advice needed from strength training folk
FluffyDogsRule
Posts: 366 Member
hello! here's my current workout schedule...
Mon - 30 min elliptical
Tues - Insanity max circuit
Wed - Insanity max cardio
Thur - 4 mile run
Fri - 30 min elliptical
Sat - Insanity max plyo
Sun- 4 mile run
I am now able to do the Insanity max workouts (month 2) all the way through at the same speed as the actors...I used to be sore afterwards, now my muscles feel fatigued the next day, but not sore. I gained about 3 pounds of muscle with Insanity, so it was a great method for muscle for a newbie like me.
But I think that to change my body any further, I need to add more strength training in. I'm thinking I should replace the elliptical?? Both days?? One of the days?? I can control my weight with diet, so I'm not worried about dropping some cardio.
Here's where I really need advice. I don't belong to a gym and can't afford to, but my work has an exercise room with kettle bells and small weights. Would that be enough to get me started twice a week? Or should I invest in my own barbell set at home?
Also, I plan to google/you tube some 30 - 40 minute strength workouts, but any good ones you recommend? I want the best workout for the time I have.
And any other advice you can give me is wonderful.
Thanks so much for your help!
Kate
Mon - 30 min elliptical
Tues - Insanity max circuit
Wed - Insanity max cardio
Thur - 4 mile run
Fri - 30 min elliptical
Sat - Insanity max plyo
Sun- 4 mile run
I am now able to do the Insanity max workouts (month 2) all the way through at the same speed as the actors...I used to be sore afterwards, now my muscles feel fatigued the next day, but not sore. I gained about 3 pounds of muscle with Insanity, so it was a great method for muscle for a newbie like me.
But I think that to change my body any further, I need to add more strength training in. I'm thinking I should replace the elliptical?? Both days?? One of the days?? I can control my weight with diet, so I'm not worried about dropping some cardio.
Here's where I really need advice. I don't belong to a gym and can't afford to, but my work has an exercise room with kettle bells and small weights. Would that be enough to get me started twice a week? Or should I invest in my own barbell set at home?
Also, I plan to google/you tube some 30 - 40 minute strength workouts, but any good ones you recommend? I want the best workout for the time I have.
And any other advice you can give me is wonderful.
Thanks so much for your help!
Kate
0
Replies
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Hope you are eating at least 2000cals a day if not more.
Seems a bit excessive with no rest days.
What are your goals?
Where are you now with your goals?0 -
2 observations:
1. If you're this obsessive about exercise, I suspect you're starving yourself crash dieting.
2. Rest is paramount. Over training will stifle progress.
Conclusion: work hard but smart, or you'll fail to reach your goals.
Good Luck :flowerforyou:0 -
REST!!!!!!0
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WOW! The OP asks about some ways to start incorporating some strength training into her plan and all she gets is a bunch of Eat More Nazis telling her to eat more food. Way to be helpful there. Good job!
OP, hopefully some of the lifters will jump in soon to give you some answers.0 -
Take one or two rests day a week. You're still new so you may not feel it now, or for quite a while, but over time your body may suffer if you do not. I ran into a wall about 2 years in and I'm finally starting to take my rest days and periodic rest weeks much more seriously.
Edited note: I'm sure the women strength trainers will come in with program advice but Strong Lifts is one that is popular. I'll defer to the ladies that have that experience.0 -
WOW! The OP asks about some ways to start incorporating some strength training into her plan and all she gets is a bunch of Eat More Nazis telling her to eat more food. Way to be helpful there. Good job!
OP, hopefully some of the lifters will jump in soon to give you some answers.
