Another fitness plan for you to judge

murj22

I'm new here and looking to get back into the habit of going to the gym. I used to go all the time when I was in school, but the past few years I've stopped. Eating crap has also finally caught up with me...I gained 30 lbs in about a year and a half. So I'm looking to lose it and gain some strength at the same time. Along with straightening out my eating habits, I plan on going to the gym regularly. I enjoy going, so going 5-6 times a week will not really overwhelm me. But I wanted to make sure I was doing the right things and not wasting my time. I'm 27 year old female, used to be pretty active in playing sports...not so much anymore, other than beer league hockey a couple times a week. Would love to hear feedback on this plan. I've looked through the forum so I've seen a ton of suggestions about doing stronglifts, but for whatever reason just not comfortable doing that program. So any other suggestions would be helpful

Monday: Back and Biceps
Seated Cable Row
Lat Pulldown
Back Extensions
Barbell Bicep Curl
Hammer Curls
15 min at 5mph on treadmill

Tuesday: Chest and Triceps am
Chest Press (machine right now, working my way up to using bench)
Pec Dec
Tricep Pulldown
Lying Tricep dumbell Extension (having a lot of trouble with correct form here - also tried skullcrushers, but again an issue with form. Any alternative suggestions?)
15 min at 5mph on treadmill

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: Legs
Weighted Squats
Dumbell lunges
Leg Curls
Leg Press
Leg Extension
Calf Raises

Friday: Abs/Shoulders
ab circuit
upright barbell rows
Overhead press
15 min at 5mph on treadmill

Saturday: thinking of doing Body Combat @ Goodlife, or some type of cardio activity, since little cardio happening right now

Sunday: Rest

Cherimoose

Since you've read a lot of posts here, you've undoubtedly seen suggestions to prioritize compound movements. And you've probably read that it's best to start on a full-body workout or an upper / lower split. A 4-part bro split with lots of isolation exercises is more for advanced bodybuilders. If you don't like Stronglifts, try NROL, or the program in my profile.

rick_po

It looks like you're doing a machine-centered program. That's fine, but you'll be spending a lot more time in the gym compared to a compound free-weight program.

Newbies can usually strength train every muscle every 2 days, which means you could do a full-body workout 3 days a week. The 4-way split will slow down your progress down a ton, because you'll only work every muscle 1 time a week. But it's hard to find the time to do a full-body workout with machines - you could spend hours in the gym. So a split is a way to shorten your workouts. You'll just progress slower.

If it fits your schedule, a 2-way split would be better than a 4-way split. You'll progress twice as fast.

It's important to have a progression plan. Something like:

1. for each exercise, do 1 warm-up set at half weight. do 2 work sets of 10 reps at goal weight.
2. If you successfully complete all work sets with good form, add 5 pounds next workout.
3. If you fail to complete work sets 3 workouts in a row, reduce weight 10% the next workout.

Unless you have an incredibly memory, you'll need to keep a log book to keep track of all your weights.