Opinions on regime for weight loss and tone

tonyb111111
tonyb111111 Posts: 24
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi, Ihave been doing bucket loads of cardio and am now intergrating some resistance training. Can you have a look at the plan below and give me your opinions on whether this will meet the objective of losing weight and building some defintion. Also, is it too much, not enough or just right?

All weights are 5 sets of 6-8 reps, with the first set been 90% of max and subsequent sets dropping 5% each time

Monday:
Cardio: 20 min tread mill intervals, 20 min cross trainer intervals & 20 min rowing intervals
Resistance: Biceps & Back - Preacher, hammer and seated curls. Lat pull downs, low rows, one arm row and bent over row

Tuesday
45 mins spinning class

Wednesday:
Cardio: 20 min tread mill intervals, 20 min cross trainer intervals & 20 min rowing intervals
Resistance: Chest & Triceps - Bench press, bench flyes and cable crossover. Kickbacks, tricep push down, assisted dips & lying tricep extension

Thursday:
45 mins spinning class

Friday:
Cardio: 20 min tread mill intervals, 20 min cross trainer intervals & 20 min rowing intervals
Resistance: Shoulders & Abs - Shoulder press, upright rows, prone flyes & frontal and lateral raises. Lots of crunching and planks

Saturday & Sunday: Rest


I appreciate your time reading this lot

Replies

  • tonyb111111
    tonyb111111 Posts: 24
    Please can someone with more experience advise me on this exercise regime
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    IMO, on weight days do weights, on cardio days do cardio. Then give 100% effort to whatever you're doing. IME, it's very hard to give full effort with weights if you've done cardio/HIIT beforehand.
  • tonyb111111
    tonyb111111 Posts: 24
    That is exactly the kind of feedback i am looking for. What do you think about dropping the spin classes and moving the interval to the Tuesday and Thursday
  • JenMc14
    JenMc14 Posts: 2,389 Member
    That is exactly the kind of feedback i am looking for. What do you think about dropping the spin classes and moving the interval to the Tuesday and Thursday

    Honestly, I don't really think it matters which you choose for cardio. Both are pretty intense if you do them right. Pick which you prefer or do one on Tuesday and one on Thursday. If you still want to do some cardio intervals on lifting days, I'd drop it to one 20 minute session and do it after your weights so that you can have maximum effort on your strength training.
  • tonyb111111
    tonyb111111 Posts: 24
    Do you think I should maintain the calorie intake on weights days as if i was doing the same amount of cardio
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    That is exactly the kind of feedback i am looking for. What do you think about dropping the spin classes and moving the interval to the Tuesday and Thursday

    It probably doesn't matter all that much, but...

    I've read (so take it with a grain of salt), that true HIIT has a similar impact on the CNS as does heavy lifting. So lifting one day then HIIT the next doesn't give the CNS sufficient time to recover.

    I'm not sure how much I buy into that, but I don't know enough about CNS impact to have a meaningful opinion.
  • JenMc14
    JenMc14 Posts: 2,389 Member
    How are you determining your calories? MFP's way or TDEE? Are you eating at a deficit? If you're doing it MFP's way, I'd track what I'm doing and eat back at least 50% of those calories. If you're doing TDEE - 20%/whatever, then I'd set your modifier to moderately active, subtract 20% and use that number each day.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    Do you think I should maintain the calorie intake on weights days as if i was doing the same amount of cardio

    Calorie goals should be dictated by calorie needs. You can average your calorie needs over the course of a week and base your daily calorie intake on that (this is the TDEE - 20% approach), or you can increase or decrease cals daily based on exercise (the MFP approach). Both work well, it's just a matter of preference.
  • djeffreys10
    djeffreys10 Posts: 2,312 Member
    Without looking at the program, you won't "lose weight and build definition." If you are at a calorie deficit, you will lose weight. But you won't build anything. Do resistance training at a deficit to maintain current muscle mass, but you won't build more. You will, however, look more muscular because you won't have the fat covering the muscle.

    Calorie surplus is required to build anything (you gotta have something to build with). Proper resistance training on a surplus will build muscle (and some fat inevitably, but that can be lost in your next cut phase).
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
    IMO, on weight days do weights, on cardio days do cardio. Then give 100% effort to whatever you're doing. IME, it's very hard to give full effort with weights if you've done cardio/HIIT beforehand.

    I partially agree with this and partially disagree. You can do cardio and weights on the same day IF you do weights first and then cardio. You want all of your strength for weights, and if you deplete your glycogen stores through weight lifting, you will have a higher rate of fat oxidation if you do cardio afterwards. Never do it the other way around though, or your lifts will suffer.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    Without looking at the program, you won't "lose weight and build definition." If you are at a calorie deficit, you will lose weight. But you won't build anything. Do resistance training at a deficit to maintain current muscle mass, but you won't build more. You will, however, look more muscular because you won't have the fat covering the muscle.


