Is Meta enough for the upper body?

[Irish Eyes]

I'm previewing my Meta (Omni) DVDs right now and I love what I see in terms of lower body work but there is very little for the upper body. For those of you who have done Meta, did you find that the upper body work was sufficient? Or did you add in extra strength workouts? Thanks!

[Helen S]

When I was doing Meta (currently doing Continuity), I only did TA sculpting wos 3x a week during my cardio days. The other days were my weight circuit/kettlebell etc. days.

However, I know other VFers that did Meta 6x a week.

[LaCatrina]

I guess if you're already fit the first levels are a bit on the light side. I did add some Ballet Body upper body stuff then, but now at level 7 my arms feel like jello at the end after all those planks

[eventmom]

I agree with LaCatrina. The early levels are somewhat easy but the all fours work (and later on other things) seem to work upper body pretty well. I've on year 2, my arms and back are very toned, I'm routinely surprised by how much definition I have in my arms. I attend a total body gym workout when I'm out of town, it's pretty tough but I usually a do a good job of keeping up with the women who do the workout all the time. (They don't lift super heavy, but just sayin'). I have no problems when I'm at horse trials and need to carry/lift my tack, etc., can move/set jumps effectively. But if you want major strength gains or to build mass, then other workouts would be more effective for those types of results.

[zumzum]

I haven't done meta consistently enough to say for sure, but when I've mixed it in with other workouts (mostly barre) I've liked the upper body results quite a bit. They do seem to help with definition. That said, I've found that too much upper body work/heavy weights make me look more like a linebacker, so less is more for me in a way. YMMV.

[alikruegs]

I agree with eventmom, Meta is enough for definition and maintenance (or modest strength gains) once you get to the more difficult levels. I'm using Glute Continuity (I'm finishing set 1.3 now). I think the upper body work is more than enough. I'm not sure when it became more than enough though - perhaps after Meta and starting Cont? Anyway, it'll depend on the centric you use. Omni, for example, has more upper body work earlier on than Glute I think.

[Helen S]

Yes, Omni and Abcentric have more upper body than Glute (in Meta and Continuity). I also want to clarify that I'm a hard gainer so I don't build muscle easily in the upper body. I never need to worry if a DVD will cause bulking. Also, I don't think I would have lasted almost two years with TA Meta/Continuity if I didn't cross-train since I like lifting weights and using kettlebells. That's why I only used TA 2-3x a week (3x with Meta/2x with Continuity).

[Irish Eyes]

Thanks for all the replies! I think I'll try 30 days of just Omni and see how it goes. I can always start adding in extra upper body work after that.

[leslie w]

I've heard the upper body section of Squeeze Stronger once a week, combined with whatever Meta you're doing, gives fantastic results. I have both but never tried them together.

[Debbie S.]

I think your mileage will vary.

There is a lot of upper body work during the lower body segments. Plus, there's a lot of core work, too! I rarely do her continuity arm workouts, because the pace is too frantic for me. Hamelin has an awesome Youtube arms workout. It's 6 minutes long. My triceps hurt for days after this one!