Weight lifting

Hornsby

Here is an intermediate 4 day split you could try if you feel like you are above beginner. Not saying you aren't a beginner, but hey, 4 days is better than 6

http://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/4-day-power-muscle-burn-workout-split.html

wilsoncl6

Capt_Apollo wrote: »

krknobbe10 wrote: »

auddii wrote: »

krknobbe10 wrote: »

It's one that a friend does.

Did your friend design the program or did a fitness expert put the program together? How long have you been lifting, and what kind of results have you seen so far?

It was one a trainer made for her. Seems to work for her but I feel 6 days of lifting is a lot

It is.

I think it really depends on what you are trying to achieve. I lift 6 days a week but I focus each day on a single specific body part and give that part almost an entire week to recover but on the day I work it, I destroy it. However, you have to find what works for you. Not everybody is or responds the same to certain types of weight routines. I recently switched to a slow tempo lighter weight routine with a pause at peak contraction to shock my muscles. My suggestion, try out a few routines and see what you like. Then, with experience, pick them apart and put together one that works for you.

krknobbe10

My main point of asking that question was to see if it was beneficial or not or if you would get better results. Just wanted to hear what most people do so they see results. I am trying new things to see better muscle tone. I like doing my full body three times a week. I am trying to gain muscle and lose fat. I am cutting on my cardio to help with the tone look. I have also heard to do low weights and high reps yet keep it challenging enough. Any opinions?

FitPhillygirl

I do full body heavy lifting at the gym 3 times a week since I can't get there more than that. While my muscle growth has been slow, I am now seeing some good results. Although in my case I don't eat as much as I should to have gains either....

psuLemon

krknobbe10 wrote: »

My main point of asking that question was to see if it was beneficial or not or if you would get better results. Just wanted to hear what most people do so they see results. I am trying new things to see better muscle tone. I like doing my full body three times a week. I am trying to gain muscle and lose fat. I am cutting on my cardio to help with the tone look. I have also heard to do low weights and high reps yet keep it challenging enough. Any opinions?

The "tone" look comes from having low body fat and a good amount of muscle. Low weight high reps work endurance while a low rep, high weight will help with strength. Cardio will have on impact on getting toned. Also, there are very little chances of gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time.

Packerjohn

psulemon wrote: »

krknobbe10 wrote: »

My main point of asking that question was to see if it was beneficial or not or if you would get better results. Just wanted to hear what most people do so they see results. I am trying new things to see better muscle tone. I like doing my full body three times a week. I am trying to gain muscle and lose fat. I am cutting on my cardio to help with the tone look. I have also heard to do low weights and high reps yet keep it challenging enough. Any opinions?

The "tone" look comes from having low body fat and a good amount of muscle. Low weight high reps work endurance while a low rep, high weight will help with strength. Cardio will have on impact on getting toned. Also, there are very little chances of gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time.

For the love of all that is good, you are building muscle/losing fat. You are not "toning".

From this source: http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/muscle+tone

muscle tone
syn tonus (1) in skeletal muscle, a state of tension that is maintained continuously - minimally even when relaxed - and which increases in resistance to passive stretch. Pathologically, loss of tone (flaccidity) can be caused, e.g. by peripheral nerve damage, and exaggerated tone (spasticity) by overstimulation, e.g. when the activity of the relevant lower motor neurons is released from higher CNS control in spinal injury. The term is sometimes also used, incorrectly, to indicate general muscle strength. (2) In smooth muscle, steady tension maintained in the walls of hollow vessels; regulated mainly by autonomic innervation but influenced, e.g. in the walls of arterioles, by local variables: temperature, chemical factors or intravascular pressure, contributing to autoregulation of appropriate blood flow. See also stretch reflex

HeySwoleSister

To be fair, I'd actually say that "toned" means moderate body fat with strong muscle. Because "toned" always carries with it an implicit or explicit statement of "but not muscular." And, at the end of the day, the difference between "toned" and "muscular" when gauged by models? Seems to be that those who are called "toned" have maybe 1-3% more body fat than those who are "muscular."

In fact, sometimes the "toned" photo is of a hydrated version of the "muscular" one.

NotGnarly

krknobbe10 wrote: »

My main point of asking that question was to see if it was beneficial or not or if you would get better results. Just wanted to hear what most people do so they see results. I am trying new things to see better muscle tone. I like doing my full body three times a week. I am trying to gain muscle and lose fat. I am cutting on my cardio to help with the tone look. I have also heard to do low weights and high reps yet keep it challenging enough. Any opinions?

I do a full body lifting workout 3-4 times a week. I don't exercise back to back days so usually there will be a 1 to 2 day break in between lifting days. I lift heavy also. I cut my cardio back to 20 mins after my 60 mins lifting session. Usually when I lift I will do squats and during the rest time I will do some bicep work and then switch back to squats. I'm very limited on time since I only have 90 mins. but this works for me. My personal trainer gave me a similar routine years ago.