    Isn't the bolded pretty much the definition of "definition," though? Definition != mass increase.
  • firefightergal30
    firefightergal30 Posts: 15 Member
    I would have to agree with you as well. I think your body benifits with doing both but limiting your cardio to 30-35 minutes. Any more than that you are going to break your muscle down and become lean. I am recovering from two hip surgeries and may need hip replacement but am only 30, so I am going through a new thing called movement therapy which is like cross fit which is then followed by yoga. The yoga instructor told me that there was a recent study that proves yoga and or streching will help muscle recovery and build more muscle. I will need to look this up for myself but I don't think she would miss inform me. Do the research for yourself if you aren't sure of it's solidity.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    I would have to agree with you as well. I think your body benifits with doing both but limiting your cardio to 30-35 minutes. Any more than that you are going to break your muscle down and become lean. I am recovering from two hip surgeries and may need hip replacement but am only 30, so I am going through a new thing called movement therapy which is like cross fit which is then followed by yoga. The yoga instructor told me that there was a recent study that proves yoga and or streching will help muscle recovery and build more muscle. I will need to look this up for myself but I don't think she would miss inform me. Do the research for yourself if you aren't sure of it's solidity.

    I don't agree with that, certainly not for the average MFPer.
  • tonyb111111
    tonyb111111 Posts: 24
    Do you think I should maintain the calorie intake on weights days as if i was doing the same amount of cardio

    Calorie goals should be dictated by calorie needs. You can average your calorie needs over the course of a week and base your daily calorie intake on that (this is the TDEE - 20% approach), or you can increase or decrease cals daily based on exercise (the MFP approach). Both work well, it's just a matter of preference.
    The idea was to start the weights but contionue to eat the same. I average my intake and exercise over the week and tend to eat 60-70% of my exercise calories (MFP). I think will work to maintain lean mass but am looking for some to say i am on right track
  • tonyb111111
    tonyb111111 Posts: 24
    Without looking at the program, you won't "lose weight and build definition." If you are at a calorie deficit, you will lose weight. But you won't build anything. Do resistance training at a deficit to maintain current muscle mass, but you won't build more. You will, however, look more muscular because you won't have the fat covering the muscle.

    Calorie surplus is required to build anything (you gotta have something to build with). Proper resistance training on a surplus will build muscle (and some fat inevitably, but that can be lost in your next cut phase).
    Totally agree, may be I phrased it wrong. I want to lose enough fat to be able to see what is going on underneath, and there is still a fair amount of fat go befor I get to this stage. I can then assess what needs work and what doesn't and put together a program that will reshape me into something I am happier with. Obviously, this will require a calorie excess, but I will have to wait until the fat has gone
  • djeffreys10
    djeffreys10 Posts: 2,312 Member
    Without looking at the program, you won't "lose weight and build definition." If you are at a calorie deficit, you will lose weight. But you won't build anything. Do resistance training at a deficit to maintain current muscle mass, but you won't build more. You will, however, look more muscular because you won't have the fat covering the muscle.


    Isn't the bolded pretty much the definition of "definition," though? Definition != mass increase.

    He said "build definition." You aren't building anything losing fat.
  • djeffreys10
    djeffreys10 Posts: 2,312 Member
    Without looking at the program, you won't "lose weight and build definition." If you are at a calorie deficit, you will lose weight. But you won't build anything. Do resistance training at a deficit to maintain current muscle mass, but you won't build more. You will, however, look more muscular because you won't have the fat covering the muscle.

    Calorie surplus is required to build anything (you gotta have something to build with). Proper resistance training on a surplus will build muscle (and some fat inevitably, but that can be lost in your next cut phase).
    Totally agree, may be I phrased it wrong. I want to lose enough fat to be able to see what is going on underneath, and there is still a fair amount of fat go befor I get to this stage. I can then assess what needs work and what doesn't and put together a program that will reshape me into something I am happier with. Obviously, this will require a calorie excess, but I will have to wait until the fat has gone

    Gotcha. I did the same thing, but just did a bro split lifting (each muscle group 1x per week on a 5 day split) doing HIIT 3x per week after lifting and maintaining a calorie deficit.
  • woodml1
    woodml1 Posts: 199 Member
    As you can see, there are about 80 million schools of thought out there regarding weight training. I recently competed in my first figure competition and also had the goal of losing fat while maintaining muscle. You said you're more interested 'dropping fat to see what's going on under there' rather than necessarly building muscle. In that case, I'd say your set range is to high and your rep range is too low. I think you can still do some cardio but I'd bump it down to 30 minute cardio sessions and then increase the intensity of your resistance training (and the caloric burn in those sessions) by regularly utilizing super sets, circuit training, and/or doing cardio intervals (1-2 minutes) between your sets.

    Good luck!
  • tonyb111111
    tonyb111111 Posts: 24
    Thanks everyone for your feedback, time to review and adjust i think
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    to further muddy the waters... much of what's been suggested is along the lines of "what's more ideal" or "what will get you better/faster" results. Your original program will certainly work, so depending on your goals/expectations, preferences, etc... you may be perfectly fine doing the routine you posted originally.

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