Gym routine. Need some advice

stephv06

I go to a gym 3-4 times a week and i need advice and the best way to lose weight. Now this is a small gym at school, they have 14 machines, some treadmills, bikes, and a few other cardio machines. 8 or 9 of the machines work some part of your arm, there's one for your abs, and the rest for your legs. Now what i usually do is half an hr on the treadmill and the other half an hr to 45 min i do 2 sets of 20 reps on the machines. Now i really need/want to lose weight not bulk up so i want to know if what i'm doing is ok. Or should i do a couple days of pure cardio and the other days what i'm doing now? Please let me know what you guys think. thank you

jamie1888

You will not "bulk up" by doing what you are doing. You may build some muscle and things will get firmer. But, it's a common misconception to stay away from weight training because of fear of bulking. It's actually hard to bulk up and you'd have to consume enough calories and protein to support bulking.

Do they have any hand weights? Anytime you can use free weights instead of machines, it's better for you. Because your body has to work to stabilize the weights. The machines do you the stabilizing for you. But, if that's all you have, then don't stop!

lesley12345

Cardio is good for you, regardless if u are trying to lose weight, definately stick with the cardio, 30 minutes is great! For toning do the weight machines a couple times a week, but even doing sit ups, push ups, squats and those type of things tone you and burn calories as well. Mixing up your workout is good way to keep u motivated and to boost your metabolism.

jamie1888

You can always do things off the machines too..... like squats, lunges, pushups, abs. I think it's key to keep your heart rate up.
I like to do circuit type training where I'm bouncing between 3 or 4 diffrent exercises. Example: 1 set of bicep curls, 1 set of pushups, 1 set of crunches and 1 round of jumping rope for a couple of minutes. This keeps the heart rate up and you burn more calories at the same time that you are doing your strenght training.

ProTFitness

Body weight training, interval training circuit training. would be great for you to loose weight

lilRicki

I do 30 minutes of cardio, 2 arms, 2 legs (on the machines), abs/lowerback (this rotates every other day) and then another 15 cardio...does that seem right? it's kind of similar to what you're doing steph...and i have a really tiny gym too....usually i don't do the same cardio for the 15 minutes that i did for the 30 minutes. it's to early in my training to see any difference though...i haven't weighed myself yet...which i'll be doing tonight...

lilRicki

sorry i forgot to give my reps on the machine...i do 3 sets of 10 for each set of weights and abs/lower back

lilRicki

sorry i forgot to give my reps on the machine...i do 3 sets of 10 for each set of weights and abs/lower back

aippolito1

What you're doing is great! I'd suggest doing the weights FIRST and then cardio. Any soreness will be relieved by the cardio and you burn more calories this way. As the reps get easier, you can increase reps or you can increase weight. As long as you're not eating a high calorie diet, you won't bulk up. Women aren't genetically wired to bulk up. It takes a LOT of effort. Try different cardio every other day to keep things fresh. Say, elliptical one day, treadmill the next, or whatever. You'll get bored of the gym eventually and when that happens, try Jillian Michaels' videos or On Demand work outs on cable or just come here and ask! Beach Body is another great set of videos. They're a lot more pricey but well worth it from what I can tell from others' experience. P90X is for the extreme exerciser, Chalean EXTREME is popular with the ladies, as is Turbo Fire. From what I can see, it's great for reducing body fat especially when you're toward the end of your journey. I do the ab video of P90X and it's ROUGH but it feels so great the more I do, I can really tell my abs are getting stronger! :]

hopfroggyfrog

I've heard the opposite of what arielle said - that one should start with cardio and then do weights. That's what I do. Usually 20 -30 mins of cardio (I mix up treadmill, elliptical or bike depending on my mood). And then I do whatever weights I feel like that day for another 15 - 20 minutes. What you're doing sounds good Steph - just keep yourself motivated. Some people do great with doing the same old same old every day, and some really need to mix everything up to stay interested.

stephv06

Thanks so much everyone for your advice! I will def be sticking to it.

@Gillian i like your routine i think i'll try that and see how that works for me. It's similar to mine so we'll see.

@Ariel thanks for the advice! Yesterday i actually tried do just that, weights first cardio after, but found it didnt work for me. By the time i got to the cardio i was too tired to do my usual half hr so i only did 15 min. So i'll stick to doing cardio first, but thanks for the tip! As for videos i'm really interested in the px90, so i have to look into it. I have one of beachbody's its the slim in 6 and i like it. The other one i love is one from the biggest loser.

Once again thanks for the advice everyone!! Good luck to all of you!