Name calling is classy, especially considering the work that I know how much knowledge Dan has put in to the forum. OP, rest is certainly needed. Eating plenty is needed.0 -
And to the OP- not an expert, but sounds like trading off the elliptical for some weight work would be a good start. Starting off with Kettlebells and dumbbells is a good way to ease into it. Do they have any other machines at your work gym? Check with others who use the weight room to get some tips on using the equipment. There are also a lot of body weight exercises you can do at home without any extra equipment. I have heard of a book called Your Body is a Gym? or something like that.0
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You're definitely going to need to insert a rest day in there if you plan on doing strength training. You actually should have a rest day in there regardless, just to give your body a break. If you're thinking about replacing the elliptical with weight training, that would be 2 days per week for strength training (good start). You'd could do the insanity or 4 mile run for 3 days, and still have one rest/recovery day per week. An example would be:
Sun- Cardio (run or insanity)
Mon- Weights
Tues- Cardio (run or insanity)
Wed- REST
Thurs- Cardio (run or insanity)
Fri- Weights
Sat- Cardio (run or insanity)
The following week, Sunday would be the rest day so you could keep a pattern of 3 days of activity folowed by a rest day.0 -
If you're going to keep doing Insanity, that's enough of a cardio workout on its own. I would ditch the elliptical and the running, put in a couple of days of heavy lifting and a couple of days of rest. If you just really love to run, okay, but then cut out some of the Insanity. You've got to have rest days and lifting days, so something has to give.
How heavy are the kettlebells and free weights you have in your work gym? You could probably start with a 26 lb kettlebell for swings (maybe presses, too, but an 18 lb would be good for those) and 35 lb for rows, goblet squats, and single-leg deadlifts, but at some point, you will want access to a barbell so you can do the full range of heavy deadlifting, squatting, rowing, and overhead pressing. You're going to get the most bang for your time with those lifts.0 -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-New-Rules-Lifting-Women/dp/1583333398/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357823763&sr=8-1
Buy this book.
I've just bought it and I've been weight lifting with my boyfriend, and have this one in the post. It has great reviews x0 -
WOW! The OP asks about some ways to start incorporating some strength training into her plan and all she gets is a bunch of Eat More Nazis telling her to eat more food. Way to be helpful there. Good job!
OP, hopefully some of the lifters will jump in soon to give you some answers.
i never mentioned food, so thats not all she got!0 -
WOW! The OP asks about some ways to start incorporating some strength training into her plan and all she gets is a bunch of Eat More Nazis telling her to eat more food. Way to be helpful there. Good job!
OP, hopefully some of the lifters will jump in soon to give you some answers.
Name calling is classy, especially considering the work that I know how much knowledge Dan has put in to the forum. OP, rest is certainly needed. Eating plenty is needed.
There is nothing in her post or on her page to indicate that she is crash dieting, yet she is immediately accused of that. There are many people on here that work out as much or more than she listed here, and no one jumps on them about it. The OP didn't ask for any diet advice, she asked for advice on lifting weights. Is it classy to accuse people of having eating disorders based on no evidence?0 -
WOW! The OP asks about some ways to start incorporating some strength training into her plan and all she gets is a bunch of Eat More Nazis telling her to eat more food. Way to be helpful there. Good job!
OP, hopefully some of the lifters will jump in soon to give you some answers.
i never mentioned food, so thats not all she got!
My apologies to you for including you in that remark.0 -
Pick up a copy of Oxygen magazine! They have amazing workouts that use free weights and tons of at home exercises you can do. I've purchased every copy for the past 2 years and it helps keep me motivated! The best thing about weight training is that if you aren't feeling challenged you can always increase the weight. You won't bulk up either - i use to think lifting 5 pound weights would do the trick for me but i saw zero results. Good Luck!
Oh, and for youtube videos check out Lori Harder - i know she has some quick but tough workouts on there.0 -
WOW! The OP asks about some ways to start incorporating some strength training into her plan and all she gets is a bunch of Eat More Nazis telling her to eat more food. Way to be helpful there. Good job!
OP, hopefully some of the lifters will jump in soon to give you some answers.
