Ladies that Lift ! Help me out...

kaetmarie

I'm finally ready to break out of my rut and get serious about lifting....problem is, I don't really know how to structure my lifting days. I'm looking to strength train 3x/week. What do you all do?

Starleng

3 days a week - strength training, 3 days a week - cardio, and one rest day. You need to rest your muscles every other day to allow them to heal.

impersonally

I had been lifting about three days a week as well, and I like to work a different body part each day -- abs/back, legs, arms, for example. Now I only have time to lift two days a week, so I've been combining abs+legs and leave the other day for arms+shoulders. I also run a slow mile before I lift for warm-up, and a fast mile after I lift, to give it a bit of a cardio spin.

bahacca

Feel free to look at my workout on the thread "Critique my workout". I do full body when I do it. It takes about 1 hour(and that was racking and unracking weights, telling the people at the gym that one of my machines was broken, etc). I find full body each day to be better because if you do legs one and upper the other and you are doing 3 days, then what do you do that day? That's just how I look at it though. You work your whole body on cardio days, why not on weight days too? If I was time constrained, like only could do 1/2 hour, then I MIGHT do 1/2 and 1/2.
I generally have 3 days a week guaranteed at the gym. I have dumbells and some other stuff at home. I try to get in 3 days lifting, 2 days HIIT. THis week I've had appointments, so I have done 1 day HIIT, 1 day lifting. I have an appt tomorrow, so I may get to the gym Friday, sat or Sunday, maybe not. This is another reason I do full body weights. What if I miss my "leg day"? Then do I have to do 2 leg days the next week?--too much to concern myself with;-)

DrumlineGirl

I lift 3 days a week, and have been for 3 weeks (used to lift in various spurts at different times in my life, so I'm not a total newbie, but not an expert).

I'm trying heavy lifting because the research I've done has said that women can't get bulky since we don't have the testosterone, and we'd have to have a major calorie surplus and possibly steroids. So I'm doing 3 sets of any given weight, about 6-8 reps. I'm slowly trying to increase those 3 sets each session until I can do 10 reps. Then I will go up to the next weight, back down to lower reps, and slowly work up again over days or weeks until I get 10 reps on that new weight, and so on.

kaetmarie

This is all great! Thanks!!

Anelda

I do a program called Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe as this is a great way to build a foundation for building strength. This is only 3 times a week where you alternate workouts.

My days look something like this:

Monday: 7 minute bike/rowing warmup with increasing intensity.
Squats: 2 warm up sets of 5 at 50% and 75% of working weight.
3 sets of 5 at working weight.
Overhead Press: Same as above
Chinups: 3 sets until failure
Cardio: 20 minutes with 10 minutes "warmup", 4 minutes tabata cycles, 6 minutes cool down.

Wednesday: 7 minute bike/rowing warmup with increasing intensity.
Squats: 2 warm up sets of 5 at 50% and 75% of working weight.
3 sets of 5 at working weight.
Bench Press: Same as above
Dead lifts: Same warmup as previous exercises but I only do 1 working set of 5
Cardio: 20 minutes with 10 minutes "warmup", 4 minutes tabata cycles, 6 minutes cool down.

Wednesday: 7 minute bike warmup/rowing with increasing intensity.
Squats: 2 warm up sets of 5 at 50% and 75% of working weight.
3 sets of 5 at working weight.
Overhead press: Same as above
Pull ups: 3 sets until failure
Cardio: 20 minutes with 10 minutes "warmup", 4 minutes tabata cycles, 6 minutes cool down.

I alternate my bench press and overhead press from week to week, so one week I'll do bench M/F and overhead W and the next week I'll do overhead M/F and bench only on W. I always increase my weights every workout. If I find I cannot increase without failing, then I drop my weight and try to push out more reps. I strive to have a personal goal every workout. In a couple of weeks, I'll be adding power cleans.

Other good programs are Stronglifts 5x5, New Rules of Lifting for Women (Or just New Rules of LIfting) and Madcow 5x5.

