Ladies who lift

ch178

Can you please give me an idea of what your workout consists of, Thanks

geordiegirl1892

i develop my own routines and do different parts of the body.

MONDAY: 60 mins cardio, 1 hr abs, back, light chest
TUESDAY: 1 hr walking
WEDNESDAY: 60 mins cardio, biceps, triceps
THURSDAY: 60 mins cardio, calves and abs ( 1hr)
FRIDAY: 60 mins cardio, quads and shoulders
SATURDAY: 2 hrs cardio, 1 hr abs
SUNDAY: 60 mins cardio, glutes, hamstrings and light shoulders

Audddua

I highly recommend spending the cash on a couple personal training sessions to ensure you have good form. My gym (Life Time Fitness) has a great barbell strength class that has helped me figure out how to lift weights without the additional costs that personal training comes with.

Typically I do a short warmup with stretching (2 min) and them lift for 15-40 minutes. There are a ton of theories out there on reps/muscle groups/etc that may work better for you. I just try to hit every major group and to change it up so I don't fall into a rut. For instance my ab workout one day will be bicycles, and then the next time I'll do planks, and then the next time I'll do the weight machine for crunches. I try to run/elliptical/stair climb for 15-40 minutes after that and then stretch out really thoroughly for 5-10 minutes and that's it.

BeautyFromPain

bump

I do pre much everything but I'm too scared to dead lift

geordiegirl1892

ive been qualified over 25 years so dont bother with the gyms now i do it all at home and develope my own routines

Cathleenr

i am between training seasons now, so on my own til about the middle of january, but i am trying to maintain where we left off in november:

Monday: Back. deadlifts (always), some cable work, dumbbells and either the high row or the lat pulldowns and flys

Wednesday: Legs: squats (always), either ham work or quad lifts, maybe some other bb work.

Friday: Shoulders: deadlifts (frequently), DB v-raises (love these), shoulder press, reverse incline flys.

Cardio i do about 30 minute sessions, usually on my off-strength days, 3-4 times a week. love to just run the trails with my dogs, but if its too cold, ill do 15 minutes on the stairs and 15 minutes incline treadmill.

i alternate each week between lighter weights/higher reps and heavier weights/lower reps, although i expect everything will change when i get back into training. i want to be very competitive this year!

withchaco

Warmup cardio for 7-8 minutes.

Back - weight machine; assisted pullups or high rows. This also works my biceps.
Chest - weight machine; chest press (also works triceps) or chest fly (just chest). Or just good ol' push-ups
Hams, quads and glutes - leg press
Shoulders - dumbell raise, or weight machine
Triceps - dumbell or weight machine
Abs - unassisted pullups, or weight machine crunches, or plank
Also hip abduction and adduction for additional lower body training.

That's my routine. I do everything in one day, and rest the next. I don't always do them in that order.

I am planning on buying myself a personal training session so I can learn how to do deadlifts and Romanian deadlifts. Been wanting to incorporate them into my workouts for a while!

lexgem

I have started doing New Rules of Lifting for Women. I try to follow all the advice for form and I look up videos online before trying it. I also ask for help from guys who seem to know what they're doing.

ch178

thanks for the responses ladies

rileamoyer

bump for later

Rae6503

I have started doing New Rules of Lifting for Women. I try to follow all the advice for form and I look up videos online before trying it. I also ask for help from guys who seem to know what they're doing.

This. It's really great for beginners.

usmcmp

When I started I checked out www.bodybuilding.com and picked a plan I liked (I liked that they were free as well). They have videos showing you how to do the exercises and pretty much set it all up for you. Now I customize my own plan.

I do suggest hiring a personal trainer for a session to ensure that you understand proper form. If you are doing things with poor form you could end up hurt or with slower progress. The personal trainers at our gym will help with form questions and correcting form without needing to buy a session, most of them just want people to do well and avoid injury.

Lyadeia

Can you please give me an idea of what your workout consists of, Thanks

I do Tom Venuto's "The New Bodybuilding Workout" which you can find on the net if you google it. Basically it is a 2 day upper/lower split with 1 day a week for strength/hypertrophy of each upper and lower and 1 more day for just hypertrophy...so 4 workout days a week with rest in between days. It focuses on compound lifts such as squats, deadlifts, bench press, chin-ups, etc. with only a couple of isolation moves tacked on to the end of the workout such as curls or calf raises.

