advice on strength training

bm1409

I joined a gym two weeks ago. My workout right now is upper body one day and lower body the next day with sundays off. I feel a little sore the next day after I worked out, but its a good sore feeling, not a "OMG I AM SORE" (if that makes sense). I am assuming I am not over working out sense my soreness is not bad, but I am doing something because I at least have some soreness? I have a few people telling me I should not be working out with weights everyday. Instead I should one day do my upper body, then cardio, then lower body, then cardio, etc and one day a week rest and do nothing. They say I should not work my muscles everyday so they can repair. I am not heavy lifting and to be honest I probable could push myself more, but I am trying to avoid being major sore, and being 55 and not having much strength in my upper body anyway, doing a little feels like a lot right now. Any advice would be appreciated.

mspoopoo

The not working out every day the same muscles applies to very heavy lifting.

You can work out with weights every day if they aren't heavy. Think about people who work in a warehouse lifting stuff all day every day.

bm1409

thank you...that makes sense. I dont feel like I am over doing it.

mulecanter

Some soreness is good as you understand. My experience is that it is easy to get in to a rut, you have to keep pushing to heavier weights in order to get the same net benefits. Your gym may be able to set you up with a program to follow. I alternate run days with weight days and also alternate muscle groups. If I had aggressive muscle building goals I would lift every day alternating groups with heavy weight. I'm your age and I get tendonitis in my elbows and other places from lifting too aggressively. Patience prevents injuries I think. It's great you are lifting, it's really important for women to get over their hesitation to visit that part of the gym, it's a balanced approach to fitness.

bm1409

Thanks for the advice mule. This is all new to me. Im a person who wants results on day one. I hate all this work and not seeing any thing.