What workout to do with 1 hour limit in gym?

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KrazyAsianNic
KrazyAsianNic Posts: 1,227 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
After graduating college in May 2012, I started working part time at my father's office to learn the business. As a graduation gift, I got a 2 year membership to a gym. In September, I got a full time position that had me working 7 days a week. Then in October, it started to be 5 days a week.

I haven't been to the gym in a while. I have been so busy, tired, and stressed. But I do miss the gym.

Starting next week, my father has changed my schedule. He really wants me to try to lose my weight and be healthier. He understands I am wiped out after work to then go and work out. So Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I will be starting work an hour later and closing up an hour later. This will allow me to wake up the same time I do now, but make about an hour in the gym to work out.

I'm looking for advice on how to conquer this hour and get the best workout I can. I want to get cardio and strength in. I prefer doing at least a little cardio every day, but I was thinking of doing strength only on Tuesday and Thursday so that my body could rest a day.

Any ideas on how I should break this up? And what I should do in terms of strength?

Replies

  • Swanson83
    Swanson83 Posts: 226 Member
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    I would put in about 30 minutes cardio and 30 minutes strength training. If you have a local library check out the New Rules of Lifting for Women. The schedule for weight training in there could take 30 mins or less depending on how busy the gym is. That is what I aim to do when I only have one hour. That is just my opinon but it is easy. Do your favorite cardio (bike, elliptical, stairs, treadmill, swim, etc.) to start out maybe change things up as you get back into the routine. Don't skip strength training! You will appreciate the end results!
    Good Luck!
  • AverageUkDude
    AverageUkDude Posts: 371 Member
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    I go to the gym in the morning, and with the winter being in full swing i tend to get in one hour only. So i tend to do 3 days of full strength training only and two days of intense cardio + whatever I fancy doing at the weekend. Find a routine that fits you, what you like doing. Thats the important bit because if you dont like it, its too easy to give up and not do it.

    Also in terms of strength i would recommend doing activities that target large groups of muscles....squats, deadlifts etc.
  • Yaya1976
    Yaya1976 Posts: 357 Member
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    I haven't added weights to my workouts, so for now, I sometimes do 1/2 hr on the elliptical and 1/2 hr on the treadmill. Depending on my mood, I might switch to a different machine.
  • KrazyAsianNic
    KrazyAsianNic Posts: 1,227 Member
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    I would put in about 30 minutes cardio and 30 minutes strength training. If you have a local library check out the New Rules of Lifting for Women. The schedule for weight training in there could take 30 mins or less depending on how busy the gym is. That is what I aim to do when I only have one hour. That is just my opinon but it is easy. Do your favorite cardio (bike, elliptical, stairs, treadmill, swim, etc.) to start out maybe change things up as you get back into the routine. Don't skip strength training! You will appreciate the end results!
    Good Luck!

    I will take a look at the book. thanks!
  • LishieFruit89
    LishieFruit89 Posts: 1,956 Member
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    That's so nice of your father to do that for you!
    He's being very supportive

    I'm doing New Rules of Lifting for Women right now and it takes more than half an hour once you get further into the stage.
    When I started and did the first 4 works outs (A1-A4 & B1-B4) with 15 mins of cardio and stretching, I'm was at about 50 min. And that'd leave you with 10 mins til your hour is up. And I wasn't resting as long as I should have either.
    Now I'm in the second half of the stage which has more sets, less reps and I cut down my cardio to 10 mins and I still hit 50-55 min for the workout.
    It might be different for you but just my take on it.
    And I so suggest NROLFW or any weight program that gets you into the free weights section =]
    Hopefully your gym is better equipped than mine
  • wareagle8706
    wareagle8706 Posts: 1,090 Member
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    There have been studies that show that doing cardio and weight lifting back to back one the same day canbreak down muscle and also doesn't help with fat loss as much as people seem to think it does so I would try to break it up between days.

