time for strength workouts

mnec2010

so i always hear of people doing lower body strength days, or upper, etc.. but how much time should this be? I go to a womens gym with circuit training. I usually try to do 40-50 minutes of cardio a day and then 20 minutes circuit training where I do strength.... is this enough?

Katie3784

I would increase strength training time and decrease cardio time. So many people(I used to be one of them), do 30,40,or 50 minutes of cardio at low to medium intensity. This is better than nothing, and is great for your heart, but it does not do much for weight loss. I am a huge propenent of HIIT and Tabata. HIIT is where you would do a 5 minute warm up at average resistance/intensity, then do 10 sets(less to begin) of alternating 20 seconds of high resistance, high intensity with 40 seconds of easy. Then do a 5 minute cooldown. It only takes 20 minutes, but I promise you will burn more calories and sweat so much more than 50 minutes of ho hum. Tabata is even shorter. You do a 5 minute warm up, then 10 sets alternating between 20 seconds of the hardest running,biking,etc. you've ever done followed by 10 seconds of rest. Do a 5 minute cooldown at the end. This is hard, but only takes fifteen minutes, so you will have more time to devote to strength, which is super important.

kellykat2

I'm no expert but it sounds like enough to me. You are doing excellent

My ex husband is a body builder, and he doesn't work his entire body every day. He doesn't even work upper one day and lower the other day. He concentrates on a few areas and trains those until he can do no more, sometimes it is only two body parts a day. But he lifts very heavy weights. He looks ridiculous to me being that big!!!

you can definitely work 20 mins on upper and 20 mins the next day on lower along with your cardio. Do the circuit machines that you are doing but add some free weight routines also. You can search online for some workout plans that will give you ideas on what specific exercises to do.