Is this routine right?

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jconnon
jconnon Posts: 427 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I am 49 years old and just joined Planet Fitness with my wife. I typicality workout at home with an Cybex Arc trainer and kettlebell dvd's. We don't work out consistently so we decided to join the gym. When I met with the trainer he suggested that I do upper body machines Monday, wed and Friday and lower body machines on Tuesday and Thursdays. Also that I do some cardio on all those days as well (10 to 30 min.). I also do karate Tuesdays and Thursdays, the may or may not be a hard workout. He said when I use the machines to typical use six of them doing 3 sets of ten. Does that sound right? I have no clue what to really do.

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  • Toddrific
    Toddrific Posts: 1,114 Member
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    Most people here will advise you don't use machines and do free weights.
    It is common to do a split routine. Upper/lower being one of the more common.
    Rep range you generally want to do between 20-30 total per muscle. So 3 sets of 10 would work.
    5 sets of 5 would work.

    Less reps= more strength
    Higher reps= more endurance

    If you have already done cardio at home, it doesn't hurt to do it nearly every day. Otherwise ease into it.
  • iHEARTcardiacnurses
    iHEARTcardiacnurses Posts: 437 Member
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    That sounds about right :happy:

    You might need to switch up what day you rest on when you first get started though.
  • jadedone
    jadedone Posts: 2,449 Member
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    Yup. You are doing an "upper and lower body split" so after your workout with upper body, those muscles take a break and you do lower body the next day. You can experiment with the reps and weights. Some days I do 2 sets of 10 or 3 sets of 12 of 3 sets of 8 with a heavier weight. But these are good recommendations. Don't go too crazy in your first week. Personally, I don't like to go to the gym 5 days a week, so I'd rather do full body weights 3 days a week. :)
  • Bikini_Bound150
    Bikini_Bound150 Posts: 461 Member
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    It sounds like a good plan! I agree that you should have a rest day once a week or once every two weeks. You don't want to burn out and you don't want to risk an injury. If you feel like you're doing too much, slow down. If you don't feel like you're doing enough, add a little extra cardio. Just listen to what your body is telling you. Otherwise I think you're on a good plan :smile:
  • salxtai
    salxtai Posts: 341 Member
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    just to add my 2 cents:

    One of the reasons people often recommend free weights is because you can work multiple groups at the same time, effectively cutting your time down in half.
    Some examples: Deadlifts, squats (with about 20 different variations), bent over row, bench press etc.




    There's also some arugments that machine weights can put you at risk of injuries because of an artificial force direction, but I think as long as you've got technique, machines should be just as appropriate for you. Plus it can take a bit of confidence building to strut over to the free weights section, haha.
  • teagin2002
    teagin2002 Posts: 1,901 Member
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    the routine sounds rite to me, as for machines vs free weights:
    Free weights work more muscles vs the machines, so it is a good idea to start with machines but you will definitely want to workout with free weights too if you are trying to build muscle. If you are simply trying to become healthier, you really don't need to worry about free weights and you can feel free to stick with the machines.
  • jconnon
    jconnon Posts: 427 Member
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    Thanks for the replies, it sounds like I am on the right track. I wasn't sure with doing and weights and cardio on the same days, I always thought they were supposed to be separate for some reason.

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