Working out schedule

LittleMiss_WillLoseIt

Hey everyone! I would like some input about my working out schedule. I usually work out between 4 or 5 days a week (45 minutes at the gym and some days the 30 Day Shred depending on my schedule). When I'm at the gym I do 25 to 30 minutes on the Elliptical and then around 20 minutes doing strength training.

My question is should I be doing more cardio? and during my strength training what should I be doing? I using do 13 reps at each machine twice.

Thanks in advance! just trying to come up with a better routine of it all

~Kari

Ral263

I mean, we would kind of need to know your goals to determine that.... are you trying to lose a lot of weight? Gain muscle? Tone?

denitraross

Does your gym give you any free sessions with trainer? if they do - take advantage of this. When I first joined the Y (and they give you 3 free sessions) I met with a trainer and he gave me a basic workout of Upper Body one day and Lower Body the next day....I did this for 5 months, then met with him again to get a more difficult workout ....

The best advice he gave me was the following:

1. You need to do strenght training (just as much, if not more than cardio) - muscles burns more calories than fat...so you need to build up muscle..
2. Never train the same body part two days in a row (that muscle needs a day off - and if your not to sore after the first day and can work that muscle the second day - you didn't work hard enough on the first day.
3. Do a big muscle (chest, back) with a smaller muslce (triceps, biceps, shoulders)
4. Do 3 exercises per muscle
5. Make your first set heavier than you following sets, so you really push yourself

My schedule is this - Day 1 - Legs, Day 2 - Back, biceps and tricpes, Day 3 - Chest and shoulders

I hope this helps a little.....

jaimejean478

I had a personal trainer a few years ago for the purpose of losing weight, and she said you do need strength training, but shoot for at least 60 minutes of cardio 3x a week, if you can do more, do more. Once I took that advice, I started losing more. My April goal is to stick to that advice too.

Charli666

Loving your tickers hun! glad you set those goals :happy:

Mayor_West

The best advice he gave me was the following:

1. You need to do strenght training (just as much, if not more than cardio) - muscles burns more calories than fat...so you need to build up muscle..
2. Never train the same body part two days in a row (that muscle needs a day off - and if your not to sore after the first day and can work that muscle the second day - you didn't work hard enough on the first day.
3. Do a big muscle (chest, back) with a smaller muslce (triceps, biceps, shoulders)
4. Do 3 exercises per muscle
5. Make your first set heavier than you following sets, so you really push yourself

My schedule is this - Day 1 - Legs, Day 2 - Back, biceps and tricpes, Day 3 - Chest and shoulders

I hope this helps a little.....

I agree with all of the above points, although I'll add a few pointers of my own.

1. Keep your reps within the 8-12 range for every set. For beginning weight lifters, heavier weights will increase strength, while lower weights will work on your muscular endurance- neither are very effective for producing the lean muscle that will raise your metabolism and thus allow you to burn more fat. You can experiment with different rep ranges after you progress, but it's best to keep them at 8-12.

2. Keep your rest between sets to no more than 60 seconds- this will allow you enough time to recover, but also keep your heart rate elevated. You may find that some exercises will be more tiring than others- this can depend on the type of lift (compound vs. isolation) and/or the targeted bodyparts. For example, your back muscles are bigger and stronger than your biceps, so they will require more oxygen to recover from a set.

3. Change up your workouts every 2-4 weeks. There are a number of ways to do this- change the exercises done, the order you do them in, the rest between sets, the number of reps per set, etc. Your body will adapt to your workouts, causing you to plateau- changing things up periodically is the best way to prevent this.

4. Work this week to top last week's workout. Let's say you did bench presses this week and you were able to get all 3 sets for 12 reps. This week, you should work with more weight. That doesn't mean you WILL hit 12 reps for all your sets this time around, but you should start to work toward that goal. Just like I noted- your body will adapt to the stresses you put it under quickly, so your workouts need to progress as your body does.

5. Form is everything. If you do decide to hire a trainer, ask them to show you proper form for all the exercises you plan on doing. Proper form will not only maximize the effectiveness of each lift, but just as important, it will prevent injury.

