Advice Needed!! Cardio & Strength

Jenjaz1910
Jenjaz1910 Posts: 433 Member
edited December 19 in Fitness and Exercise
Need advice people!! I've been doing 45-60 mins of strength training 3 times a week for about a month now (with cardio once or twice a week) and not really seeing the results I expected to! I've only lost half an inch from my waist and nothing from everywhere else, I have lost about 3lbs, but to be honest nobody sees that they see my shape! Should I continue with the regime or change it?! I'm happy with how I'm eating but I go on holiday 11 weeks today and want to feel confident in my bikini!! HELP!!!

For my Strength workouts I'm mainly doing body weight as I can't afford gym or new weights :( I've got some silly 5lb dumbbells and a 28lb barbell! I do 5sets of 5 reps doing a combination of the following dead lifts, squats, lunges, side lunges, good morning, sumo squats, bicep curls, shoulder press, chest press, tricep dips, tricep extensions, crunches, reverse crunches, planks, side planks, opposite elbow to opposite knee crunches, side crunches, renegade rows, push ups, travelling push ups, kick backs, bridges (probably others but can't think off any others of the top of my head) I try and do a lot of compound moves like a squat with a shoulder press, squat down and shoulder fly out to side, a lunge with a bicep curl or a step up with bicep curl etc... I need someone to give me a step by step programme to do each day lol

I hear so much conflicting info about cardio and strength! I'm not overly concerned about what the scale says (but won't lie that I'm happy with my 1/2 a lb to a lb loss I've been having most weeks lol) I just want the inches to go down or to at least see some more good changes in my body and some muscle definition!

All advice welcome X

Replies

  • mariposa224
    mariposa224 Posts: 1,241 Member
    I've got nothing for you, Jen, unfortunately... I got some decent definition in my arms just from doing 30DS 5 days a week... I'm not ripped, though, at least not yet... Planning to do Ripped in 30 along the same lines (5 days per week), just on day 2 so far... But I'm responding as a BUMP in hopes that others will be able to help you out. :smile:
  • Jenjaz1910
    Jenjaz1910 Posts: 433 Member
    Thanks chick, I have a little bit of definition in my arms from 30DS (like you, as you can see from my pics, they are nowhere near as defined as yours lol) maybe I need to cut back on the strength and go abck to concentrating more on doing JM RI30 x
  • mariposa224
    mariposa224 Posts: 1,241 Member
    In the two days I've done RI30, I like at least level 1 better than anything in 30DS. lol Do you do protein shakes at all? I forget if I started drinking them at the very beginning of 30DS or if it was partway in, but... I do have one a day most days. I wasn't getting nearly the amount of protein that I wanted to, so I started mixing one up to have after my workout. I still don't usually hit my protein macro, but I'm much closer than I was before. I have them set at 45/30/25 c/p/f. If they were at the defaults I would easily be reaching the protein goal, but I think I need a bit more with these routines. :smile:
  • Jenjaz1910
    Jenjaz1910 Posts: 433 Member
    In the two days I've done RI30, I like at least level 1 better than anything in 30DS. lol Do you do protein shakes at all? I forget if I started drinking them at the very beginning of 30DS or if it was partway in, but... I do have one a day most days. I wasn't getting nearly the amount of protein that I wanted to, so I started mixing one up to have after my workout. I still don't usually hit my protein macro, but I'm much closer than I was before. I have them set at 45/30/25 c/p/f. If they were at the defaults I would easily be reaching the protein goal, but I think I need a bit more with these routines. :smile:

    I don't have protein powder (too expensive) but I have really started to up my protein (my macros are c40/p30/f30) I try to aim and get at least 100g a day BUT I do fall short quite regularly tho :( x
  • Jenjaz1910
    Jenjaz1910 Posts: 433 Member
    Any body got any advice? X
  • warmachinejt
    warmachinejt Posts: 2,162 Member
    Make your calories consistent and eat back all of your exercise calories. Diet is first before exercise.
  • jcr85
    jcr85 Posts: 229
    Why don't you just do insanity? Cardio with body weight exercises everything is laid out for you. I am personally not a fan of Beach Body dvd programs but a lot of people swear by them.
  • Flixie00
    Flixie00 Posts: 1,195 Member
    I eat up to 2,000 cals a day and am trying to eat 150 g of protein, so maybe a bit more protein? I have also been swimming to help improve my muscle tone.
  • phinphanbill26
    phinphanbill26 Posts: 574 Member
    The 5 x 5 program is only going to help you if you are doing heavy weight. Are you even feeling the workout with those light weights? Not trying to be funny or disrespectful, but you need to feel it if you want to see progress. To grow muscles they must be broken down - force them to work. Increased muscle size will result, which will in turn burn more fat.

    If you can't get more weight, increase the number of repetitions. (5 x 25)
  • Jenjaz1910
    Jenjaz1910 Posts: 433 Member
    The 5 x 5 program is only going to help you if you are doing heavy weight. Are you even feeling the workout with those light weights? Not trying to be funny or disrespectful, but you need to feel it if you want to see progress. To grow muscles they must be broken down - force them to work. Increased muscle size will result, which will in turn burn more fat.

