Is there something wrong with my workout balance?

_lyndseybrooke_

I exercise six days per week. On Mondays and Tuesdays, I do 30 minutes on the recumbent bike. Wednesday-Saturday I go to the gym for an hour each day. Sunday is my rest day.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I do a 10 minute cardio warm-up on the elliptical, 30 minutes of strength training with lightish weights (it's still a challenge for me, as I'm pretty weak), and then a 20 minute brisk walk on the treadmill with an incline (4.0mph). On Saturday, I do cardio for the entire hour, alternating between the elliptical, stair machine, treadmill, stationary bike, and sometimes the rowing machine.

I'm currently 5'5" 150lbs. My goal is to get down to 130-135lbs, but I'd like to be done and keep the small amount of muscle I have now, and perhaps even gain a bit of muscle. I do, however, want to be on the slimmer side as opposed to the muscular side. I lose 4 lbs fairly easily and have been at a plateau for over a month. I'd like to think I'm gaining muscle, and that's why the scale won't budge, but I'm not getting my hopes up on that front.

I spoke to someone about this and they said I should be doing more cardio than strength training in order to see any results. Right now it's pretty much a 50/50 balance, but I'm told strength training burns calories for hours after the workout, so it's essential to weight loss as well.

Should I be doing more cardio or should I stick to my current routine? I'd love it if I could get a good gym routine from someone that knows what they're talking about. I've considered that my body has gotten "used to" this routine and I should switch it up, but I'm not really sure how I can do that. I'd love to take classes at the gym, but we go at night when classes have ended for the day.

amybg1

What kind of strength training are you doing? Exercises? Weight? Sets? Reps? You're doing enough cardio as it is - and don't worry, you won't be getting big and muscular! it's EXTREMELY hard for women to get 'bulky' unless you're taking testosterone, steroids or what have you really... Essentially what I'm saying is - unless you're not doing it the long, hard way and doing it the 'junkie' style you won't bulk up and look muscular - just a strong, firm body

_lyndseybrooke_

Here's what I did today:

3 sets of 20 tricep pull-downs with 20 lbs
3 sets of 21 bicep curls with 20 lbs
3 sets of 15 hip abductions with 55 lbs
3 sets of 15 hip adductions with 55 lbs
3 sets of 15 pec flies with 40 lbs
3 sets of 15 lat pull-downs with 35 lbs
3 sets of 15 leg extensions with 40 lbs
3 sets of 15 leg curls with 45 lbs
3 sets of 15 squats while swinging a 15 lb kettle ball
2 sets of 25 regular crunches
2 sets of 25 knee-to-elbow crunches

Plus the cardio I mentioned previously. I did my best will the lingo - I'm still a beginner. As you can see, I'm pretty weak and my weights are probably nothing compared to many of yours. I do what I can.

rick_po

You're actually not weak at all, but you're not doing much of a strength program, either. Sets of 20 or 25 are closer to a cardio workout than a strength workout. That's not a bad thing, but you should know you're doing more cardio than you think you are.

If you're just starting out, you'll get more bang for your buck with compound lifts, rather than all the isolation exercises you're doing now. Squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press, rows, lat pull-downs. 5 or 6 different lifts is all you really need, which should save you a lot of time in the gym.

You'll also get a more well-rounded workout with dumbbells or barbells rather than machines, but if machines are all you have, they're better than nothing. Be aware that if you ever do convert from machines to free weights, you need to scale your weights back and learn proper free weight form - machines help with isolated strength, but not with coordination and technique.

You can do 15 or 20 rep sets while you're learning good form. But once you know how to do the lifts correctly, you need to gradually add more and more weight. You won't be able to do as many reps, but that's ok - most strength programs have you doing somewhere between 5 and 8 reps per set.

Several good programs out there: Starting Strength, Stronglifts 5x5 and New Rules of Lifting for Women.

Starting Strength is a book with a simple program. The book also has excellent detailed explanations of how to do the lifts safely.

Stronglifts 5x5 is a website with annoying male-centric marketing hype all over it, but the program is still solid. It's very similar to Starting Strength.

