weight lifting plan- thoughts?

jamiek917

for a long time, i mainly did cardio and sports. a few years ago, i started lifting, but it would often be 1-3x a week, with "toning" reps. as of a few days ago, i vowed to get into heavy lifting and really work on transforming my body. for the past few weeks i have been focusing on more protein, less sugar (and trying to avoid fake sugar, and gave up diet soda 3 months ago) and for the first time in months, ive been diligently tracking everything for 3 weeks. im coming off of a period of frequent social and stress binging- so this consistency is key right now.

i work out 5x a week religiously unless theres an extenuating circumstance. everytime i work out i do cardio- either running or the elliptical on a high intensity (plus swimming occasionally and softball in the warmer months). when i was lifting less- id do 1-2 days a week of upper body and a day a week on lower body- but it wasnt always consistent.

a few days ago, i lifted lower body MUCH harder than usual (and boy do i feel it now!)
the next day i lifted upper body hard (same thing- im sore- but a great sore )
the next day i did cardio and abs

my plan is ( i'd like your thoughts): to do cardio everytime i work out, but do strength training where i lift all of my upper 2x a week, and my lower 2x a week (2 break days a week, and one day of just cardio and abs).

thoughts?

LoraF83

Some people do upper/lower splits and it works out fine for them.

A lot of beginners focus on a compound lifting program - working their full body 3 times a week.

It's personal preference I guess.

MoreBean13

Splits are fine, it might help if you post your program (exercises, reps, sets) so we can see how balanced it is and what your specific goals are. Is 4 days a week ideal for you? Are you following a particular program or designing your workouts yourself?

jamiek917

i always entered my workout into my diary- but never bothered to put in the individual strength exercises. im going that now (started 3-4 days ago). i design the workouts myself- i know the gym well and everything in it- and i try to vary what im doing (esp with upper body since there are so many choices). i figure if i lift 4 out of my 5 gym days that will be good- thoughts?

my goal is to lose 30-35 lbs... hopefully 1.5-2 a week. but im also trying to get pregnant... so ill lose as much as i can until then - and continue to work out when im pregnant- but it wont be as heavy.

msotjim

great place to go is scoobys workshop..tons of info . hope this helps

jamiek917

thanks all!

would love more feedback from people who have seen great body transformations through lifting - any other comments?

this past week when im doing each exercise, im doing 3 sets- the first set im packing on more weight than i used to- and doing 12 reps. the 2nd and 3rd set i put on more weight to the point where i can do 6-10 good reps (depending on how much extra weight i add). whether i do upper or lower body, im doing 5-6 exercises, with 3 sets per exercise.

is this a good weight training regiment to achieve good results? i know its only been about 6 days of this kind of increase- but i can say im definitely sore (good sore ), and im lifting a lot more than i used to. i plan to keep increasing the weight amount whenever i can, and vary exercises as often as possible (easier to vary with upper body)

Docmahi

thanks all!

would love more feedback from people who have seen great body transformations through lifting - any other comments?

this past week when im doing each exercise, im doing 3 sets- the first set im packing on more weight than i used to- and doing 12 reps. the 2nd and 3rd set i put on more weight to the point where i can do 6-10 good reps (depending on how much extra weight i add). whether i do upper or lower body, im doing 5-6 exercises, with 3 sets per exercise.

is this a good weight training regiment to achieve good results? i know its only been about 6 days of this kind of increase- but i can say im definitely sore (good sore ), and im lifting a lot more than i used to. i plan to keep increasing the weight amount whenever i can, and vary exercises as often as possible (easier to vary with upper body)

you will definitely see results doing that - sounds like you are sort of training to failure then dropping reps on subsequent sets.

I personally when I started wish I had followed some sort of plan though - there are tons of great starting strength routines - a 3 day split is more then sufficient when starting IMO - especially since you are doing cardio 5x a week

as someone linked earlier scoobyworkshop is excellent - he has a full website and youtube channel. Also IceCreamFitness on youtube has a great starting program. But I personally would endorse any starting strength program that focuses on basic barbell lifts IMO.

10kaday

Get the fitocracy app. It's neat for social aspects and it makes fitness like a game where you get rewards and points depending on what you do. Its also easy to track your progress on there so you can know what to do each week. So I do all my tracking on that app. In regards to your routine, I jumped into a similar one and it ended up being to much and I got injured. I cut back to a beginner plan at 3x a week full body lifting, and 5 to 6 days a week of intense cardio, and that's been much better for me. I read it's better to do this, and then switch to a split routine once you stop seeing gains and feel your more advanced.