6. Emphasize compound movements. A compound movement is one that requires multiple joints to move. For example, on the squat, you are moving your hips, knees, and to a lesser extent, your ankles. As a result, more muscles are involved in the lift- the squat alone utilizes over 200 muscles. They're not just great for developing your lower body, but they'll also work your entire core as well. Conversely, an isolation movement is one that is used to isolate a single muscle. An example of this is the biceps curl- during this movement, the only joint that moves is the elbow, and the only muscle that is worked is the bicep. Compound movements are great because you can hit multiple muscles at once, making your workouts shorter, more intense and more effective.

denitraross

The best advice he gave me was the following:

1. You need to do strenght training (just as much, if not more than cardio) - muscles burns more calories than fat...so you need to build up muscle..
2. Never train the same body part two days in a row (that muscle needs a day off - and if your not to sore after the first day and can work that muscle the second day - you didn't work hard enough on the first day.
3. Do a big muscle (chest, back) with a smaller muslce (triceps, biceps, shoulders)
4. Do 3 exercises per muscle
5. Make your first set heavier than you following sets, so you really push yourself

My schedule is this - Day 1 - Legs, Day 2 - Back, biceps and tricpes, Day 3 - Chest and shoulders

I hope this helps a little.....

I agree with all of the above points, although I'll add a few pointers of my own.

1. Keep your reps within the 8-12 range for every set. For beginning weight lifters, heavier weights will increase strength, while lower weights will work on your muscular endurance- neither are very effective for producing the lean muscle that will raise your metabolism and thus allow you to burn more fat. You can experiment with different rep ranges after you progress, but it's best to keep them at 8-12.

2. Keep your rest between sets to no more than 60 seconds- this will allow you enough time to recover, but also keep your heart rate elevated. You may find that some exercises will be more tiring than others- this can depend on the type of lift (compound vs. isolation) and/or the targeted bodyparts. For example, your back muscles are bigger and stronger than your biceps, so they will require more oxygen to recover from a set.

3. Change up your workouts every 2-4 weeks. There are a number of ways to do this- change the exercises done, the order you do them in, the rest between sets, the number of reps per set, etc. Your body will adapt to your workouts, causing you to plateau- changing things up periodically is the best way to prevent this.

4. Work this week to top last week's workout. Let's say you did bench presses this week and you were able to get all 3 sets for 12 reps. This week, you should work with more weight. That doesn't mean you WILL hit 12 reps for all your sets this time around, but you should start to work toward that goal. Just like I noted- your body will adapt to the stresses you put it under quickly, so your workouts need to progress as your body does.

5. Form is everything. If you do decide to hire a trainer, ask them to show you proper form for all the exercises you plan on doing. Proper form will not only maximize the effectiveness of each lift, but just as important, it will prevent injury.

6. Emphasize compound movements. A compound movement is one that requires multiple joints to move. For example, on the squat, you are moving your hips, knees, and to a lesser extent, your ankles. As a result, more muscles are involved in the lift- the squat alone utilizes over 200 muscles. They're not just great for developing your lower body, but they'll also work your entire core as well. Conversely, an isolation movement is one that is used to isolate a single muscle. An example of this is the biceps curl- during this movement, the only joint that moves is the elbow, and the only muscle that is worked is the bicep. Compound movements are great because you can hit multiple muscles at once, making your workouts shorter, more intense and more effective.

I will use some of these myself - thanks for adding to it....never thought of Num 3 - change the order of the exercises, or the reps...

healthyjen342

bump..keeping this in my back pocket to read later.

LittleMiss_WillLoseIt

I mean, we would kind of need to know your goals to determine that.... are you trying to lose a lot of weight? Gain muscle? Tone?

I have 100 lbs to lose maybe even more once I reach that goal.

LittleMiss_WillLoseIt

Does your gym give you any free sessions with trainer? if they do - take advantage of this. When I first joined the Y (and they give you 3 free sessions) I met with a trainer and he gave me a basic workout of Upper Body one day and Lower Body the next day....I did this for 5 months, then met with him again to get a more difficult workout ....