On my days off of weight training, I do cardio for about 45 minutes that consists of running or Turbo Kick...with possibly the step mill if I am feeling slightly masochistic that day, lol.

Amburglar

DAY 1 - Chest and Biceps...25 minutes of running (flat bench press, decline bench or incline bench, bicep curls, pushups)
DAY 2 - Legs (squats, dead lifts, extensions and curls)...25 minutes of running
DAY 3 - Triceps and Shoulders...25 minutes of running (tricep extensions, dumbbell shoulder flies)
DAY 4 - Abs and Back...(abmat crunches, full incline crunches usually with 10lb plate, pull-ups)...45 minutes of running
DAY 5 - Chest and Biceps...25 minutes of running
DAY 6 & 7 are rest days

Each workout is about an hour, give or take 5 minutes.

Day 1 of next week starts where I left off. Everything in parenthesis are just ideas, all of which I do, but not always in the same night. I try to use all free weights, as they also train balancing of weights, which makes the lifting a little harder. I definitely recommend notating all your workouts. It's a GREAT way to look back and see the progress you've made.

themommie

thanks for sharing. I have been wanting to start lifting but not really sure where to start. I might hire a personal trainer for a few sessions

jsuaccounting

Bump

TrainingWithTonya

Well, right now, I'm kinda taking an unplanned break from heavy lifting thanks to my dogs digging a hole that I fell in and sprained my ankle. It's the worst sprain the doctor has ever seen and the x-rays are being re-evaluated by a radiologist who was off work for Christmas last week when I went in, so I'm not 100% certain its not broken since it is getting worse as I try to use it. I won't be able to go heavy with my lifts even for upper body until I can walk into the gym without crutches. Liability issues, whatever.

Anyway, I tend to break my workouts up to the following:

Chest and Triceps
Back and Biceps
Legs
Shoulders and Abs

My workouts typically consist of a 10 minute warm up (or more if I'm having asthma issues), 30-60 minutes of weight training, 30-60 minutes of cardio, and a 10-15 minute stretch at the end.

For my exercises, I like the following by body part:

Chest--Bench press (flat, incline, and decline), Butterflies (flat, incline, and decline), Pec Dec Machine, and chest press machine to finish it up or like now when I'm not 100% balance wise.

Back--Lat Pulldowns, Seated Rows, Lat Pullovers, Bent Over Rows, Upright Rows, and Hyperextensions. I'll do the hyperextensions while holding a weight plate on the apparatus at the gym. If I do them flat on the floor (Supermans), I don't use weight. Notice I put lat pullovers here. A lot of places will categorize them as a chest exercise, but they are only a chest exercise if done at an incorrect angle.

Legs--Squats, Plie Squats, Deadlifts, Stiff-legged Deadlifts, Lunges (when I'm not having issues with my surgically repaired knee), leg press, leg extension, leg curl, calf raise, and the abductor/adductor machine if there is one at the gym. I also like the total hip machine at the gym but most gyms don't have them. Notice I put deadlifts here. They are a hamstring exercise. If you feel it in your back you are doing it wrong. Gotta push your chest out, pull the shoulder blades back, and keep the head up while sticking the butt out.

Biceps--Twisting curls, hammer curls, 21's, spider curls, preacher curls, and ez curls

Triceps--Rope pressdown, overhead triceps extension, triceps kickbacks, skullcrushers, and dips. Sometimes I use weight plates on my lap for the dips, but that takes building up to so I won't be doing that for a while after having to take this break.

