Moving Into Strength Training Phase - Need Efficient Ideas

NickIandolo

Hello My Fitness Friends,

It's been quite a ride since last Thanksgiving when I got the flu (ironically after getting a flu shot) and couldn't eat for 3 days and lost 10 pounds. That kicked off a whole new wave of motivation to keep going and lose weight and then get back into shape!

I've lost 35 pounds and now I am NordicTrack-ing my way back to fitness. My wife has already remarked that she sees muscles on me that she hasn't seen for over 10 years!

So I want to take it to the next level and really add some strength training. My major challenge is finding the time. Or more accurately, making the time I have for exercise more efficient.

I've been doing a lot of reading and here's what I've come up with for a possible exercise program that might get me some results. It will always include the NordicTrack for my cardio workout.

3 days a week 30 minutes NordicTrack cardio at high resistance and 20 minutes for abs.
2 - 3 days a week 20 minutes NordicTrack cardio at low resistance and 30 minutes for upper and lower body.

So here's the question I have for this forum. What exercises can I do in the time alloted that would cover the 3 main muscle groups without having to resort to weights?

I figure I'll definitely be doing push-ups and pull-ups (need to install a pull-up bar somewhere), and I think as someone suggested here that 'mountain climbers' might be great for the legs. Aside from crunches, are there better ab exercises that I don't have to do a million of that will work upper and lower abs and the obliques?

When I was in my 30s I had like 3 hours a day to workout, so I got an entire gym full of weights and lifted like crazy. I did get in the best shape of my life. But now in my mid-forties, with a full-time job and a family to take care of, I need to get useful results while only having 50+ minutes 5 maybe 6 days a week.

There's gotta be a nice efficient program of calisthenics out there that I can adopt. And Ideas?

Cheers,
Nick

Javajunkie67

Planks is the one that pops to mind. Side and front--hold them for as long as you can-they aren't as easy as they look.

Body weight squats and lunges, those will get the legs and you need your core for stability. They may not take long to get used to though.

Manabug01

Burpees. Here's the wiki page with mods on it when it starts getting easy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burpee_(exercise)