Ladies that Lift ! Help me out...

I had been lifting about three days a week as well, and I like to work a different body part each day -- abs/back, legs, arms, for example. Now I only have time to lift two days a week, so I've been combining abs+legs and leave the other day for arms+shoulders. I also run a slow mile before I lift for warm-up, and a fast mile after I lift, to give it a bit of a cardio spin.

I lift 3 days a week, and have been for 3 weeks (used to lift in various spurts at different times in my life, so I'm not a total newbie, but not an expert).

I'm trying heavy lifting because the research I've done has said that women can't get bulky since we don't have the testosterone, and we'd have to have a major calorie surplus and possibly steroids. So I'm doing 3 sets of any given weight, about 6-8 reps. I'm slowly trying to increase those 3 sets each session until I can do 10 reps. Then I will go up to the next weight, back down to lower reps, and slowly work up again over days or weeks until I get 10 reps on that new weight, and so on.

I do a program called Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe as this is a great way to build a foundation for building strength. This is only 3 times a week where you alternate workouts.

My days look something like this:

Monday: 7 minute bike/rowing warmup with increasing intensity.
Squats: 2 warm up sets of 5 at 50% and 75% of working weight.
3 sets of 5 at working weight.
Overhead Press: Same as above
Chinups: 3 sets until failure
Cardio: 20 minutes with 10 minutes "warmup", 4 minutes tabata cycles, 6 minutes cool down.

Wednesday: 7 minute bike/rowing warmup with increasing intensity.
Squats: 2 warm up sets of 5 at 50% and 75% of working weight.
3 sets of 5 at working weight.
Bench Press: Same as above
Dead lifts: Same warmup as previous exercises but I only do 1 working set of 5
Cardio: 20 minutes with 10 minutes "warmup", 4 minutes tabata cycles, 6 minutes cool down.

Wednesday: 7 minute bike warmup/rowing with increasing intensity.
Squats: 2 warm up sets of 5 at 50% and 75% of working weight.
3 sets of 5 at working weight.
Overhead press: Same as above
Pull ups: 3 sets until failure
Cardio: 20 minutes with 10 minutes "warmup", 4 minutes tabata cycles, 6 minutes cool down.

I alternate my bench press and overhead press from week to week, so one week I'll do bench M/F and overhead W and the next week I'll do overhead M/F and bench only on W. I always increase my weights every workout. If I find I cannot increase without failing, then I drop my weight and try to push out more reps. I strive to have a personal goal every workout. In a couple of weeks, I'll be adding power cleans.

Other good programs are Stronglifts 5x5, New Rules of Lifting for Women (Or just New Rules of LIfting) and Madcow 5x5.

Pick up New Rules of Lifting for Women and New Rules of LIfting by Lou Schuler, they are absolutely fantastic beginner books. Starting Strength is just a fantastic book overall as it explains everything that happens when you perform a squat/press/power clean/bench press, as well as correct form, why it's correct form and how to correct your form based on pain you experience. It also gives you a workout program to follow.

weights: arms and shoulders on mondays
weights: legs & abs on tuesdays
cardio only wednesdays
weights: back & chest on thursdays
cardio only fridays & saturdays

by the way, i do the heaviest weight i can... 2 sets @ 20 reps each
this goes for all body parts.

some weeks i switch it up and do 3 sets of 10 reps each OR 2 sets of 15 reps each at a higher weight.

my new routine means i weight lift 6 times a week, i split it in to muscle groups so i have a break between when i work each muscle.
Monday- chest and shoulders
Tuesday- back and abs
Wednesday- arms and legs
Thursday- chest and shoulders
Friday- Back and Abs
Saturday- Arms and legs.
I also swim (or other cardio) 3 times a week. I do weights in the morning and cardio in the evening.
i find i can focus on each muscle group much more when i break it down like this, and gives me the option to do more types of weights for each muscle.

Check out the book The New Rules of Lifting For Women by Lou Schuler. It's AWESOME and gives very specific lifting workouts for 6 months. There's even a group here on MFP (NROL4W) to help support each other during the different stages. You can get it for about $10 on Amazon or for a little more as an e-book. I hope you check it out!

^^Yes. This. I've heard Starting Strength is very good too.

I do weights three days a week. One day I do machines for shoulders arms and back, one day i do machines for legs and one day I do abs, free weights and floor exercises. I mix up the machines so that I don't get bored and so that my body doesn't get programmed to what I'm doing. I do the heaviest weight I can comfortably do 12-15 reps, and I do 3-4 sets. I do cardio every day, but twice a week I do spin and that's the two days I don't do weights.