What’s your workout schedule?

LizRN2007
LizRN2007 Posts: 12 Member
edited November 25 in Fitness and Exercise
OK so I am on a weight-loss/fitness journey. I have lost about 50 pounds with diet and exercise. I’m kind of in a standstill and have been spending two hours at the gym with an hour of cardio and an hour of weights. I haven’t been losing much over the last month and a half or really any at all just toying with the same few pounds. I’ve recently realized that I may be doing too much cardio and although I love it I want to do what works.So share with me your workout schedule including what you do on which days (legs chest back cardio etc.) and how long you typically take. I am trying to continue to lose weight(about 50 more lbs) and lean out and keep muscle. If you have favorite workout videos (YouTube) you have used please share!

Replies

  • runnermom419
    runnermom419 Posts: 366 Member
    Monday - Yoga (and maybe Tabata class if I am feeling up to it)
    Tuesday - Group Power
    Wednesday - Run (right now at 6 miles ~an hour)
    Thursday - Speed run and Power or Yoga (30 minutes running and class is an hour)
    Friday - Rest day
    Saturday - Run (right now at 6 miles ~an hour)
    Sunday - Long run (today was 9 miles ~hour and a half)
  • BabyLovesToRun
    BabyLovesToRun Posts: 120 Member
    edited March 2018
    Changes with my work schedule. For instance, work schedule just changed, we're slowing down so hours were cut. (Tax Receptionist) Whereas before I went on M/T/T/Sun now I don't go into work til 1 in the afternoon, so I plan on going to the gym and lifting weights every morning except Sat/Sun for rest days. Once tax season is over, I'll be going back to work at the Greenhouse. Flower season! Aside from literally sweating my butt off in there, I'll have Mondays off, so will for sure go to lift at the gym on Mondays and will more than likely go on the evenings after work on W/F and go Sun morning. It's about making time ;)
  • Maxxitt
    Maxxitt Posts: 1,281 Member
    I go to the gym M W F and my focus is on a structured compound lifting routine followed by 20 minutes of intervals on the treadmill. On those days as well as all the others, I walk my dog and somehow accrue 3-4 miles daily. I sometimes think adding one more day of intervals would be helpful to weight loss but my body tells me I actually am doing about what is optimal for recovery (I'm 67, so recovery's a bit more of an issue than it was decades ago).
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    edited March 2018
    LizRN2007 wrote: »
    While I respect your opinion, let me tell you there is no way I am not in a calorie deficit. I only eat 15-1800 calories and that includes measuring food/weighing food. Plus burning 800-900 calories at the gym (2 hr workouts and I realize it’s somewhat over estimated per my Apple Watch) I eat back 1/2 of my calories but that’s included in my total I gave above.

    What activities are you doing that give you that calorie expenditure?

    Fwiw too much cardio is woo. If you're not losing them there is something about your deficit that's not making sense.

    In terms of my schedule, it depends on my priorities. I'll generally aim for 30-40 miles of running per week across four sessions, two of c6 miles mid week and long runs at the weekend. At the moment I'm also doing about 60-80 miles of cycling across four sessions. I try to get a couple of bodyweight sessions per week as well, but I'm not all that consistent with those.

    I'll burn about 100 calories per mile running , and cycling varies but for example this morning I did an hour and got 600 calories bad on a power meter
  • Karen_can_do_this
    Karen_can_do_this Posts: 1,150 Member
    Monday , Wednesday and Friday I lift.
    Depending on my work schedule I either walk the kids to school or walk there to pick them up. - that’s about a 45 minute walk.
    My workout schedule is simple and I love it. However everyone is different and a lot of people would get quite bored with my schedule lol. I’m a nurse. I get lots of exercise (that I don’t count) at work.

    I may be ignorant but I’ve never heard that too much cardio stops someone from losing weight. May I ask if you are weighing your foods? My weight loss was at a standstill until I started weighing everything. This included every single thing I put in my mouth.
    Drinks, food, the little bites here and there while cooking etc.

