Women lifters: your routine?

asyouseefit

I want to starte a weight lifting program and want to be serious about it. I have no idea how to organise my workouts!

Would this be ok?

Mon: upper body
Tue: cardio
Wed: lower body
Thu: cardio
Fri: core
Sat: cardio
Sun: rest

My BF% is 28 and I'd like to reduce it to 22%.

Also, how many different machines/exercises should I do per day? Is 5-6 enough? For instance, for upper body is triceps - biceps - chest - back - shoulders enough?

Thanks!

snkeller24

I try to do mostly compound movements and mix between free weights and body movement exercises. Rarely do I use an actual machine.

The routine you listed looks like the basic standard - try to incorporate some supersets into there too!

neenaj33

Monday - Lower
Tues - Upper
Wed - Lower/ cardio
Thurs-Upper
Fri- Lower/ cardio
Sat- Upper
Sun - Rest

Dunno if my routine is any good, but this i what I have been doing.

dad106

My gyms system just got me started on a split body routine.. and I started last week. Last week I went a a bit overboard, but I'm hoping it will go something like this:

Sunday:Lowerbody and Core
Monday:Cardio
Tues:Upper Body and Core
Wed:Rest
Thurs:Full body personal training session
Fri and Sat: Rest or Cardio.

As far as how many exercises you should do, what you have laid out sounds right. I do mainly machines(both selectorized, and free weight machines with plates) and some dumbell exercises. I'm not comfortable with the bar at all, so I stay far away from that!

Barneystinson

Stronglifts 5x5. Tues & Thurs (A one day, B the next)

A:
Barbell squat, 5x5 (5 sets of 5 reps)
Barbell bench pres, 5x5
Barbell row, 5x5
Pull ups
Weighted decline sit ups
Bench dips (triceps)

B:
Barbell squat, 5x5
Barbell overhead press, 5x5
Barbell deadlift, 5 sets of 1 rep
Pull ups
Weighted decline sit ups
Bench dips (triceps)

Squats, deadlifts, overhead presses (or clean & jerks) - all performed in the squat rack. If you're just starting out - start with the bare 45 pound bar and work your way up. If your bench press or overhead press is under 45 lb, use dumbbells first then work up to the bare bar.

I try to increase my lifts by 5 pound increments weekly. I stick with the barbell (obviously) and will occasionally work in some form of dumbbell lifts in addition - maybe a nice standing shoulder press or bicep curl. I hate the Nautilus weight machines and the Smith machine - not as effective, IMO because they're controlling your motion.

maemiller

Since im short on time, i try to incorporate multiple muscle groups at the same time with very short breaks (10-20 seconds) inbetween sets. Sometimes I do Tabata training, or i use the Nike Training Camp APP to make my own circuits.

thecrossfitter

I try to do mostly compound movements and mix between free weights and body movement exercises. Rarely do I use an actual machine.

Yes. Compound/multi-joint movements all the way. I'm not personally a fan of isolated movements when I lift. I've done weight machines in college, and threw in some bicep curl business, and I personally didn't feel like I saw a lot of results. I also prefer power lifting because I feel like I'm simultaneously getting cardio in.

My routine is 3 days on 1 off 2 days on 1 off. I have a coach writing what I do (and they post our workouts online for free), and honestly it's entirely different everyday. I don't know the details of their programming. I know they make sure we aren't going to go too heavy on specific muscle groups all week long or anything. I've never tried to figure out how they decide and work it out, but they do post it online for free for anyone.

Nearly always, the first half of my gym time is warming up and then strength focused, be it working on form, or going through the Wendler 5 3 1 (google it) to increase our lifting capacity. Then my actual workout is typically 12-20 minutes (sometimes as much as 40, but that isn't the norm). We will do stuff that mixes our lifting with cardio. And heck - some of the more complex lifts ARE cardio as far as I'm concerned. I don't know about you, but this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obSsn6JVnkk gets my heart rate racing!

Often times we will mix lifts or pull ups or other strength based movements (lifts, kettlebell work) with things like box jumps, sprints, or burpees or something. Stuff like wall balls honestly feels like a solid mix of strength and cardio to me. Sometimes we cycle through each movement for a set amount of time and count our reps. Other times we have a certain number of reps to hit and we go through the workout for time.

I guess I don't really feel like I have set days for certain muscle groups. When I leave, I feel like I used my whole body - but of course every day I certainly feel some muscle groups more than others. I still go on long runs during marathon training seasons once a week (for the sheer fact that I LIKE running races), but other than that I don't really separate my cardio from my strength days. I like doing it in a big mix together!

amysj303

My first thought is that this is not enough, simply because you are only working each body part once per week.
I have heard good things about the 5x5 mentioned above.
There are lots of plans on bodybuilding.com I found and tnation. Message me if you want the links:)

furekurss

you have a whole day for "core"? what work outs are those? im very interested

snkeller24

Exerpt from 'Nerd Fitness'

Machines are the devil and can do more damage in the long run. Here’s why:

When you use a weight machine instead of free weights, your stabilizer muscles have nothing to do. All of the work that they SHOULD be doing is being done by the weight machine! This means that as you get stronger and stronger by increasing the weight on the machine, your stabilizer muscles get proportionally weaker and weaker as they’re not being used at all. Sure, you might get bigger muscles, but they’re held together by weak stabilizer muscles. We call this “non-functional strength” as it doesn’t translate very well to real world situations.

We also call this “a fail.”

So, again - your large compound movements using a barbell or dumbbells are more beneficial then using all the lil circuit machines.