Capt_Apollo

krknobbe10 wrote: »

My main point of asking that question was to see if it was beneficial or not or if you would get better results. Just wanted to hear what most people do so they see results. I am trying new things to see better muscle tone. I like doing my full body three times a week. I am trying to gain muscle and lose fat. I am cutting on my cardio to help with the tone look. I have also heard to do low weights and high reps yet keep it challenging enough. Any opinions?

Buy some books, such as New Rules of Lifting for Women and Starting Strength.

natecooper75

I think the best solution to this is to start out on a a beginner program until you get back to the heavy weights you were doing before. Once you get to that point, you can make a determination on what is best for you based on the goals that you have. Don't be in such a hurry to get to the end of the course.

The reason for doing a beginner program is to build up base strength that is required to move on to the next phases of your lifting career. Since you have lifted heavy before, it shouldn't take you a long time to get back to where you were. Some people choose to go with a bodybuilding type plan, while others will choose to go into powerlifting, olympic lifting or maybe just another general purpose strength program like 5/3/1 or the Texas Method.

Holly_Roman_Empire

krknobbe10 wrote: »

My main point of asking that question was to see if it was beneficial or not or if you would get better results. Just wanted to hear what most people do so they see results. I am trying new things to see better muscle tone. I like doing my full body three times a week. I am trying to gain muscle and lose fat. I am cutting on my cardio to help with the tone look. I have also heard to do low weights and high reps yet keep it challenging enough. Any opinions?

1) Seeing muscle tone = cutting fat while retaining as much of your muscle as possible.
2) You cannot gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. Those that can are either obese or beginning to workout when they were previously sedentary. You seem to be neither.
3) Low weights and high reps will do nothing to reach your goals other than improve your endurance.

My opinion is that you should really start a lifting program--one written by a professional, like stronglifts 5x5, Starting Strength, or NROL4W. I personally did Stronglifts 5x5 for a couple of months until switching to 5/3/1, which is an intermediate program. I got the best results following those and not deviating from the program.

auddii

hollydubs85 wrote: »

krknobbe10 wrote: »

My main point of asking that question was to see if it was beneficial or not or if you would get better results. Just wanted to hear what most people do so they see results. I am trying new things to see better muscle tone. I like doing my full body three times a week. I am trying to gain muscle and lose fat. I am cutting on my cardio to help with the tone look. I have also heard to do low weights and high reps yet keep it challenging enough. Any opinions?

1) Seeing muscle tone = cutting fat while retaining as much of your muscle as possible.
2) You cannot gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. Those that can are either obese or beginning to workout when they were previously sedentary. You seem to be neither.
3) Low weights and high reps will do nothing to reach your goals other than improve your endurance.

My opinion is that you should really start a lifting program--one written by a professional, like stronglifts 5x5, Starting Strength, or NROL4W. I personally did Stronglifts 5x5 for a couple of months until switching to 5/3/1, which is an intermediate program. I got the best results following those and not deviating from the program.

All of this.

jimmmer

natecooper75 wrote: »

I think the best solution to this is to start out on a a beginner program until you get back to the heavy weights you were doing before. Once you get to that point, you can make a determination on what is best for you based on the goals that you have. Don't be in such a hurry to get to the end of the course.

The reason for doing a beginner program is to build up base strength that is required to move on to the next phases of your lifting career. Since you have lifted heavy before, it shouldn't take you a long time to get back to where you were. Some people choose to go with a bodybuilding type plan, while others will choose to go into powerlifting, olympic lifting or maybe just another general purpose strength program like 5/3/1 or the Texas Method.

This is the perfect answer.

Along with the other answers that dropping fat/adding muscle is an exercise in dietary control you now have the tools necessary to go forward and achieve the results you want.

krknobbe10

Thank you all for your feedback. I am going to meet with my trainer for three weeks and see how it all goes. I am cutting back on my cardio and will be heavy lifting for three days a week for three weeks. After that, hopefully he will guide me in a good way to go. If not, I would even like to try a 4 day lifting program.

Lofteren

Full body training sessions are the way to go. This could be something as simple as bench/deadlift/barbell rows one day and overhead press/squat/pull ups on another day. It doesn't have to be complicated to be affective. Just work up to 3 heavy sets of 5-10 reps on each lift and try to gradually increase the weight.

Temple_Fit

It's really your preference as to how you want to lift. The only thing I'll add is that if you are trying to build muscle you will want to perform 3 to 6 sets, 6-12 reps 70-80% of your 1 rep max. As far as cardio, I personally would stay within your fat burning heart rate because you don't want to burn up your hard unearned muscle for the first month or so and tweak your diet.