Weight Training - How much is enough?

Kind of a difficult question to answer without knowing what machines/cables you are doing to make sure you are not neglecting a major muscle group. Have you considered doing a progressive program or training/muscle group splits?

Also "enough" is very subjective. If you feel like you are getting results at this amount, then who should really tell you know what is enough? Enough can be incredibly variable depending on experience level and goals.

So what are your goals and are you seeing progress?

I do a 40-minute full body program 2-3 times a week. It's been plenty for me! It maintains my lean body mass and gives me the strength I need to not get hurt hiking.

It takes a very long time for muscles to get bigger. If you are trying to lose weight that limits the ability of the muscle to grow which just makes it take even longer. If you are getting stronger then you are getting results.

As for Raptor's comment, if the goal is to build strength and maintain/build muscle then you aren't trying to "torch" calories, which you already do anyways with the treadmill and elliptical. Do a progressive lifting program and it can be either on machines, body weight or free weight. While free weights are in general better than machines it isn't worth it if you can't do it safely. There are people here with hypermobility who lift with free weights, but I'm not going to suggest it unless you worked with a physical therapist or equivalent to make sure you can safely perform the moves.

MedeaKay wrote: »

Thank you everyone for the replies.
I didn't even think about it in terms of actual goals, so I'm glad you all pointed that out! I guess my goals are simply for overall health and a little bit of increased strength.
So, from what I can gather, I'm probably ok doing what I'm doing for now.

This is my current routine:
Tuesdays - Seated rows, bicep curls, ab cruncher, leg press, leg extensions
Thursdays - Lat pull downs, tricep pull downs, obliques machine, leg curls, glute kickbacks
Sundays - all of the above
...And of course, cardio before and after.

It takes me an average of 3 minutes per exercise, counting resting periods.

It's hard to say if I am getting results, because I haven't been doing this for very long. I don't see my muscles really increasing in size, but.... just yesterday I was able to increase the weight on my bicep curls and leg press... so I guess that means I must be getting a little stronger!

Anyway, thanks again for the replies!

The thing about following the same routine is that over time your body gets used to it and you plateau. Also, varying up your exercises hits your muscles in different ways with different affects. For overall health, you'll be fine with what you're doing but be careful about muscle imbalances. There are more muscles in each body part that may not be hit as hard as others by the exercises that you are doing. For example, the bicep muscle (although one complete muscle is made up of three distinct muscles that form into one) can be hit in different ways. It's good to vary up your lifts after a few weeks to keep from plateauing and shocking the muscles, as well as increasing your weight in a progressive program to increase strength. Also, I don't see any exercises that you're doing that involves the pec muscles (chest exercise). Doing a good chest exercise is good for women, not just to build muscle, but it acts as a natural breast lift or helps keep the underlying muscles and tendons tight helping to prevent the dreaded boob drop.

For functional strength, freeweights tend to be superior than machines where your body is supported. Who said you can't do freeweights? If you can do the leg press, seated row, etc, you can almost certainly do some freeweight exercises. You may need to work with a good trainer to find which exercises you can do, and how to do them correctly.

By the way, you probably shouldn't do burpees if you're hypermobile. That might injure you. If you need to "torch" calories, simply eat less of them.