Cathe STS vs Beachbody Body Beast ... better results?
 

Can anyone comment on which program gave the best results ...
Bigger muscle and more definition.

I love lifting heavy and have gotten great results from. Indy beast. I'm looking to change things up with StS. Im surprised cathe only does one set of each exercise whereas sagi does three to five.

I'd be interested to hear your thougts on each program. Thank you!

I have both sets, but have only done STS in its entirety. It has been a few years since doing STS but I don't recall Cathe only doing 1 set of anything.

In STS she typically does 3-4 sets of each exercises depending on the mesocycle. In Meso 1, yes, I believe she only does one set of higher reps (16?) and moves on. But not in 2 and 3.

Ok yes I'm in meso 1 and she's doing 15 reps and moving on. Body beast does 15 reps with light weight then 12 reps with medium weight and 8 with heavy and often a drop set!

Gibbee ... I see you also did metrx180 ... how did you like it

Metrx 180 is a good program by Frank Sepe. The drawback is he is talks a lot between exercises. I know sometimes they want you to rest 30 seconds between sets but he occasionally gets carried away. I think if I had lifted heavier I would have seen better results. It's not like STS where you do a 1 rep max (if you want to and can do it without injuring yourself) and kind of have a guide to go by. I did put the workouts on spreadsheets to track the weights used.

How long are the workouts? Is it cardio too or just weights?

The Met Rx program has both cardio and weight workouts. The workouts range from 16- 55 minutes.

I haven't gotten the Beast, but I'm thinking about it the next time I do a weight cycle. I just finished my second rotation of STS last month, the only rotations I've ever done. If I remember, the first couple of mesocycles, she doesn't repeat exercises so much, unless you count endless variations on push-ups! I seem to remember her cycling certain exercises in, like pull ups, but not consecutively. Mesocycle 3, which I love, she does 2-4 sets of each, with nice rests in between, typically supersetting with 1:30 rests so that each muscle group gets a 3 minute rest before being worked again. And the reps are much lower. That rest period and low reps lets you lift so much heavier, and is what I miss in video weight work. I get strong!

What kind of rest periods does the Body Beast workout have?

I love Cathe but could only make it through 6 weeks of STS as I didn't have enough weights or a spotter to be able to finish. For that reason I prefer body beast. It does have timed rests that vary from maybe 45-60 seconds or so but it's also meant for the home exerciser who does not have a huge supply of equipment so has a faster pace with super sets/ giant sets etc to add variation but allow you to keep the pace. Some of Cathe's STS workouts were too long for me as well although very effective.
Sagi can be annoying to some but I found him quite hilarious and not too hard to look at!
Jamie

Body beast has barely any rest periods. I am soaked with sewers from each workout because my heart rate stays so high. I can lift heavier with stab because she gives rests. Not sure which delivers better results!?!??

Based on the concept behind both Body Beast and STS, meso 2 is the only cycle to fairly and possibly be comparable. I have not completed a full Body Beast so I can not make any review,Jump into any conclusion. I have had great result completing STS about 4 times. Looking forward to re-starting it later on this year. I have completed total Body Beast and could cope with/bare the speed, the intensity without any pausing:p:p
30 second from STS meso 1 --- endurance without pausing always feel no rest to me:). Triset from meso 2 keeps my heart rate high, again without any pausing. It also feel like no rest with the correct weight load selection. Plus it is fun.

Can anyone else comment on results from these?

I bailed after two (?) weeks of STS because I hated all that fussing with one-rep maxes, plus the pile of suggested equipment was overwhelming.

I had great results with a Beast Lean rotation. Got as strong as I've ever been, with visible muscle mass gains in my upper body. I found the rest periods between sets to be exactly right, for equipment set-up, recording my weights and resting my muscles for the next set. The only workouts which had short breaks were Build and Bulk Legs, where I had to pause to catch my breath and (maybe one time per workout) rush to get my barbell loaded for the next set. Those two certainly had a cardio component built in!

I did not follow the eating plan - I think Beachbody has now modified it to be more woman-friendly, the original program was waaaaay too much food - and I subbed cardio workouts for Beast Cardio which I found underwhelming. Not a bad workout but not one I wanted to repeat week after week. I also did a LOT more stretching than Sagi offers at the end of his workouts.

Where Beast has it over STS for me is shorter time of workouts, focus on heavy (mostly pyramid) training, and less equipment.

STS gave me the best results by far, though Beast put a nice sharp peak on my biceps. STS just seriously rips me out. I don't really gain a ton of muscle but it gives me excellent strength/definition (more so than with any other program I have tried, including all Cathe's other stuff). Loads of people at the gym started asking me about my program after I did the first round. That was new and I have done a variety of programs over the years. FYI, I never did STS Cardo, just 3 strength workouts per week. That allowed me to really push and recover fully. Also, I didn't protein load (though I tend to focus on fish/veges in my every day diet).


Edge Booty Extreme gives me excellent results as well, maybe a few hairs ahead of BB. Rushfit also gave surprisingly good results and gets an honorable mention.