    Good luck op. I hope it works out awesomely for you
  • Lean59man
    Lean59man Posts: 714 Member
    3-days a week of weights doing a full-body routine.

    Occasional cardio for 20 minutes.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    "Too much cardio" would make you lose weight at a too rapid pace.
    The problem is very unlikely to be the amount of cardio you do but is rather more likely to be found in your (private) food diary.
    Suggest you make that public if you want specific advice.

    My routine varies by the season but as a generalisation it's alternate days strength training and cycling of various forms. Last year's totals would be roughly 300 hours of cycling and 150 hours of strength training focusing on mainly big compound lifts biased towards upper body (my legs get most of their work on two wheels).

    This year probably more volume as I'm now retired and have more time for the things I enjoy.
  • jessef593
    jessef593 Posts: 2,272 Member
    LizRN2007 wrote: »
    LizRN2007 wrote: »
    OK so I am on a weight-loss/fitness journey. I have lost about 50 pounds with diet and exercise. I’m kind of in a standstill and have been spending two hours at the gym with an hour of cardio and an hour of weights. I haven’t been losing much over the last month and a half or really any at all just toying with the same few pounds. I’ve recently realized that I may be doing too much cardio and although I love it I want to do what works.So share with me your workout schedule including what you do on which days (legs chest back cardio etc.) and how long you typically take. I am trying to continue to lose weight(about 50 more lbs) and lean out and keep muscle. If you have favorite workout videos (YouTube) you have used please share!

    'Too much cardio' is not stopping you from losing weight. If you're not losing its because you're not in a calorie deficit.

    My schedule is running 3x a week, full body dumbbell routine 2x a week, indoor bike 2 x a week (on strength training days) and sometimes a bit of walking.

    While I respect your opinion, let me tell you there is no way I am not in a calorie deficit. I only eat 15-1800 calories and that includes measuring food/weighing food. Plus burning 800-900 calories at the gym (2 hr workouts and I realize it’s somewhat over estimated per my Apple Watch) I eat back 1/2 of my calories but that’s included in my total I gave above. I have just heard from numerous people that an hour of cardio per day is too much. I’m gonna try switching it up to 3x per week and weights 3x per week

    While I respect your opinion. You are wrong. Unless you have a metabolic issue such as hypothyroidism, your body works the same as anyone else.

    How exactly is 1 hour too much? cyclists and marathon runners train for far longer than one hour.

    How exactly are you so certain that you're burning that many calories?

    Exercise is not required to lose weight. A deficit is. Out of the 3 cuts I have done. I have only used cardio for one of them and they all produced similar results. Weightloss.
  • Davidsdottir
    Davidsdottir Posts: 1,285 Member
    I lift 5x a week.
  • Cbean08
    Cbean08 Posts: 1,092 Member
    This is what I usually do. I might change up the days though depending on how much time I have.

    Sunday- 30 min cardio, 30 min weights (mostly upper body)
    Monday- 1 hour cardio
    Tuesday- 1 hour heavy deadlifts and accessory work
    Wednesday- 45 min cardio, 30 min accessory work
    Thursday- 45 min cardio, legs
    Friday- 30 min cardio, heavy deadlifts
    Saturday- 30 min cardio, 30 accessory work
  • Okiludy
    Okiludy Posts: 558 Member
    Sat Intensity Upper
    Sun Intensity Lower
    Mon off
    Tues Volume Upper
    Wed Volume Lower
    Thur off
    Fri off

    I don’t do any cardio training but do walk or HIIT every now and then. Normally it would be on a lower day.
  • Michaelxyz2
    Michaelxyz2 Posts: 3 Member
    I rode my bike today for one hour and told MYFitnessPal that it was moderate cycling. It tells me I burned more than 860 calories. that can't be right, can it? Seems like an awful lot. So I only recoded 30 minutes, and it tells me I burned 432 calories in 30 minutes. Shouldn't it be more like maybe 200-250? Thanks
  • KaleiAlanaSmith
    KaleiAlanaSmith Posts: 133 Member
    Here's my routine!!! I'm still in the process of tweaking it to make it perfect for me but this is what I do in the gym:

