Help with exercise plan

Keladry

My information is: female, 167 cm, 58-59kg, aiming to lose some body fat and get fitter and stronger. My shoulders tend to look bulky so I only really want to maintain muscle there instead of building it.

I set up an exercise plan with a personal trainer a while ago because my gym gave me a free session. I've never lifted free weights before so he showed me how. I said I would probably come to the gym 3-4 times a week so he suggested:

1 day legs including the stepper for some cardio
1 day upper body
1 day abs + HIIT on the treadmill
optional 4th day legs again

I'm now thinking I really want to fit in as much as possible (without overdoing it) before January when I'm going overseas for 3 weeks so wont be able to exercise much. I can't afford to pay for another personal training session, so how does this look?
Monday: upper
Tuesday: rest or legs (depending on what day I'm free)
Wednesday: rest or legs (depending on what day I'm free)
Thursday: abs + HIIT
Friday: rest
Saturday: legs
Sunday: go for a run (at the moment I am very unfit so a trail near my house which is a hilly 3km suits me)

If I end up doing legs on a Tuesday, will that be too much if I've exercised the 3 previous days as well (Sat legs, Sun run, Mon upper body)?

SupermanRitz

I'd do this
Monday - upper
Tuesday - legs
Wednesday - rest
Thursday - abs + HIIT
Friday - legs
Saturday and Sunday - rest/run whenever you'd like

If you miss Tuesday and end up doing legs Wednesday then I'd take Friday off and do legs again on Saturday. This is because you're doing HIIT on a treadmill on thursday which is going to beat up your legs and you need to recover more than you need to lift. I'd stay away from going more than 3 days straight with lifting weights and doing HIIT. As far as manipulating your current weight, you're gonna have to manipulate your caloric intake. Find out your daily calories for maintenance and then go under that number by roughly 150-200kcal.

tigersword

If you're a beginner, you'd get much better bang for your buck doing a full body routine 3 times a week, rather than a split. Splits are for advanced lifters who need more recovery time between working out body parts. Since you're young and a beginner, you can recover quickly. If you're getting into free weights, look at a routine like Stronglifts 5x5. Do that, with some HIIT on off days, and you will be well on your way.

Monday - Full body
Tuesday - HIIT
Wednesday - Full Body
Thursday - HIIT
Friday - Full Body
Saturday/Sunday - Rest and Recover

IronSmasher

I would've put you on a full body approach too, unless your time available for each session is very short.

I also would've needed a good reason to put you on hiit.

mamacoates

HIIT will help you burn more fat and calories than steady state cardio or strength training. HIIT also helps you improve both your aerobic and anaerobic fitness. So adding HIIT to your workout schedule is all dependent on your goals. I too, would encourage you to consider full body workouts 3 days per week, 2 days abs and cardio/HIIT and two rest days or fun activity days. Try the website Bodybuilding.com for ideas on new routines and exercise education.

P.S. You mentioned when you go overseas, you won't be able to workout? With some improvisation, you should be able to work out anywhere ... either through cardio on your own, or body weight exercises, etc. You can also take DVD's with you in the event that you have access to a TV/video player. There is a ton you can do without a gym membership so don't sell yourself short as you plan for your trip - build your exercise plans into your schedule so you can keep up your fitness after working so hard now ..

tigersword

HIIT will help you burn more fat and calories than steady state cardio or strength training. HIIT also helps you improve both your aerobic and anaerobic fitness. So adding HIIT to your workout schedule is all dependent on your goals. I too, would encourage you to consider full body workouts 3 days per week, 2 days abs and cardio/HIIT and two rest days or fun activity days. Try the website Bodybuilding.com for ideas on new routines and exercise education.

P.S. You mentioned when you go overseas, you won't be able to workout? With some improvisation, you should be able to work out anywhere ... either through cardio on your own, or body weight exercises, etc. You can also take DVD's with you in the event that you have access to a TV/video player. There is a ton you can do without a gym membership so don't sell yourself short as you plan for your trip - build your exercise plans into your schedule so you can keep up your fitness after working so hard now ..

False. HIIT is just another way of doing cardio, it doesn't burn any more or less calories than any other method.

I like HIIT specifically because I hate steady state cardio, bores the crap out of me, buit I do believe some cardio is necessary for overall health. I like HIIT because when it's done right, you're talking about maybe a 15 minute workout at most (if you can do more than 15 or 20 minutes and/or do other exercises afterwards, you aren't really doing HIIT, you're just doing interval training.)

That's why I'll usually suggest HIIT between strength days, as the short duration will still allow for proper recovery.

Keladry

The reason I'm not doing a full body workout is because it takes too long, or it would if I spent as long as I do now on upper/lower (45 minutes for each + stretching would equal over 1.5 hours). eg at the moment for legs I am doing squats, lunges, leg raises, lying leg curls and the stepper. My squats are currently just as limited by my back/shoulders/chest which are very weak. I would do deadlifts but I haven't been taught and I don't want to hurt my back so will wait until I can afford another PT session.

But I assume the theory is that you spend less time on each body area but work it more often, because as a beginner even just a few exercises is enough, if you do them more frequently - right? Does that really work better (genuine question)? Also it takes me about 3 days to stop feeling sore in my legs but I've heard this lessens as your body gets used to it.

I don't want to exercise on Fridays because by the end of the week I usually just want to crash. Exercising on the weekend and having rest days midweek works better for me.

I'd much rather do HIIT than steady state cardio because I can get it done faster :laugh: Though I've always been good at sprinting and bad at endurance so I want to do one run a week to build up my endurance.

In terms of diet, most calculators put my TDEE at 1600-1650 (not counting exercise) so I am aiming for 1450 calories plus whatever I burn exercising.

Edit: when I go overseas I know I can still do body exercises but without weights it won't be as effective, and I'm not optimistic about chances for cardio when I'm going to London and hate the cold (yes I know that's a terrible excuse but I'm just being realistic about my own motivation when I'm not too unhappy with how I look).

IronSmasher

You could fit a beginner full body into 45mins.

Yes.
Your body gets used to the stimulus.

That's fine.





London has gyms, plus we often train outside up here in Scotland.

tigersword

Full body workouts are usually shorter than splits, from a time standpoint. Doing a 5x5 routine with 2 minutes between sets would take about a half hour.