I need weight training advice

nwachim
nwachim Posts: 111 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So I have been following this weight training program that is divided into upper body and lower body programs, each for two days in a week to total 4days a week. My question is for some reason I might not be able to go to the gym 4days this week and dont want to miss any of the workouts, do you think it will be wise to merge the upper and lower body workouts and do them in one day( I have done one of the upper body and lower body for the week and about going to the gym to do the second upper body workout for this week, will it be a bad idea to also do the lower body workout today since I wont have time to go to the gym any other day this week). I will also like to metion that I did the first lower body workout for the week yesterday and my legs are still mildly sore. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Replies

  • Cherimoose
    Cherimoose Posts: 5,208 Member
    Yes, combine them. It's generally better to do full-body workouts, since A) it's how we tend to use our body outside the gym, and B) it lets you do exercises that combine both upper & lower body.
    You can do a full-body workout every 2 or 3 days, if you don't do too many sets of each muscle group. How many total sets of leg exercises does your program prescribe?
  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member
    Yes, combine them. It's generally better to do full-body workouts, since A) it's how we tend to use our body outside the gym, and B) it lets you do exercises that combine both upper & lower body.
    You can do a full-body workout every 2 or 3 days, if you don't do too many sets of each muscle group. How many total sets of leg exercises does your program prescribe?

    No it's not generally better to do full-body workouts; it completely depends on what you're doing. Things like StrongLifts are not the "end-all be-all" to weight lifting, not by a long shot.

    The answer is "maybe" because it really depend on what you're doing. If you're doing 1 UB (upper body) Dynamic session, 1 LW Max Effort Session, 1 UP Max Effort Session, and 1 LW Dynamic session then the answer is "no", that would be incredibly taxing on your body. If both sessions are very high volume and high intensity, then maybe depending on what you're doing. The real answer here is that we need a better idea of what exactly you're doing before any suggestions can be made.
  • nwachim
    nwachim Posts: 111 Member
    Thanks, I guess I will combine them.the lower body exercise has 6 exercises, deadlift,legpress,calf raise,lunges,incline crunch and back extension while the upper body is dips chin up, arm extension. Cable curl and triceps pre
  • nwachim
    nwachim Posts: 111 Member
    Ok now with the second persons post, I am confused as what to Do. I ve provided a little detail on what the actual exercises are, will be doing each for 3 sets of 6-8 reps and I will be lift the maximum weight at which I cannot lift more than 9 reps e.g the deadlift will be 155lbs - 160lbs which is usually quite tough for me.
  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member
    Ok now with the second persons post, I am confused as what to Do. I ve provided a little detail on what the actual exercises are, will be doing each for 3 sets of 6-8 reps and I will be lift the maximum weight at which I cannot lift more than 9 reps e.g the deadlift will be 155lbs - 160lbs which is usually quite tough for me.

    The deadlift in itself can be exhausting so to add all those other exercises on top of your upper body exercises could set you up to be exhausted the remainder of the day, depending on when you train of course. If you do combine, focus on the movements that give you the most bang for you buck. Based on what you do if I had to choose I would probably do something like

    - Deadlift (this works pretty much everything)
    - Lunges: If you do walking lunges with a long stride, knee touches the ground, you will hit pretty much everything too
    - Dips (traps, deltoids, pecs, triceps. This exercise covers a lot of muscle groups very neatly)
    - Chin-Ups: This covers the upper body muscles that Dips don't cover.
    - Ab work
    - Shower

    That could be a pretty full workout in itself.

    If you like splitting up your exercise like this then I would recommend looking at a more effective method. Beyond 5/3/1 is a great book (4-day splits or 3 Ful Body splits), MadCow5x5 wouldn't be bad either.
  • ericethier
    ericethier Posts: 3
    i had the same problem finding new tricks here is some that can help http://tinyurl.com/o5hrsh2
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    Like Nick said, the answer is "Maybe". Without knowing the details of the workout we really can't say. Most likely the particular routine you're doing it split for both time and recovery. If each split takes 50 minutes, you may not have 2 hours to workout. If you have the hours you may not have the energy. If you make it thru, you might be too wiped out the next day to go to work

    It really depends on the details. Don't bother providing them to us because we still can't possibly know what your stamina and recovery levels are. Just use your best judgement.
  • nwachim
    nwachim Posts: 111 Member
    Thanks for you suggestions. Will check out the programs

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