Gym Help?!

BeckiCharlotte13x
BeckiCharlotte13x Posts: 259 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I started the gym last week although I am only able to go on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I usually use the treadmill and the cross trainer although will also use the step mill and the bikes etc.

I'm sure I've read somewhere that you should mix up your exercise for muscle repair and for maximum weightless. Is it a bad idea for me to do 30 minutes on a treadmill on the Wednesday plus some other kind of cardio and then use the treadmill again on the Thursday?

I've started taking measurements again as I gained 1.5 pounds this week but my scales show that I lost fat and gained muscle so I'm not going to get disheartened.

Would love any advise about gym usage as I feel pretty inexperienced when it comes to this...

Replies

  • Simonnnna
    Simonnnna Posts: 49
    No that's not bad at all! I don't know where you heard that because it probably isn't true, i do the same thing everyday at the gym except run faster or longer every week but I still use the same machine everyday!
  • BeckiCharlotte13x
    BeckiCharlotte13x Posts: 259 Member
    No that's not bad at all! I don't know where you heard that because it probably isn't true, i do the same thing everyday at the gym except run faster or longer every week but I still use the same machine everyday!

    Brilliant. I was hoping someone would say that. I love the treadmill so would really like to be able to use that everyday along side other things!
  • timrpm
    timrpm Posts: 57 Member
    You're right - you will avoid plateauing more successfully if you vary the workouts *and* their intensity. Early on you're just building a base of fitness (first 3-6 months) but after that you should think about building up intensity through intervals, hill workouts, using HR monitor and learning about HR zones etc.

    I think the advice from simonanna isn't so good. The body adapts quickly to the same thing over and over. You have to challenge it through varying the activities and the machines you use. Particularly if you're only doing 30 mins at a time, you're going to need to be quite clever to keep the challenge up.
  • BeckiCharlotte13x
    BeckiCharlotte13x Posts: 259 Member
    You're right - you will avoid plateauing more successfully if you vary the workouts *and* their intensity. Early on you're just building a base of fitness (first 3-6 months) but after that you should think about building up intensity through intervals, hill workouts, using HR monitor and learning about HR zones etc.

    I think the advice from simonanna isn't so good. The body adapts quickly to the same thing over and over. You have to challenge it through varying the activities and the machines you use. Particularly if you're only doing 30 mins at a time, you're going to need to be quite clever to keep the challenge up.


    I do use a heart rate monitor and also know about my HR zones so hopefully that helps. I try and vary each workout as it is, I get bored otherwise.

    I also do interval training when using the treadmill anyway, sometimes I follow programmes like Zombies Run or C25K. I generally do half an hour on the treadmill and then another half an hour on something else and then add some weights in there too.

Categories