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Good routine for the gym please

Artemis751
Artemis751 Posts: 20 Member
edited December 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi

I have been exercising and eating well but I seem to be lost at what I am really meant to be doing when I go to the gym. I have a limited amount of time to exercise and I can usually manage 3 x 1-2 hour sessions a week at the gym or I have a bike at home that I can use when the weather is dry.

What would be a good cardio/weights session for me given the amount of time I have please? I have been using the cardio machines for about 30-40 minutes each time and then some weights for 20 mins and crunchies followed by a cool down. Does this sound about right or should I focus more on the weights? I need to lose around 8% body fat but I seemed to have hit a plateau after doing quite well.

Many thanks.

Replies

  • Artemis751
    Artemis751 Posts: 20 Member
    Thanks for all your answers. Much appreciated. :-)
  • Jtorres326
    Jtorres326 Posts: 157 Member
    Are you doing steady state cardio (meaning one speed the whole time)? If so, try mixing in some intervals 2-3 a week (every other day or so, never consecutively). Interval training means for a period of time, this can vary from 20 secs- 1 minute, you work as hard as you can, you sprint or do a hill, then you recover for a few seconds (usually half the time you took for the interval, so if you did a 20 second work, you can rest for 10 seconds) and repeat. You can burn alot of fat in 20 minutes and this kind of exercise can raise your metabolism a few hours after exercising.

    Work in weight training as well, try supersets: working two or more parts at a time. So do circuits with multiple exercise ex: lunges w overhead press, squats with bicep curls, leg raises w shoulder raise, plank rows and so on...

    Sorry to tell you, you will need to workout more than 3x's a week to lose weight. Try to aim for 5 days a week if possible, even if you do some things at home.
  • TylerJ76
    TylerJ76 Posts: 4,375 Member
    Sorry to tell you, you will need to workout more than 3x's a week to lose weight. Try to aim for 5 days a week if possible, even if you do some things at home.

    Not true at all.

    If you're working out 3x a week for 1-2 hours at time, like the OP said they were, and you are creating a calorie deficit, you will have no problems losing weight.
  • Jtorres326
    Jtorres326 Posts: 157 Member
    More frequent shorter workouts are better than 1-2 hours of cardio. There is a point in cardio of diminishing gains. Longer does not mean better.
  • Jtorres326
    Jtorres326 Posts: 157 Member
    Sorry to tell you, you will need to workout more than 3x's a week to lose weight. Try to aim for 5 days a week if possible, even if you do some things at home.

    Not true at all.

    If you're working out 3x a week for 1-2 hours at time, like the OP said they were, and you are creating a calorie deficit, you will have no problems losing weight.

    But OP isn't losing weight, so it's not effective right now.
  • becon1022
    becon1022 Posts: 39
    try doing less cardio more weights. try out crossfit or something similar. the workouts are fast, full body workouts that use both weights & cardio. plus the main site gives free workouts & uses a 3 day on/1 day off cycle. i suggest you learn to do the movement properly first & scale the weights, rounds, reps to your level of fitness. your workouts will be intense, fast, and not spent on a boring cardio machine. also run outside, ride your bike, lift heavy, make it fun, challenging, & change it up so it does not become stale(change always your body to always have that shock factor so you dont plateau)
  • js370
    js370 Posts: 140
    If you want a good strength training routine, do a search for 5x5. 3 times a week using 5 compound exercises and it's a easy start. In the beginning you'll only take about 30 minutes to complete.
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