Pick up New Rules of Lifting for Women and New Rules of LIfting by Lou Schuler, they are absolutely fantastic beginner books. Starting Strength is just a fantastic book overall as it explains everything that happens when you perform a squat/press/power clean/bench press, as well as correct form, why it's correct form and how to correct your form based on pain you experience. It also gives you a workout program to follow.

impersonally

I'm trying heavy lifting because the research I've done has said that women can't get bulky since we don't have the testosterone, and we'd have to have a major calorie surplus and possibly steroids. So I'm doing 3 sets of any given weight, about 6-8 reps. I'm slowly trying to increase those 3 sets each session until I can do 10 reps. Then I will go up to the next weight, back down to lower reps, and slowly work up again over days or weeks until I get 10 reps on that new weight, and so on.

I agree, except I usually start with a weight where I can do a few more reps, like 10-12. But I definitely follow the same plan of increasing the weights when I've reached the maximum reps that I want for that exercise.

I'm torn about switching exercises -- I definitely appreciate the challenge to my muscles with different exercises, but at the same time it's really satisfying to be able to increase the weight I'm using on a specific exercise. So there are certain exercises that I will almost always do (like assisted pull-ups, because I'd love to reduce the assistance weight until I can do a pull-up on my own!), and other exercises that I'll try and switch around to keep challenging my muscles.

missikay1970

weights: arms and shoulders on mondays
weights: legs & abs on tuesdays
cardio only wednesdays
weights: back & chest on thursdays
cardio only fridays & saturdays

by the way, i do the heaviest weight i can... 2 sets @ 20 reps each
this goes for all body parts.

some weeks i switch it up and do 3 sets of 10 reps each OR 2 sets of 15 reps each at a higher weight.

Jennifer0878

Check out the book The New Rules of Lifting For Women by Lou Schuler. It's AWESOME and gives very specific lifting workouts for 6 months. There's even a group here on MFP (NROL4W) to help support each other during the different stages. You can get it for about $10 on Amazon or for a little more as an e-book. I hope you check it out!

midnightsurfer

my new routine means i weight lift 6 times a week, i split it in to muscle groups so i have a break between when i work each muscle.
Monday- chest and shoulders
Tuesday- back and abs
Wednesday- arms and legs
Thursday- chest and shoulders
Friday- Back and Abs
Saturday- Arms and legs.
I also swim (or other cardio) 3 times a week. I do weights in the morning and cardio in the evening.
i find i can focus on each muscle group much more when i break it down like this, and gives me the option to do more types of weights for each muscle.

chachita7

Follow the link below, perhaps you may be able to find a plan you like -- I am doing the
12 Week Burning The Fat Program - and i am already seeing definition

http://www.bodybuilding.com/guides/

Best of luck to you

carrie_eggo

Check out the book The New Rules of Lifting For Women by Lou Schuler. It's AWESOME and gives very specific lifting workouts for 6 months. There's even a group here on MFP (NROL4W) to help support each other during the different stages. You can get it for about $10 on Amazon or for a little more as an e-book. I hope you check it out!

^^Yes. This. I've heard Starting Strength is very good too.

MB_Positif

I am doing Jamie Eason's 12 week Live Fit Trainer which is from www.bodybuilding.com It is free to sign up. The only problem might be that it is 4 to 5 days a week! I have combined one upper body day with legs before though and it was fine.

ctroxell2011

I do weights three days a week. One day I do machines for shoulders arms and back, one day i do machines for legs and one day I do abs, free weights and floor exercises. I mix up the machines so that I don't get bored and so that my body doesn't get programmed to what I'm doing. I do the heaviest weight I can comfortably do 12-15 reps, and I do 3-4 sets. I do cardio every day, but twice a week I do spin and that's the two days I don't do weights.

grapenutSF

Check out the book The New Rules of Lifting For Women by Lou Schuler. It's AWESOME and gives very specific lifting workouts for 6 months. There's even a group here on MFP (NROL4W) to help support each other during the different stages. You can get it for about $10 on Amazon or for a little more as an e-book. I hope you check it out!

^^Yes. This.

Vote #3 for this.

Personally, I also mix in salsa fitness, 3 mile runs, and tabatas. I like variety.