Shoulders--Arnold Press, Standard Shoulder Press, Front Raise, Lateral Raise, Rear Delt Flies, Rear Delt Raises, Internal Rotations, External Rotations, and Scarecrows

Abs--3 point crunches, toe touch crunches, reverse crunches, Russian twists, oblique crunches, the 100, 3 point oblique crunches....and a ton more. I use to teach a 30 minute abs class where we did sets of 25 not doing the same type twice and would hit 1000 before we were done, so I have a bunch of variations of ab work. Typically, I don't use weight with them, but I have been known to grab a 10 pound medicine ball and use it for a lot of these too.

katcena

I aim for 3 days a week of weights: 1 day arms/abs/upper body, 1 day legs/lower body, 1 day total body. I alternate each day with cardio....elliptical, treadmill, stair machine, zumba, Hip Hop Abs, TurboFire. As I just started really focusing on weights about 1 month ago, I am getting to where I am going to fine tune more and focus on certain muscles eventually. But, for starters this is working really well for me since I cannot make it to the gym 5-6 days a week, so I do a lot of my cardio at home.

TrainingWithTonya

Oh, and for ideas, I have several dozen workout cards on my facebook fan page at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Training-With-Tonya/231103626354

There's also a challenge for January and videos from when I had my tv show a few years ago and from me teaching at a couple of different places. The workout cards and challenge are in the photos section.

MercenaryNoetic26

Been lifting for years, but going to give the NRoLfW workout a shot. I've pretty much read the whole book and looked at the workout plan. Looks pretty solid. Now that I've read it, I can certainly agree it's a great start.
According to this book I've been doing "unnecessary" exercises. LOL It's okay, no gym time is wasted time, but I'll admit I look forward to the whole "Less is more" concept. Meaning less exercises (not light weights).

kenzietea

bump

I do pre much everything but I'm too scared to dead lift

Just start out really light!

debussyschild

The workout plan I use now was created on bodybuilding.com and endorsed by Jamie Eason. It's good, but I had to tweak it because some of the olympic moves are very difficult for me. Their website has GREAT workout plans. Great place to look and get yourself started.

Also, here is a link to a page on ExRx.net <<http://exrx.net/WeightTraining/Instructions.html>&gt; that describes how to create a workout routine. It has examples of whole body workouts, 2-day, and 3-days split workouts as well. Split workout routines are where you split up the body groups and work them on different days. I work upper body one day, lower body another, and full body on another day. I do about 20 minutes of cardio post-lifting (extra fat burning time!) as well as longer 40-50 minutes cardio sessions on non-lifting days.

Acg67

i develop my own routines and do different parts of the body.

MONDAY: 60 mins cardio, 1 hr abs, back, light chest
TUESDAY: 1 hr walking
WEDNESDAY: 60 mins cardio, biceps, triceps
THURSDAY: 60 mins cardio, calves and abs ( 1hr)
FRIDAY: 60 mins cardio, quads and shoulders
SATURDAY: 2 hrs cardio, 1 hr abs
SUNDAY: 60 mins cardio, glutes, hamstrings and light shoulders

wow, 3 hrs of abs a week broken out into 3 sessions? that seems awfully excessive to me. assuming you are incorporating heavy squats/deads there really isn't a need to do a ton more direct ab work, certainly not 3 hrs worth

watchmeshrink16

Bump!

avenathus

Currently I lift heavy 2 days a week, then 3 days of interval training type stuff. I warm up with 5 minutes of brisk uphill walking and cool down with stretches. Total time is usually 30-45 minutes.

Day 1: Deadlift, bent over dumbbell row, cable lat pulldown or negative pull-ups. 3-4 sets of 5-10 each.
Day 2: Back squat, single leg split squat, incline push-ups, weighted dips, kettlebell swings. 3-4 sets of 5-10 each.
Day 3: Whatever my trainer makes me do! She uses interval training (45 seconds on, 10-15 seconds rest, and so on). We always do some abs (bicycle crunches, planks, hanging leg raises), legs (straight leg deadlifts, lunges, squats) and upper body (push-ups, overhead presses), and usually some kettlebell swings. For cardio she has me do burpees, mountain climbers, and various kinds of jumps.

I also currently do 2 days a week of bootcamp (a mix of cardio and weight lifting intervals) for an hour each time but that's over at the end of this week, so I'm going to add another heavy lifting day revolving around the bench press.

Once you get your form down on the big lifts, I highly suggest working toward lifting heavy. You will notice such great results and you'll feel awesome!!!!

debussyschild

i develop my own routines and do different parts of the body.

