How did you gain strength to complete advanced workouts

[buffmama]

This is a great question. Sometimes isolated muscle work and gaining strength will help with compound moves.

[frogribbit]

Originally Posted by pgun3

great question...even when I was in shape when I was younger I could never do a full push up. what is up with that!!

I keep telling myself that some people just have a different body type that doesn't excel with push ups. I've tried since my 20's to be really good at push-ups. 30 years later I still suck and I still hate them

[pgun3]

Originally Posted by frogribbit

I keep telling myself that some people just have a different body type that doesn't excel with push ups. I've tried since my 20's to be really good at push-ups. 30 years later I still suck and I still hate them

I definitely hate them too!

[susan p]

I mastered Cathe's Power Hour by doing 3 minutes of each body part, then 3 1/2, then 4, then 4 1/2, then the full 5 minutes per body part. I think I did each increment for a week (3x), then moved on to the 30 seconds more. It allowed me to reach a place where I could do the whole workout without ever pushing myself so hard I was miserably sore.

[tytbody]

Originally Posted by susan p

I mastered Cathe's Power Hour by doing 3 minutes of each body part, then 3 1/2, then 4, then 4 1/2, then the full 5 minutes per body part. I think I did each increment for a week (3x), then moved on to the 30 seconds more. It allowed me to reach a place where I could do the whole workout without ever pushing myself so hard I was miserably sore.

Thanks for getting me thinking how I can accomplish my goal to e able to do 5 push-ups on the floor, full body weight.

I think those challenges are a great way to move up and you can measure your own progress.

[Donatella]

Originally Posted by Taiga

It's all about modifying (and somewhat about body weight). IMHO, push-ups on the knees aren't very helpful. Start with full push-ups on the wall then gradually work down to a chair, then maybe a step and finally the floor.

This is the technique that worked for me.

[Dontmindthemess]

I got really strong doing Cathe’s STS. I didn’t do the 1 rep max before I started I just lifted as heavy as I could but I think the magic of STS was the incremental weight increases. It’s been 3 years since I did STS and I feel like I’ve held onto a lot of that strength even though I don’t lift heavy too often. It also made me think that I could do whatever workout I wanted. Sometimes just thinking that you can tackle a workout makes it more doable.

Jane

[Hsim]

Originally Posted by buffmama

This is a great question. Sometimes isolated muscle work and gaining strength will help with compound moves.

I have been trying to add in more of this type of workout lately and making sure that I hit each muscle group. I am really hoping that I can avoid buying a new set (such as STS, Chalean Extreme or P90X) as I have plenty of workouts already. I have a bunch of Cathe, KCM and Michelle D.

[Hsim]

Originally Posted by zraipel

In working on this too, because my strength is not where I want it to be. I have been going through a lot of my collection lately to find what works, and I'm finding that met-con type workouts DO NOT work for me in accomplishing this goal. Combining strength and cardio may be more efficient for some, but it doesn't help me achieve my goals very well, at least not right now. By separating them out, I'm hoping to achieve the fitness I need in order to go back to these workouts because a lot of instructors/workouts that I enjoy tend to combine them.

For what it's worth, I've been seeing really good strength gains from using the WWE Power Series with Triple H. I just use one segment each day. I work 2 jobs, one of which requires a lot of physical activity, and I can tell a big difference in the ease with which I can lift and carry things in that job depending on how consistent I've been with using that DVD, especially upper body related movements. The workouts on that DVD are short enough for me to add on whatever cardio I feel like doing.

I'm thinking about trying out a 3 week Shift Shop rotation on Beachbody on Demand, since the cardio and strength workouts are separated out, and they get progressively harder each week. After that, if I feel I've progressed in my strength and cardio enough, I think I'm going to do a Tapout XT rotation

I agree with this. I find that when I follow a loose rotation of strength, intervals and cardio I don't progress that much. I think its because a lot of workouts just don't work all the muscles. I have to pay more attention to making sure all muscle groups are worked fully each week. I will keep the WWE workouts in mind as they are reasonably priced.

[Crescent Moon]

By getting uncomfortable. By doing the stuff you really don't like to do. At least this is what has worked for me. It's making me stronger and the things I used to find torturous are becoming a lot more tolerable, if not kind of fun.