My exercise plan - opinions?

swilk627
swilk627 Posts: 245 Member
edited November 10 in Fitness and Exercise
Since the beginning of the year, I've been doing cardio about six times a week. I was just told to add in weight training. So, I'm trying to map out what my week of exercise looks like.

Sunday - weights, spin class
Monday - elliptical at home (30-45 minutes) or free day
Tuesday - spin class or intervals on the treadmill
Wednesday - weights, spin class or intervals on the treadmill (whichever I didn't do on Tuesday)
Thursday - spin class or intervals on the treadmill
Friday - weights, spin class
Saturday - elliptical at home

Good plan? Bad plan?

Replies

  • ShalisaClam
    ShalisaClam Posts: 190
    No rest days? :tongue: I would be exhausted! LOL I think your plan looks great, since you're not doing the strength training back to back days.... Good Luck!
  • swilk627
    swilk627 Posts: 245 Member
    Sometimes I rest on Mondays. I've just found that with my personality, I lose my momentum if I take a rest day. I slip back into laziness and I find it hard to get motivated again. It works for me.
  • Cal28
    Cal28 Posts: 514 Member
    Do you have Body Pump classes you can do? One thread suggested it was good to learn the form before doing weight training yourself. I do Pump but not sure about doing free weights on my own yet.

    I think your plan looks good but I'm a bit new to it all myself!

    I do
    Mon: RPM (Spinning)
    Tue: BodyPump
    Wed: BodyCombat
    Thur: BodyPump
    Fri: RPM (Spinning) or BodyCombat
    Sat: BodyPump (or if I oversleep RPM)
    Sun: Rest day or just a walk
  • swilk627
    swilk627 Posts: 245 Member
    Do you have Body Pump classes you can do? One thread suggested it was good to learn the form before doing weight training yourself. I do Pump but not sure about doing free weights on my own yet.

    I think your plan looks good but I'm a bit new to it all myself!

    I do
    Mon: RPM (Spinning)
    Tue: BodyPump
    Wed: BodyCombat
    Thur: BodyPump
    Fri: RPM (Spinning) or BodyCombat
    Sat: BodyPump (or if I oversleep RPM)
    Sun: Rest day or just a walk

    You know, I tried Body Pump on Monday and I just wasn't impressed. My gym only offers the class on Mondays and it's just not incredibly convenient for me to go then. I didn't love the class enough to alter my schedule to be able to attend. I felt like the exercises were pretty basic/common knowledge and I could do them just as well not in a class setting.
  • swilk627
    swilk627 Posts: 245 Member
    Well, I gave Body Pump another try today and I liked it much better. :)
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    I'd use your weight days as weight days and your cardio days as cardio days. Don't mix the 2. If you have the time to workout as much as your plan suggests, then dedicate those days to one focus. Lift HEAVY on your lift days, and burn big on your cardio days.
  • ask4itall
    ask4itall Posts: 37
    If you are wanting to burn body fat understand strength training burns calories...and believe it or not...it burns more calories than the same amount of time invested in cardio work like the "dread-mill" or Spin class.

    Here's why...when you build lean muscle mas (strength training)....you essentially cause your metabolism to work hours and hours after the exercise is finished; whereas, when you're doing cardio...you're burning calories while doing the exercise but as soon as you stop...the calorie burn stops.

    A 20-30 minute weight-lifting routine 3-4x/week will result in burning more calories than 30-minutes of cardio 5x/week.

    Along with strength training... incorporate a HIIT (I recommend Tabatha HIIT) 3-4x/week. The beauty of Tabatha HIIT...12-minutes and your'e DONE!!

    Good luck and let me know if I can help!!


    Ciao!!

    http://www.facebook.com/fitwithfig
  • swilk627
    swilk627 Posts: 245 Member
    The reason I've mixed the two is because I've read so many people on here saying do to strength right after cardio as it burns more calories. Is that not accurate?

    I have 2 hours three days a week and 1 hour the rest.
  • jcpmoore
    jcpmoore Posts: 796 Member
    The reason I've mixed the two is because I've read so many people on here saying do to strength right after cardio as it burns more calories. Is that not accurate?

    I have 2 hours three days a week and 1 hour the rest.

    I'm not sure how accurate the info about combining or not combining is. I can tell you that you'll have more strength for both activities if you do cardio first and then strength. That is provided you are planning to do both on the same day.

    I never found a need to spend a full hour strength training, but that's me. Others might have more insight into that than I do.
  • zafferFL
    zafferFL Posts: 402
    imho, if you are doing weight/strength training correctly, you should want to go home and sleep and not have enough energy for cardio at all.

    Long term benefits, more muscle = higher BMR = more calories burned naturally during the day = less cardio needed.

    Cardio will be a never ending cycle if you don't build lean muscle, and you need to maximize your weight training sessions
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    The reason I've mixed the two is because I've read so many people on here saying do to strength right after cardio as it burns more calories. Is that not accurate?

    I have 2 hours three days a week and 1 hour the rest.

    Actually, if you're going to mix you should do strength first. its safer and you'll generally see better results.
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