MONDAY: 60 mins cardio, 1 hr abs, back, light chest
TUESDAY: 1 hr walking
WEDNESDAY: 60 mins cardio, biceps, triceps
THURSDAY: 60 mins cardio, calves and abs ( 1hr)
FRIDAY: 60 mins cardio, quads and shoulders
SATURDAY: 2 hrs cardio, 1 hr abs
SUNDAY: 60 mins cardio, glutes, hamstrings and light shoulders

wow, 3 hrs of abs a week broken out into 3 sessions? that seems awfully excessive to me. assuming you are incorporating heavy squats/deads there really isn't a need to do a ton more direct ab work, certainly not 3 hrs worth

I'm glad someone said something... abs don't require that much. An hour TOTAL over the week of abs is still a lot.

dad106

My gym has a system that generates strength workouts for you based on pre-set items.. and I love it!

Generally my workouts look like this:
Sunday: Warm up 5 min on treadmill followed by 30-45 minutes of upperbody weight lifting.
Monday:Cardio(walking on a treadmill)
Tuesday:Warm up 5 min on a treadmill followed by 30-45 minutes of lowerbody weight lifting.
Wednesday:Rest or Cardio
Thursday: Full Body Personal Training
Friday:Rest
Saturday:Rest

Then start all over the next week.

I suggest getting a PT for a few sessions if you can to learn proper form. From there, you can look at bodybuilding.com or new rules of lifting for women.

WifeMomDVM

As two other ladies already suggested, go buy the book "The New Rules of Lifting for Women" by Lou Schuler. (about $10 on Amazon.com) I was a novice lifter and I will complete the six month program tomorrow. It kicked my booty, but was clear and easy to follow. GREAT FULL BODY WORKOUTS!!!!

13hirteen

I usually lift two - three days a week, although this gets switched around a fair bit to accommodate triathlon training or any other fitness challenges I have going on (I'm a Fitocracy member and enjoy mixing it up).

I'll usually do one day of upper body, one lower, and one combined. At the core of those are the big three: barbell squats, deadlifts and bench presses. I'm also a big fan of the shoulder press.

I supplement those with additional cable rows, lat pull-downs, split squats, barbell step-ups, planks, odd core exercises and other elements designed to reinforce potentially weak muscle groups. However, you can quite easily dispense with everything apart from the four composite lifts mentioned in the paragraph above and still get a fantastic workout.

I usually spend between 30 minutes and an hour in the weight room, depending on rest times, current training load levels and how hard I find it to tear myself away from all that lovely iron.

agthorn

As two other ladies already suggested, go buy the book "The New Rules of Lifting for Women" by Lou Schuler. (about $10 on Amazon.com) I was a novice lifter and I will complete the six month program tomorrow. It kicked my booty, but was clear and easy to follow. GREAT FULL BODY WORKOUTS!!!!

Yep!! I lift with the NROLW routine twice a week (I extended stage 1, and start stage 2 on Jan 3rd) and follow both sessions with 15 min of intervals on the elliptical. The rest of the week I do yoga or run (currently 2x a week, will bump to 3-4x in February for 12 weeks for a half marathon). I also do a little bit of calisthenics in the morning a couple times a week - 10 minutes of abs (cringed at the person who said they did abs for a full hour!) and some pushups/negative pullups.

carolinedb

New Rules of Lifting for Women is great for beginners. That being said, I have a lot of weight room experience, so I've developed my own plan. I'm a big fan of compound movements and free weights.

Lifting workout A
Back squat
Assisted pullups
Bench press
High pulls
Assisted dips
Ab combo: toe touches 25x, leg lifts 25x, russian twist 25x, plank 1 minute

Lifting workout B
Hang cleans
Max pushups from toes
Single arm row
Walking lunges
Shoulder raises
Ab combo: V-ups 25x, kickers 50x, oblique reaches 25x each side

Lifting workout C
Deadlifts
Assisted pullups
Dumbell swings
Push press
Sumo squat
Ab combo: side plank 30 sec each side, sit ups, cobra 1 minute

I rotate these out every 6 weeks or so for different variations to keep things fresh. All the strength moves vary from 2x12 reps to 4x4 depending on where I am in my 6 week cycle. I also do a 1 rep max day at the end of each 6 weeks.