    M: 25 minute cardio (elliptical or treadmill): Leg day
    T: 25 minute cardio (elliptical or treadmill): Arms/Abs
    W: 25 minute cardio (elliptical or treadmill): Full Body
    T: 25 minute cardio (elliptical or treadmill): Back/Shoulder
    F: 25 minute cardio (elliptical or treadmill): Full Body
    S:25 minute cardio (elliptical or treadmill): HIIT
    S: Rest
  • goatg
    goatg Posts: 1,399 Member
    Why would you think you're doing too much cardio? 1 hour cardio + 1 hour strength sounds like a good combination. There are other people who know more about plateauing, but I would imagine that your workout routine isn't the issue.
  • goatg
    goatg Posts: 1,399 Member
    Also, my personal schedule is ridiculous and not to be generally emulated.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited March 2018
    Mon- run; strength training
    Tues - run; strength training
    Wed - strength training only
    Thurs - run; strength
    Fri - strength training only
    Saturday - long run (100-120 mins)

    I work out 6 days a week and do about 1 hour of cardio 3 days a week the same day as strength training for about 2 hours total exercise on these days and 2 hours cardio on sat long run day.

    OP, if you are not losing weight its not due to the exercise you doing, its a combination of 'calories in' and possible water retention, etc. so many factors at play. Always check 100% accuracy on your logging and assure you not eating back too many calories from your exercise. This can be the difference in keeping you in or out of deficit and if the deficit ends up small any fat loss will be slower.

    Also if you have been in a calorie deficit steadily for months with no break from the deficit, consider doing a diet break/refeed. This will allow to go to maintenance for a couple of weeks and then resume your calorie deficit again to start losing the other 50.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p1

    eta: http://www.alanaragonblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Plateaus-Sep-2014-AARR.pdf
  • RadishEater
    RadishEater Posts: 470 Member
    M: abs+ fitness class, walking 1hr
    T: 20 min elliptical, 45 min barre class, 30 min walk
    W: 35min spin bike, 30 min walk, 15 min arm/abs
    T: 20 min horse ride, 30 min walk, 30 elliptical
    F: 35min spin bike, 30 min walk
    S: 35min elliptical, 25 min horse ride
    S: 3-5 mile walk, 25 min horse ride

    aka lots of cardio, I have used this fitness program when losing weight and also now in maintenance.

  • swebb1103
    swebb1103 Posts: 200 Member
    M, W and F - Spartan body weight exercises - 40 minutes, a variety of routines (never the same in a 2 week span)
    T and Th - treadmill, running for 40 minutes, working on speed.
    Sat - I am training for a marathon in April so I have been doing my long runs on Saturdays since mid February - I do 15 - 20 miles each Saturday.
    I am eating like a horse so my weight is holding fairly steady, with only minimal loss. The runger is real!
  • daisyf717
    daisyf717 Posts: 57 Member
    I just read an article recently that with lots of cardio or super hard crazy workouts your body will compensate by burning less calories other times. This may not at all be whats going on here, but when I read it, it reminded me. Maybe try lifting for a few weeks with shorter HIIT cardio time. (Which is that short but hard cardio time). A good lifting book is called the new rules of weight lifting for women. I love it.
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  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    I rode my bike today for one hour and told MYFitnessPal that it was moderate cycling. It tells me I burned more than 860 calories. that can't be right, can it? Seems like an awful lot. So I only recoded 30 minutes, and it tells me I burned 432 calories in 30 minutes. Shouldn't it be more like maybe 200-250? Thanks

    @Michaelxyz2

    Apart from duration you haven't given any clues about what your cycling was - speed, distance, your weight, terrain, type of bike.....
    Both 860 and 400 an hour are within the range of possible for different people and intensity - but you would have to be remarkably fit to hit the high number.

