Help Im Trying To Get Toned!

I do strength training 3 x a week and it takes me about 30-40 minutes, then I do 20-30 mins of moderate cardio. My workout week looks like this:

Sunday - Cardio - 40minutes
Monday - Chest, Triceps and Abs
Tuesday - Back, Biceps, and Abs
Wednesday - Cardio - 30 mins
Thursday - Legs, Calves, Shoulders and Glutes
Friday - Cardio - 30 mins to 1 hour
Saturday - Rest

For example, to break it down further, this would be my Monday Chest, Triceps and Abs workout:

Round 1
Chest - Chest Press - 3 sets of 12
Triceps - Tricep Kickbacks 3 sets of 12
Abs - Crunches 3 sets of 15

Round 2
Chest - Chest Flys - 3 sets of 12
Triceps - Cable pulldowns - 3 sets of 12
Abs - Leg Lifts - 3 sets of 12

Round 3
Chest - Push Ups - 3 sets of 12
Triceps - Bench Dips - 3 sets of 12
Abs - Air Bike - 3 sets of 12

Then Cardio.

I do the same routine for two weeks in a row, then I switch up which kinds of work out I do, for example, on the 3rd and 4th week, I will do 3 different chest exercises, 3 different Tricep exercises...helps the body guessing...and helps you not get bored. Once the 3rd and 4th week are done, I go back to the 1st and 2nd weeks workouts. Of course, the more you strength train, the stronger you get, so the weight you lift will increase. Hope this helps!

Ha, I think it's funny that the person who posted just before me had about the same grouped exercise....guess we're doing something right!

Strength training burns calories too! I log 40 minutes and it gives me about 150ish calories burned. Also remember, you get an after burn from muscle, so I like to think of those as "bonus" calories. As far as my research has told me 20-30 minutes of cardio is all you need on days with a good strength training regimine. My mother is a personal trainer also, and has validated this info.

One thing I would recommend is try always to incorporate core strength into your routines by doing as much as you can on an unstable surface (for example the Bosu, a foam pad, or the balance boards once you get really good). (BE CAREFUL!!) Like on your lower body days, lunge onto the Bosu, and do your squats on top of it. On your upper body days, balance on something during your bicep curls, tricep kickbacks, or even the lat pull downs. Always keep your stomach sucked in and engage your lower abs - all this will help with core strength in addition to the spot toning you're trying to do. good luck! :happy:

I also think thats a great idea you guys are being very helpful thank you! Is 25 mins of cardio enough to lose fat though?? Im nervous about cutting it back I have been doing about 1 hour of cardio lately.. and im losing weight but I also want to tone up

And if you are doing cardio after your strength training, those 25 minutes will feel like the last 25 minutes of the hour, not the first. You'll be fatigued from the strength training and you'll have to work harder.

I don't have that much time to do 1 set of cardio & 1 set of strength workouts. I've been blending them together based on what my trainer has done with me. and also, i don't use machines b/c i don't belong to a gym & need to be able to workout anywhere with or without dumb bells. I have a set of dumb bells at home but i've easily done a 'your own body weight' workout. i alternate 1 cardio exercise to get my heart rate up & then do a strength exercise. by the time my heart rate drops i'm done w/the strength, i do another cardio. there's also a difference between becoming 'toned' or bulking up like some of the people that responded look like they've done.

below is an example of one of my workouts... its called a ladder or pyramid workout where you do 10 of each exercise, then 9 of each of them, 8 of them, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 of each then back up to 2 of each, 3 of each, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 of each & 10 of each.

the nice things about ladders is that you can do the cardio & then pick a specific body part for the strength. I've done ladders focusing on abs, or arms. Most of my cardio is leg intensive. the intensity or the length of the workout depends on how many exercises you pick. you end up doing 110 of each exercise you pick. the most i've done is 6 & then i'm dying at the end.

Kettle bell swings (i use a 25lb-30lb dumb bell)
pushups
squat jumps
bilateral shoulder raises (using 20lb dumb bells but 10-15 if you're a beginner)
burpees

I know this is a pretty general statement, but I did want to throw in my 2 cents.

If toned is your goal (low body fat with enough muscle built up to be defined/slightly show), then I would recommend doing compound lifts with free weights. Isolated exercises (from my understanding) such as bicep curls are great if you're going for hypertrophy (physically large muscles). I know my goal is to have a toned looking body, and working with compound lifts with the barbell have been the most useful! I love things like thrusters or clean & jerks, for example, because I use my entire body, build strength, and it gets my heart racing (hah - try and tell me this also doesn't feel like a cardiovascular workout - the heart races!)

I don't do my own programming, so I can't claim to have the know-how behind it, but we don't really break up days by body part (that said, my coach isn't stupid and he isn't going to keep going heavy on the same muscle groups days on end without letting them rest). But I feel like most of the things I do are using multiple areas of my body at once.

I do cardio first in every workout. Once your heart rate is up and has been for more than 25minutes... It will continue to stay there for the rest of your workout.

I have never heard this before, and have not found it to be true myself. My heartrate slows down pretty quickly after I finish the cardio portion of my workout.

Pam

bumppp