    I think weigt lifting on Tuesday and Thursday is a great idea. Doing Cardio on Wednesday would obviously be your best option then.

    When it comes to cardio I would stick to the elliptical or spin or recumbent bike as these provide resistance which help minimize muscle loss. Treadmills propel your forward so you aren't doing as much work as you think you are. As always, walking outside is the better option, but I understand we're talking about in the gym here.

    Also, on weight lifting days if you take shorter rests in between sets this will keep your heart rate slightly more elevated than longer breaks. I'd say keep it to 1 minute or less, not to exceed 3 minutes.

    I can help you out on weight lifting routines that would last around an hour. If you're interested feel free to private message me!!
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,326 Member
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    i kind of disagree with NROL4W, after stage 2 the routines are easily into the 90 minute range because they get so complicated.

    in 60 minutes i can do
    - 10 minute treadmill warm up and dynamic stretching + 45 minutes strongs lifts (another strength training program like NRoL4W but less complicated) + 5 minutes stretch

    OR

    - 15 minutes cardio +20-25 minutes circuit training complex like tumminello complex, cosgrove evil 8 + 10 mins AMRAP pushups + 5-10 minutes collapse/stretch


    that's on strength training days, on cardio days i just split my time between 2-3 different things or have 1 mammoth session on 1 machine
  • KrazyAsianNic
    KrazyAsianNic Posts: 1,227 Member
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    Thank you everyone for your responses!
  • PennyRLane
    PennyRLane Posts: 120 Member
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    I normally work out for about an hour to an hour and a half. that includes stretching.
    you can see my profile but normally it is
    30 minutes of stretching - 15 before and after and maybe more if i am stiffer than normal
    1/4 mile 4.0 mph on the treadmill
    3 3/4 - 5 miles on the treadmill - 5.5 starting, then working all the way up to 7.5mph on the last 1/4 (I like to move up in 1/2 to 1/4 mile spands)
    20-30 minutes on the ellipitcal - around 300 - 500 calories
    I normally measure amounts of calories burned with our gym equipment. I don't mind how far I go or how fast, just the amount I burn.
    I just recently started adding lifting free weights and lunges with 10 pound weights and I have TOTALLY SEEN RESULTS!! within a week I don't feel any burn in my muscles and I actually am developing arm muscle. I've never had arm muscle lol EVER!
    we don't have a lot at our free gym in our apartment building so I make the most of what I have
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    I work out during my lunch hour Monday to Friday.
    Some days pure cardio, some pure circuit/strength training, some a mixture of both.
    I tend to do both cardio and strength at high impact and you can pack a load into 50 minutes with 10 minutes to change/shower.

    My exercise diary is open if you want ideas.
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
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    My suggestion, do strength one day and cardio the other.

    If you are doing strength to failure, then you won't be able to do cardio on the same day.
  • 40Marbles
    40Marbles Posts: 188 Member
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    Take a look at Tracy Reifkind's book "The Swing".

    It is a great resource for your new lifestyle. She was once overweight and transformed herself with diet and kettlebells.

    You can do so much with just one piece of equipment - strength and cardio with the same tool and perfect for a beginner.
  • VelvetAcidVixen
    VelvetAcidVixen Posts: 25
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    An hour is plenty of time, there is really no need to spend more time in the gym than that unless you're trying to compete or something.

    I would recommend a beginning weight training program 4x per week (New Rules, Starting Strength, Stronglifts, etc) and throw in some cardio 2-3x per week.
  • SleepySin
    SleepySin Posts: 168 Member
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    I personally obligate myself twice a week to attend the Zumba and strength training classes that are held on Wednesdays and Saturdays so that's two hours, 2x a week. I find that I'm most productive in a class when there's someone telling me what to do and encouraging me along. Less time wasted fiddling with my music, checking text messages, etc.

    On other days, I try to get to the gym 1-2 additional visits to do whatever - whether that ends up to be cardio, other classes, some strength training.

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