NROL4W is a book with a somewhat more complex program, and I think they describe it poorly. But there is a group here on myfitnesspal with nice stickies that clear up all the confusion. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/119-new-rules-of-lifting-for-women-nrol4w-

They're all great starter routines. If I was just starting out, I'd read NROL4W for the strategy and background, Starting Strength for how to do the lifts, and then I'd do the Stronglifts program. But you can just take a quick look, find the one that looks like the most fun, and go do it!

MisterDerpington

Here's what I did today:

3 sets of 20 tricep pull-downs with 20 lbs
3 sets of 21 bicep curls with 20 lbs
3 sets of 15 hip abductions with 55 lbs
3 sets of 15 hip adductions with 55 lbs
3 sets of 15 pec flies with 40 lbs
3 sets of 15 lat pull-downs with 35 lbs
3 sets of 15 leg extensions with 40 lbs
3 sets of 15 leg curls with 45 lbs
3 sets of 15 squats while swinging a 15 lb kettle ball
2 sets of 25 regular crunches
2 sets of 25 knee-to-elbow crunches

Plus the cardio I mentioned previously. I did my best will the lingo - I'm still a beginner. As you can see, I'm pretty weak and my weights are probably nothing compared to many of yours. I do what I can.

You should be doing less than half of that many reps per set.

DavPul

The problem isn't with your balance, it's with your intensity. If you've only got 20 pounds to lose, your cardio time could be spent on something a lot more efficient than a recumbent bike. Of all the time sucking cardio machines found at a gym, recumbent bikes are the time suckingest ones. Some people have to start there due to weight/fitness levels and that's fine. But if you're only 150 pounds, do something that at least forces you to support your own body weight.

As far your lifting routine, I'd strongly suggest you read New Rules of Lifting for Women. It details what type of free weight exercises you should be doing, how many reps and sets will work for your goals, and how often you should up the weight used. I don't really care if you use the routines from the book or not, but at least use it as a guideline to get started. That way you'll have a better idea of what's a good routine and what's not as useful.

_lyndseybrooke_

The problem isn't with your balance, it's with your intensity. If you've only got 20 pounds to lose, your cardio time could be spent on something a lot more efficient than a recumbent bike. Of all the time sucking cardio machines found at a gym, recumbent bikes are the time suckingest ones. Some people have to start there due to weight/fitness levels and that's fine. But if you're only 150 pounds, do something that at least forces you to support your own body weight.

As far your lifting routine, I'd strongly suggest you read New Rules of Lifting for Women. It details what type of free weight exercises you should be doing, how many reps and sets will work for your goals, and how often you should up the weight used. I don't really care if you use the routines from the book or not, but at least use it as a guideline to get started. That way you'll have a better idea of what's a good routine and what's not as useful.

I do the recumbent bike Mondays and Tuesdays because that's the only thing I have at home. It fits nicely into my schedule, I break a sweat, and I've been able to stick to it. I do it for 10 minutes on Saturday when I feel really out of breath and worn out, so I'll do that before the stair machine, which kills me every time.

Thanks for the tips in lifting, everyone. I'll start by lifting more weight for 10 reps and see how that goes. I'll eventually move to free weights, but is like to improve my strength first before trying the harder stuff.

DavPul

Do you have feet at home?

MisterDerpington

Free weights can be harder, but you work more muscles at a time doing compound (multi joint/multi muscle) lifts thus burning more calories in less time and gaining much more functional strength.

Do you have feet at home?

Sprint intervals are killer.

morticia16

You should be doing less than half of that many reps per set.
[/quote]

why?

MisterDerpington

You should be doing less than half of that many reps per set.

why?
[/quote]

Because 25 rep sets is more muscular endurance than strength training.

astronomicals

1200 calories a day

exercise usually calculated at 300-400 calories

I kinda have trouble believing that your're logging everything correctly. Do you drink alcohol? How can 30 sets of strength training and some cardio only result in 300 calories of burn?

Something seem amiss. I have no clue how you could be netting 800 calories a day and not losing weight.

Litababy5

Bump!