Well because resistance training is rather detrimental to the body when done properly for strength or size increase and requires more rest time and higher caloric intake as the recovery process is a 48hr venture over cardio which caloric output ends when you stop moving. Insanity is pretty much cardio in overdrive, not strength training. So they're doing the right thing.
Drop two days a week of the cardio - it's catabolic and resistance training is far superior to any cardio workout. Replace them with resistance training for NO MORE than 60m. Anything longer and youre wasting time and stripping nutrient from the body. Leggo has a good week routine outlined.
Resistance bands, barbell sets, kettleballs, it all helps and works the same concept. What you need to understand about resistance training for the most progress is training to failure: the physical inability to perform the last rep.0 -
OP, simply speaking from a strength training perspective, if your only access to weights is a couple kettlebells and a handfull of other weights, my recommendation would be to look into body weight exercises (examples - pull-ups, push-ups, air aquats) and adding the kettlebells for additional resistance as needed.. Easy to incorporate into your routine, will develop strength, and can be done with little equipment.
Cheers0 -
I would like more information about strength training too.0
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WOW! The OP asks about some ways to start incorporating some strength training into her plan and all she gets is a bunch of Eat More Nazis telling her to eat more food. Way to be helpful there. Good job!
OP, hopefully some of the lifters will jump in soon to give you some answers.
Name calling is classy, especially considering the work that I know how much knowledge Dan has put in to the forum. OP, rest is certainly needed. Eating plenty is needed.
There is nothing in her post or on her page to indicate that she is crash dieting, yet she is immediately accused of that. There are many people on here that work out as much or more than she listed here, and no one jumps on them about it. The OP didn't ask for any diet advice, she asked for advice on lifting weights. Is it classy to accuse people of having eating disorders based on no evidence?
Her profile is viewable to friends only so Idk where you got the first line in your comment from.
I agree with the guy who listed cardio 3 days and weights 3 days with a rest day. Rest days are definitely important when you do weights.
Someone else mentioned New Rules of Lifting for Women but if your gym at work doesn't have barbells/plates, exercise balls, and a step, you won't get that far with it.
Stronglifts, and probably Starting Strength, requires barbell/plates, a power rack, and a bench. That's about 1000$ (give or take) worth of equipment you'd have to buy for your home.
You can do a google search for kettle bell workouts and use the ones at the gym. I have no experience with kettebells - except the 10lb one I've got that I rarely do calf raises with.
Does the gym at work have anything else besides kettle bells and dumbbells? What weights to they go to?0 -
WOW! The OP asks about some ways to start incorporating some strength training into her plan and all she gets is a bunch of Eat More Nazis telling her to eat more food. Way to be helpful there. Good job!
OP, hopefully some of the lifters will jump in soon to give you some answers.
Name calling is classy, especially considering the work that I know how much knowledge Dan has put in to the forum. OP, rest is certainly needed. Eating plenty is needed.
There is nothing in her post or on her page to indicate that she is crash dieting, yet she is immediately accused of that. There are many people on here that work out as much or more than she listed here, and no one jumps on them about it. The OP didn't ask for any diet advice, she asked for advice on lifting weights. Is it classy to accuse people of having eating disorders based on no evidence?
Only one person made the assumption that she was crash dieting. The other posters simply encouraged her to make sure she's eating enough to support her workouts. You classified this as " a bunch of Eat More Nazis".0 -
Maybe I'm blind, but I surely don't see any accusations of eating disorders in either of the posts where you called people out for being Eat More Nazis. If you had nothing else to offer to this thread than to slap the hand of people trying to help, why even comment?WOW! The OP asks about some ways to start incorporating some strength training into her plan and all she gets is a bunch of Eat More Nazis telling her to eat more food. Way to be helpful there. Good job!
OP, hopefully some of the lifters will jump in soon to give you some answers.
Name calling is classy, especially considering the work that I know how much knowledge Dan has put in to the forum. OP, rest is certainly needed. Eating plenty is needed.
