Strength Training

msjohnson13

Why doesn't strength training give you credit on your daily diary like cardio does? If someone has a nice strength training plan to share, I would be interested to see. I try to do 30 minutes of cardio daily. Mondays & Wednesdays I add some weights. Monday is upper body and Wednesday is lower body. Is this a good way to shed inches? I might throw in planks and some squats every now and then but haven't worked that into my plan. I am female with the mid section a problem area.

ChrisLindsay9

You can account for calories burned through Strength Training.

Click Exercise -> Database -> and from the "choose an exercise below" dropdown menu, choose Strength Training (Weight Training, Weight Lifting).

If you've created a profile and have been updating your weight, then all you need to do is add the minutes you spent training and it will create an estimate. Based on various online calculators, I think it does a pretty decent job of estimating the calories burned for most people, provided that your strength training is hitting most of the body (and large muscle groups).

Regarding your suggestions for a strength training plan, it might be helpful to know your goals. I perused your profile and am guessing that you're probably wanting to achieve a certain degree of fitness? Correct me if there's more to what you're wanting from it.

Maybe you can consider making Monday and Wednesday a full body workout, with no cardio. Or if you do want to do cardio, do it afterwards, so you can devote more energy to actually building lean muscle?

You might be able to find full body strength training programs by googling around. I googled "full body strength training workout for women" and got several hits to websites. I would guess that they would look something like this:

Workout A
Warm-Up (consisting of gradual build up of intensity on a cardio machine)
Dumbbell or Kettlebell Squats (4 sets for 6-10 reps)
Leg Extension Machine (3 sets for 6-10 reps)
Dumbbell Bench Press or Machine Chest Press (4 sets for 6-10 reps)
Push-Ups (3 sets til failure)
Dips (3 sets til failure) or Dumbbell Kickbacks (3 sets for 6-10 reps)
Planks or Crunches (3 sets)

Workout B
Warm-Up (consisting of gradual build up of intensity on a cardio machine)
Dumbbell or Barbell Deadlift (4 sets for 6-10 reps)
Leg Curl Machine (3 sets for 6-10 reps)
Seated or Standing Calf Raises (3 sets for 6-10 reps)
Lat Pulldown (4 sets for 6-10 reps) or Assisted Pull-Ups (4 sets til failure)
Seated Cable Row or Isolateral Low-Row Machine (3 sets for 6-10 reps)
Overhead Shoulder Press (3 sets for 6-10 reps)
Dumbbell Bicep Curls (3 sets for 6-10 reps)
Planks or Crunches (3 sets)

In this example, each workout hits a major muscle group at least once. But they contain mostly compound movements which will help you achieve an overall level of fitness as well as a more lean muscular tone.

The key thing is that the last two reps should be more challenging than the first two reps, so adjust your weight level accordingly. Also, when warm-ing up. When you move to a different body part, maybe do 1-2 sets at half your weight just to make sure that the joints and muscles are ready.

Good luck to you! Hope you find strength training to be a lot of fun and of benefit!

msjohnson13

Hi there,
Thanks for all the information. I've googled information, but never googled "full body". I am looking for weight lose but also to firm muscles and create the lean muscles. I'm going to take your suggestion to focus on the full body and then cardio last. I can work with this...I'm beginning to add jogging 2x a week outdoors so this would be good to incorporate.

Thank-you again.