What type of works out should I do?

RagingCuppcakes
RagingCuppcakes Posts: 3
in Fitness and Exercise
I am working out to build lean muscle, and I just got a gym membership. I try to run a minimum of 3 miles a week. I training to be in a marathon in 2 years. I go to the gym three times a week a minimum as well. Should I do full body workouts all three days or leg day one day, arm chest and back another, and abdominal another?

Replies

  • No_Finish_Line
    No_Finish_Line Posts: 3,661 Member
    gaining muscle will be more about what you eat. You will have to make sure you eating at a surplus with the running and the lifting included.

    typically distance running isn't considered a good exercise when your also trying to build mass, but theoretically it should be doable.

    You can do full body 3 times a week or split it up, but you don't want to wait more then 3-4 days between hitting the same body part. so it probably wouldn't be adaquate to do chest once a week, you'd want to set it so you get 2 sessions a week for chest and every other body part.
  • RagingCuppcakes
    RagingCuppcakes Posts: 3
    For example if I do:
    Fri: Legs
    Saturday: Arms, Chest, and Back
    Sunday: Abdominal
    Tuesday: Full body

    Would that work out scheduled be better? instead of just doing everything on the weekends?
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    - Why two years of training for the marathon?

    - Training for a marathon (or any long endurance event) and building muscle mass are not really congruent fitness goals.

    - Building lean mass requires a decent calorie surplus...training for an endurance event actually makes it difficult to eat at a calorie surplus.

    - Lots of cardio (which is what training for a marathon would require) provides for a very sub-optimal environment for building mass.

    I don't want to dissuade you from training for a Marathon...but I think you should re-evaluate what you can actually do here. Right now I am currently training for an endurance cycling event which requires a substantial amount of time on my bike and lots of miles...right now, weight training and building lean mass is taking a back seat because training for this event has to take priority. As such, I weight train full body just 2x weekly to help me maintain my mass and strength and it makes me a better rider...but I'm not really worried about making major strength gains or putting on any muscle mass as it would be nary impossible.

    I've been training for this event since late January and my event is at the end of May...at that point I will back down from all of these miles and just ride a few days per week for 45 - 60 minutes just to maintain cardiovascular fitness but will start hitting it hard in the weight room again...my focus once my event is over will be on building and likely re-building some muscle mass that I lose during this endurance training.

    I would recommend something similar...if you want to run the marathon I suggest you train for the marathon with that being the priority...and you don't need 2 years to do so...but I would suggest making that your focus if that's what you want to do.

    Conversely if you want to focus on putting on some lean mass I would suggest putting most of your energy into the weight room and just doing a bit of running for cardiovascular fitness...maybe just a few miles 3 times per week or something. I would also suggest that you follow an actual program rather than trying to program your own routine...I would suggest a full body routine like Starting Strength or Strong Lifts 5x5 or similar...you will get the most bang for your buck as a noob to the weight room. Trying to program your own routine without a pretty vast amount of knowledge is going to get you nowhere fast.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    I think you need to be clear on what you're trying to achieve. If you want to complete a marathon you're going to have to increase your running progressively, particularly in the last few months when it'll take over your life.

    Resistance training helps runners by improving core stability, improving acceleration and increasing injury resistance. But you'd want to minimise any increase in size as extra weight needs to be carried round the route.

    I would suggest that you want to start ramping up your running until you're onto 20 or so miles per week in the first instance, that'll give you a good base to start working towards marathon completion where you'll be working upwards of 40 miles per week.
  • jukyu
    jukyu Posts: 80 Member
    What cwolfman said.
  • No_Finish_Line
    No_Finish_Line Posts: 3,661 Member
    For example if I do:
    Fri: Legs
    Saturday: Arms, Chest, and Back
    Sunday: Abdominal
    Tuesday: Full body

    Would that work out scheduled be better? instead of just doing everything on the weekends?

    hmm, never really seen it attempted as a split and full body.

    i'd recomend you split up body parts or do full body, but i guess you could do both as long as your not waiting more then 4 days to hit the same body part.

    my biggest objection is that its all basically condensed into a few consequtive days, think it would be better to spread it out throughout the week.

    as i said and others have as well, one doesn't really support the other. but, if you really want to run that marathon then you have to train for it, and it would be stupid not to weight train under any circumstances really (asside from injury or other health reasons).

    i'm seeing the marthon as the real goal and if you can build lean mass thats icing. just be real about the fact that this is far from an optimal plan to build mass, and to build any at all you will have to eat quite a bit.

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