There is nothing in her post or on her page to indicate that she is crash dieting, yet she is immediately accused of that. There are many people on here that work out as much or more than she listed here, and no one jumps on them about it. The OP didn't ask for any diet advice, she asked for advice on lifting weights. Is it classy to accuse people of having eating disorders based on no evidence?
The OP needs to look into their diet AND add rest if they're looking to work on their body composition. Both of the replies were accurate. Other advice has been given to the effect of swapping out the elliptical for weights, etc. I don't recall either of the guys referring to the OP as a nazi.0 -
I don't belong to a gym and can't afford to, but my work has an exercise room with kettle bells and small weights. Would that be enough to get me started twice a week? Or should I invest in my own barbell set at home?
You can start in the exercise room to help progress to a point that you feel you're ready (not necessary though) and make sure you're going to keep going before making the investment in the barbell set. Its not necessary but there's also nothing wrong with that. However, you will need to eventually invest or join a gym if you want to really go for it. Buy used for your first set and you can save a lot of money.0 -
Rest days are essential for your body to repair and recover and advance. If you don't take them your body will break down one way or another and force you to take them. Rest days do not have to be "sit on the couch days" they can be "take it at lower effort days." Sometimes I have sit on the couch days (like yesterday) and some weeks my rest days are a short easy run at a moderate pace without any real incline or simply taking a walk.
Follow your insanity schedule. If you're going to add weights, at least 2 days per week. You can do 15 minutes of elliptical before lifting or incorporate some hiit on those days.0 -
WOW! The OP asks about some ways to start incorporating some strength training into her plan and all she gets is a bunch of Eat More Nazis telling her to eat more food. Way to be helpful there. Good job!
OP, hopefully some of the lifters will jump in soon to give you some answers.
Truth is it does take a long time to reach an overtrained status but if all shes doing is tearing down tissue with zero recovery then she needs to be eating more.
Also the word "Nazi" is a bit extreme dontcha think?
Also in terms of body composition it looks to me like 80-90% cardio.
My opinion is drop most cardio.
Lift 3-4x a week in a 3x5 or 5x5 program for beginners (www.stronglifts.com) and if she needs cardio simply add in 10-15 mins after each lifting session.0 -
You're definitely going to need to insert a rest day in there if you plan on doing strength training. You actually should have a rest day in there regardless, just to give your body a break. If you're thinking about replacing the elliptical with weight training, that would be 2 days per week for strength training (good start). You'd could do the insanity or 4 mile run for 3 days, and still have one rest/recovery day per week. An example would be:
Sun- Cardio (run or insanity)
Mon- Weights
Tues- Cardio (run or insanity)
Wed- REST
Thurs- Cardio (run or insanity)
Fri- Weights
Sat- Cardio (run or insanity)
The following week, Sunday would be the rest day so you could keep a pattern of 3 days of activity folowed by a rest day.
Very good suggestion I think I might use this for myself.0 -
I don't claim to be an expert by any stretch of the imagination. However, my limited knowledge would say this, as apparently the gyms aren't of interest to you, and after having looked at weight training equipment myself recently, the cost to get a lot of dumbells etc is pretty exhorbitant. (I probably massacred that spelling).
Anyway, I've seen in sporting goods stores, even in Wal-Marts, that they have dumbbells out there that you buy just one dumbell, and it has a lot of different weights that "dial on". May be a cost-effective way start, that and some pushups and the like.
Good luck! I know that at first I was just dieting and doing cardio stuff. In the last month or two, with some strength training in there, I'm seeing results in my physical appearance much quicker. May be coincidence, and it may just be my mind seeing what it wants to see..... I'll admit that. However, there are the results looking back at me in the mirror every day. Have fun with it!0 -
Sometimes the best answers are to questions unasked.WOW! The OP asks about some ways to start incorporating some strength training into her plan and all she gets is a bunch of Eat More Nazis telling her to eat more food. Way to be helpful there. Good job!