The best advice he gave me was the following:

1. You need to do strenght training (just as much, if not more than cardio) - muscles burns more calories than fat...so you need to build up muscle..
2. Never train the same body part two days in a row (that muscle needs a day off - and if your not to sore after the first day and can work that muscle the second day - you didn't work hard enough on the first day.
3. Do a big muscle (chest, back) with a smaller muslce (triceps, biceps, shoulders)
4. Do 3 exercises per muscle
5. Make your first set heavier than you following sets, so you really push yourself

My schedule is this - Day 1 - Legs, Day 2 - Back, biceps and tricpes, Day 3 - Chest and shoulders

I hope this helps a little.....

I wish they gave up a free session. They gave us an orientation, so I know the correct form just didn't really know when and how to do each one Your post definitely helped!!

LittleMiss_WillLoseIt

Loving your tickers hun! glad you set those goals :happy:

thank you!! and thanks for the advice earlier

LittleMiss_WillLoseIt

The best advice he gave me was the following:

1. You need to do strenght training (just as much, if not more than cardio) - muscles burns more calories than fat...so you need to build up muscle..
2. Never train the same body part two days in a row (that muscle needs a day off - and if your not to sore after the first day and can work that muscle the second day - you didn't work hard enough on the first day.
3. Do a big muscle (chest, back) with a smaller muslce (triceps, biceps, shoulders)
4. Do 3 exercises per muscle
5. Make your first set heavier than you following sets, so you really push yourself

My schedule is this - Day 1 - Legs, Day 2 - Back, biceps and tricpes, Day 3 - Chest and shoulders

I hope this helps a little.....

I agree with all of the above points, although I'll add a few pointers of my own.

1. Keep your reps within the 8-12 range for every set. For beginning weight lifters, heavier weights will increase strength, while lower weights will work on your muscular endurance- neither are very effective for producing the lean muscle that will raise your metabolism and thus allow you to burn more fat. You can experiment with different rep ranges after you progress, but it's best to keep them at 8-12.

2. Keep your rest between sets to no more than 60 seconds- this will allow you enough time to recover, but also keep your heart rate elevated. You may find that some exercises will be more tiring than others- this can depend on the type of lift (compound vs. isolation) and/or the targeted bodyparts. For example, your back muscles are bigger and stronger than your biceps, so they will require more oxygen to recover from a set.

3. Change up your workouts every 2-4 weeks. There are a number of ways to do this- change the exercises done, the order you do them in, the rest between sets, the number of reps per set, etc. Your body will adapt to your workouts, causing you to plateau- changing things up periodically is the best way to prevent this.

4. Work this week to top last week's workout. Let's say you did bench presses this week and you were able to get all 3 sets for 12 reps. This week, you should work with more weight. That doesn't mean you WILL hit 12 reps for all your sets this time around, but you should start to work toward that goal. Just like I noted- your body will adapt to the stresses you put it under quickly, so your workouts need to progress as your body does.

5. Form is everything. If you do decide to hire a trainer, ask them to show you proper form for all the exercises you plan on doing. Proper form will not only maximize the effectiveness of each lift, but just as important, it will prevent injury.

6. Emphasize compound movements. A compound movement is one that requires multiple joints to move. For example, on the squat, you are moving your hips, knees, and to a lesser extent, your ankles. As a result, more muscles are involved in the lift- the squat alone utilizes over 200 muscles. They're not just great for developing your lower body, but they'll also work your entire core as well. Conversely, an isolation movement is one that is used to isolate a single muscle. An example of this is the biceps curl- during this movement, the only joint that moves is the elbow, and the only muscle that is worked is the bicep. Compound movements are great because you can hit multiple muscles at once, making your workouts shorter, more intense and more effective.

This definitely helped me out tremendously!! I going to come up with a schedule for both cardio & strength training

denitraross

Good Luck - feel free to add my as a friend if your looking for support