    But from experience yes MFP cycling estimates are inflated for road bikes (if that's what you are riding).
    Ride a mountain bike on sand for the same speed/distance and it would be different.
    Suggest you get Strava (free app) on your phone, the estimates will then be far more personalised and if not completely accurate they should be reasonable.
  • jefamer2017
    jefamer2017 Posts: 416 Member
    edited March 2018
    M: I work very physical job after work 25 min stretch routine
    T: boot camp class
    W: insanity
    Th: boot camp class
    F: insanity
    S: I work very physical job after work 25 min stretch routine
    Su: I work very physical job after work 25 min stretch routine

    Sometimes I do my stretch on Tuesday or Fridays depending on how I feel.
  • BusyMamaGettingFit
    BusyMamaGettingFit Posts: 130 Member
    RoxieDawn wrote: »
    Mon- run; strength training
    Tues - run; strength training
    Wed - strength training only
    Thurs - run; strength
    Fri - strength training only
    Saturday - long run (100-120 mins)

    I work out 6 days a week and do about 1 hour of cardio 3 days a week the same day as strength training for about 2 hours total exercise on these days and 2 hours cardio on sat long run day.

    OP, if you are not losing weight its not due to the exercise you doing, its a combination of 'calories in' and possible water retention, etc. so many factors at play. Always check 100% accuracy on your logging and assure you not eating back too many calories from your exercise. This can be the difference in keeping you in or out of deficit and if the deficit ends up small any fat loss will be slower.

    Also if you have been in a calorie deficit steadily for months with no break from the deficit, consider doing a diet break/refeed. This will allow to go to maintenance for a couple of weeks and then resume your calorie deficit again to start losing the other 50.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p1

    eta: http://www.alanaragonblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Plateaus-Sep-2014-AARR.pdf

    Do you do full body everyday, or do you do split days?
  • firef1y72
    firef1y72 Posts: 1,579 Member
    Monday : 30min PT session (stretching/cardio), tabata, barbell (currently going light as in no weight at all for leg tracks)
    Tuesday : 30min PT (abs/cardio), Zumba, Insanity, Boxercise
    Wednesday : 30min PT (stretching), 5km recovery run, legs bums +tums, Zumba
    Thursday : 30min PT (upper body/cardio), lifting (either OHP or bench pyramids plus accs, Circuits
    Friday : 30min PT (Cardio), legs bums + tums, mid length run (8-12km)
    Saturday : Bootcamp
    Sunday : long run

    But I'm doing a marathon in 2 weeks and we're currently not doing much leg work other than running, once I've had a week (or so) to recover everything will be switched round I'll reintroduce heavy lifting (squats and deadlifts) and be doing at least one leg focused session with PT.
  • jlklem
    jlklem Posts: 259 Member
    goatg wrote: »
    Also, my personal schedule is ridiculous and not to be generally emulated.

    I work out between 14-18 hours a week on my bike. 3 hours active recovery, the rest is moderate, with two hours hard.

    Plus I do 150-200 push ups every night:

    https://www.strava.com/athletes/5058093

    I used a pseudonym on my Strava account.

    People really have no idea what the body can handle. No idea at all. I rode 3 hours hard yesterday and feel good today. It just takes time. Tomorrow (Monday) is always easy.

    John
  • sschauer513
    sschauer513 Posts: 313 Member
    Here's my weekly routine and I exercise not so much for weight lose but to keep muscle. I have read bigger, leaner, stronger by michael matthews that has some good insight on amount of gym time needed and a lot is not needed. I do about 45-60 minutes a day at the gym
    Mon/Wed/Sat 30 Minutes all body lifting heavy short reps with short rest between
    T/F 30 minutes heavy cardio not quite HIIT but a hard circuit at least
    H/Sun are rest/easy days 20 or so minutes of steady state cardio

    also every day do 18 minutes cardio after my regular workout, plus usually a stretching/yoga time. Also try to get a walk/hike in every few days. I according to my logging only get 400-600 calories burned so not a significant amount but I am much stronger now and the lean muscle % is rising every day.
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