with 3 different objectives, #of reps, amount of rest, etc.
-mostly traditional lifts focusing on single muscle groups
-most workouts are at around 60 minutes
-pretty equipment heavy (dumbells, barbell, step/bench, paper plates/gliders, bands)
-Cathe is very professional and somewhat subdued in these workouts. Music isn't bad and isn't very memorable either.

CLX
-3 day split with cardio, interval, and stretch workouts included to round out the week. Easy enough to substitute with other workouts in that category in your collection.
-3 different phases with different number of reps and amount of weight used.
-mostly compound lifts, usually working legs and an upper body part at the same time. This can make weight selection challenging.
-in all three phases the rep speed is very slow! A typical rep will be either a 4-4 or 6-2 count.
-most strength workouts clock in around 40 minutes. The other workouts clock in between 30- 50 minutes.
-Chalene comes off like a gangsta soccer mom at times. It's a little annoying at times and I'm not one usually put off by on screen persona.
-Music isn't bad and isn't very memorable either.

So, in a nutshell, the biggest differences are length of workout, single muscle vs. compound exercises/lifts, rep speed, and onscreen personality. As I said earlier I have and have done both and I don't think you can go wrong with either one. It's more a question of how long you want to work out and choice of onscreen personality.

Thanks everyone!! and a very special THANK YOU to dutchgirl for listing those pros and cons (I love that you do that!!!). I have previewed a couple of the CLX workouts and while they look like something I might like it just isn't what I want right NOW. STS calls me so I think I will go with that for the next three months. Cathe's style is more my thing anyway. Nothing against CLX and I am happy I have the set (via a very nice trade) but will wait on it for awhile:D
Kind of scared of STS but gonna give it my all......

You already made up your mind, so I'll just agree with it. ;) Nothing big against CLX (though there were a lot of back injuries here) but I think it got blown away by STS.

Various mesos or pieces of them come up for trades on the exchange board, if you ever wanted just a taste. Meso 3 is one of my favorite things ever, and there's no need to be scared of it because although the lifting is heavy there is a break immediately afterward so you can more easily concentrate on the next lift.

Thanks Sarah!!! STS it is!! I bought the entire series when it was on sale through Cathes site and paid $87.00 for it, my buy of the year, for sure!!!! Had even scored Meso cycle #1 through a trade before I seen the sale so have an extra set. Went after work yesterday to a sidewalk sale at a Sporting goods store and got some 20 pound dumbbells for a steal and although not sure how long it will take me to work up to those in STS my goal is by Meso #3. Couldn't pass up the great deal.
I LOVE how structured STS is. I need that right now and I am feeling a little less intimidated now.....a little:p. But am starting this week. Thanks for the words of encouragement.:D

I like STS way better. It is well structured and professional. She does all the rep with you. I love how the screen tells you what exercise is next. I love the music off option. You get so much more with STS. I liked how it was all layed out for me and all I had to do was pick my own cardio days. The 1 rep max was helpful. Cathe's web site has the workout manager to plug in your 1 rep max and then after you finish, it will show you a workout card to tell you what weight to use for each STS disc. Its printable. The only thing was that on the Meso 2- 1 arm row, I was told to lift 53 lbs and the highest db I had was 25. There is no way I could lat row a 50 lb db! Later, I invested in the adjustable db so now when I do Meso 2 again, I can use heavier db. Also, there is the STS forum where you can see posts on where Cathe journaled about her STS workouts. It was extremely motivating. She also did some Youtube Cathetv videos on her STS workouts.

With Chalean Extreme, I got injured. She has a lot of lower body exercises with upper body moves. And for me, I use heavier weights for my lower body then shoulders. So she had this move where you do a static lunge down with a shoulder exercise lifting the arm out and it injured my rotator cuff. I stay away from compound moves now. On a side note there was this tv screen in the back that kept showing models in slow motion with wind blowing in their hair. And there was a lot of boob shots(low cut tops). Also Chalene doesn't do all the reps with you. She puts down her weights and goes around checking form. I did like Tony, the background exerciser with 7 kids. Chalene is a positive happy instructor. The workout is heavy slow lifting. I liked the adjustable weights she was using so I got some last year for my birthday. Overall, I traded CLX and kept STS. There are so many more DVD's with STS than CLX.