OP, hopefully some of the lifters will jump in soon to give you some answers.
No need to snivel over any open forum discussion that includes the free flow of information.
Her issue is over training and probably food intake.
If you can't see that clearly, oh well....
No need to play public defender, ...:sad:0 -
WOW! The OP asks about some ways to start incorporating some strength training into her plan and all she gets is a bunch of Eat More Nazis telling her to eat more food. Way to be helpful there. Good job!
OP, hopefully some of the lifters will jump in soon to give you some answers.
Truth is it does take a long time to reach an overtrained status but if all shes doing is tearing down tissue with zero recovery then she needs to be eating more.
Also the word "Nazi" is a bit extreme dontcha think?
Also in terms of body composition it looks to me like 80-90% cardio.
My opinion is drop most cardio.
Lift 3-4x a week in a 3x5 or 5x5 program for beginners (www.stronglifts.com) and if she needs cardio simply add in 10-15 mins after each lifting session.
New Rules of Lifting for Women is also a really great program. NROL and and strong lifts are both compound lifting programs and recommed lifting no more then 3 days a week or every other day. As far as nixing all cardio except a little hiit here and there, that really depends on her goals. There's no reason why she can't lift + hiit 3 days a week and insanity 2 days a week while getting 2 rest days.
Edit to add: the "lifting" that she's talking about isn't heavy lifting and wouldn't fit into a NROL or SL program . . . it's more endurance lifting when you start getting into primarily kettle bell work . . . some may argue with me on this, but while kettle bell workouts are great and you can find some amazing ones on line through google, this is just more cardio.0 -
WOW! The OP asks about some ways to start incorporating some strength training into her plan and all she gets is a bunch of Eat More Nazis telling her to eat more food. Way to be helpful there. Good job!
OP, hopefully some of the lifters will jump in soon to give you some answers.
Truth is it does take a long time to reach an overtrained status but if all shes doing is tearing down tissue with zero recovery then she needs to be eating more.
Also the word "Nazi" is a bit extreme dontcha think?
Also in terms of body composition it looks to me like 80-90% cardio.
My opinion is drop most cardio.
Lift 3-4x a week in a 3x5 or 5x5 program for beginners (www.stronglifts.com) and if she needs cardio simply add in 10-15 mins after each lifting session.
Now this^ would have been a helpful post and would have answered her questions. But instead, the first thing you said was that she had better be eating at least 2000 calories.0 -
I would like more information about strength training too.
Here http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/686963-large-collection-of-info-for-beginners0 -
Sometimes the best answers are to questions unasked.WOW! The OP asks about some ways to start incorporating some strength training into her plan and all she gets is a bunch of Eat More Nazis telling her to eat more food. Way to be helpful there. Good job!
OP, hopefully some of the lifters will jump in soon to give you some answers.
No need to snivel over any open forum discussion that includes the free flow of information.
Her issue is over training and probably food intake.
If you can't see that clearly, oh well....
No need to play public defender, hijacking the thread...:sad:
She asked for advice on how to trade off some cardio for some strength training. This is a good thing for her to look into. Your response to that was-
"1. If you're this obsessive about exercise, I suspect you're starving yourself crash dieting. "
Why did you suspect that she was starving herself by crash dieting? Her profile and food diary are private, and she did not say how many calories she was eating. She even made a point to say that her diet was fine so she wasn't afraid to drop some cardio. Those who are obsessive about diet and cardio are not usually willing to drop any cardio workouts to incorporate strength training.
I am not hijacking the thread, or playing public defender. I am just sick of many people on here who immediately jump to conclusions and make assumptions about people, accusing them of having eating disorders, when there is no reason to do so.
I made my first post after reading the first 2 responses that did nothing to help answer the OPs questions.
Since then, many people have posted with some good advice.
You could have asked her how many calories she was eating before accusing her of starving herself.
You could also simply have suggested that she needs a rest day, like others have, without accusing her of being obsessive.0
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