How do I organize my workout plan for weight loss

My opinions based on what I do/did:

0) Check with a doc before engaging in a physical exercise regimen.

1) I had my best weight loss when I worked out 4x per week for 90 minutes each time. 60 minutes of each was cardio (bike/elliptical/I hate running) and 30 was lower or upper body. I generally worked out muscle groups and never focused on individual muscles, such as, I did not have a "biceps-only" workout.

2) I would. I would do at least 45 mins of cardio before. It always felt to me like the first 15 minutes was warmup, but maybe I was doing it wrong. But, if you want muscle gain, I'd shift the bulk of the cardio to after.

3) I never did. For me, cardio was every workout.

4) I did the traditional 3 sets of 10-12 reps. Once I became okay with 3 sets of 12, I'd move up to a higher weight.

For cardio, I'd check my pulse. As it became easier to keep my pulse where I wanted it, I'd switch my cardio, such as more incline, more resistance on the elliptical, bike, more speed, etc.

I never really increased my cardio times, though. I mean, I started at 30 minutes, made 45 minutes my staple, would often go an hour, and sometimes would add 30 minutes after a workout. Cardio, for me, was all about, "how much time do I really have."

Does that help? I know you mention 5-6 days, but my schedule of 4 days was ultimately unsustainable for me beyond 5 months .... 3 days might be a better target, with a 4th day being an occasional bonus.

MissMissy473 wrote: »

Hi everyone!
I'm trying to put together a workout plan for weight loss, but I have a couple of questions:
1. How many days should I work out? I was thinking between 5 and 6, but what do you think?
2. If I work on my abs, arms and legs on separate days, should I also do a bit of cardio before/after the strength training exercise? If so, for how long?
3. Should I do cardio for the days in between my strength training workouts (Example: cardio on Monday, arms on Tuesday, and so on)? If so, for how long?
4. How often should I increase reps/weights? Should I also increase cardio times?

Thank you for everything,
Nora

Just a couple points...first and foremost understand that your diet is going to be the biggest factor in losing weight. Exercise is great and it makes weight loss easier and weight management in general easier...but exercise isn't for weight loss...if it was, none of us lean, healthy, and fit people would be doing it. Exercise is for fitness and overall health and well being.

Secondly, as exercise goes, find something you enjoy doing and that you can envision yourself doing long after the weight loss part of the process is over.

Thirdly, you should look into a variety of pre-programmed lifting routines as these will garner the most efficient results. Programming your own routine requires a lot of knowledge and many if not most people who program their own routines end up missing things and end up with muscular imbalances, etc. As a beginner I would go with a full body program that is performed 2-3x per week that has an emphasis in compound movements rather than running around all over the gym doing a bunch of isolation stuff. Doing splits and whatnot are really not what a beginner should be looking at as the volume can interfere with recovery...personally, I'm a fan of full body programming even in intermediate and advanced stages of lifting because it is efficient and effective and unless you're trying to body build, etc you don't really need the kind of volume a split program would give you unless you really just like spending your time in the weight room.

As cardio goes, I'm a cyclist and I ride 5-6 days per week and I lift 2-3x per week. I do cycle on lifting days, but the training is split...cycle AM and lift PM...and I cycle on non lifting days...I want to be able to put 100% of my focus and energy into my training bout in either case so I don't do them back to back really...the only time I do is on Saturday when I ride to the gym and then ride home...but it's my recovery ride day so it's slow paced and only serves as a good warm up and cool down.

I'd also suggest developing fitness goals that are independent of your weight management objectives...this will inherently start to see how, in fact, diet and weight management and fitness are really independent of each other...it will open up a whole other world for you as fitness goes.