    If you can't get more weight, increase the number of repetitions. (5 x 25)

    I'm mainly doing body weight strength training due to ridiculously light weights I have!! Lol and majority of what I've been doing I can do more than 5 reps of 5! Gonna try focusing on finishing RI30 and then reassess! Gonna look on YouTube for ideas! X
  • Jenjaz1910
    Jenjaz1910 Posts: 433 Member
    Well I've decided that I am goin to focus on my JM workouts (as they are bodyweight and lighter weights) I don't think I can fully commit to strength training when I only have body weight and light weights! SO finishing JM's RI30 (got 1 week left) doing it 5/6 times a week and doing Zumba on the WII for at least 20 mins 3-5 times a week x
  • Meggles63
    Meggles63 Posts: 916 Member
    I agree with the poster who said that you really need heavier weights. If there is any way you can get even 15, 20, 25 lbers, that will make a big, big difference! Insanity will help burn the fat, but you can also lose lean body mass. I ended up a bit scrawny, after doing it, which is why I'm now focusing on lifting heavy. Good luck!
  • Aperture_Science
    Aperture_Science Posts: 840 Member
    A quick look at you diary and I can't see anything obviously incorrect or wrong. Exercise cals look good also.

    Generally though when people fail to make reasonable progress it usually comes down to under eating or inaccurate logging (cals in, cals out or a bit of both).

    I don't think you are under eating. So i would look to where you may be over logging exercise or under logging food (remember to consider your default setting in MFP, sedentary, active etc). If you can't nail it then that's life, shrug your shoulders and drop your daily calorific allowance by a small amount (100?) and monitor from there.
  • Jenjaz1910
    Jenjaz1910 Posts: 433 Member
    I agree with the poster who said that you really need heavier weights. If there is any way you can get even 15, 20, 25 lbers, that will make a big, big difference! Insanity will help burn the fat, but you can also lose lean body mass. I ended up a bit scrawny, after doing it, which is why I'm now focusing on lifting heavy. Good luck!

    At the min all spare cash is going to my holiday, so getting anymore weights is out at the mo (at least till after my holiday) so gonna stick to JM for now!! Then after my holiday and daughters birthday I can look at getting heavier weights x
  • LindaCWy
    LindaCWy Posts: 463 Member
    Well I've decided that I am goin to focus on my JM workouts (as they are bodyweight and lighter weights) I don't think I can fully commit to strength training when I only have body weight and light weights! SO finishing JM's RI30 (got 1 week left) doing it 5/6 times a week and doing Zumba on the WII for at least 20 mins 3-5 times a week x

    My husband and I invested in a home gym. Honestly, lifting heavy garnered the best results for me, and the highest cut.
    You can still lift heavy by buying plates a barbell and some adjustable dumbells if you don't want to invest in the home gym equipment. Walmart has pretty decent prices and they put stuff on sale all the time. It doesn't have to cost a fortune, it just has to work (and be safe of course).

    JM videos helped me alot, but if you really want the definition, lifting heavy is the way to go.

    * edit; Whoops, just saw your speal about money now... okay get heavy weights after your holiday ;)
  • season1980
    season1980 Posts: 129 Member
    to increase weigth without buying a whole weight set get a duffle bag and load it with rocks, or bags of sand. Then you can increase the wieght as you need to.
  • Jenjaz1910
    Jenjaz1910 Posts: 433 Member
    Well I've decided that I am goin to focus on my JM workouts (as they are bodyweight and lighter weights) I don't think I can fully commit to strength training when I only have body weight and light weights! SO finishing JM's RI30 (got 1 week left) doing it 5/6 times a week and doing Zumba on the WII for at least 20 mins 3-5 times a week x

    My husband and I invested in a home gym. Honestly, lifting heavy garnered the best results for me, and the highest cut.
    You can still lift heavy by buying plates a barbell and some adjustable dumbells if you don't want to invest in the home gym equipment. Walmart has pretty decent prices and they put stuff on sale all the time. It doesn't have to cost a fortune, it just has to work (and be safe of course).

    JM videos helped me alot, but if you really want the definition, lifting heavy is the way to go.

    * edit; Whoops, just saw your speal about money now... okay get heavy weights after your holiday ;)

    Go on holiday in 9 weeks and 4 days :) I have managed to lose just over 15 inches since I started doing JM workouts (7 weeks ago) and those 15 inches I lost those in the first 4 weeks (will measure after I have finished RI30, only lost half an inch in the month I was "attempting" body weight strength training) also lost about 6lbs (3.3 of those were from 30DS and the rest when I was doing strength)

    Once I am back off holiday I will re-evaluate, I know that my JM workouts help me lose inches and lbs (maybe not get the defintion so much tho but as I can't do strength properly this will make do :) x
  • 4flamingoz
    4flamingoz Posts: 214 Member
    In the two days I've done RI30, I like at least level 1 better than anything in 30DS. lol Do you do protein shakes at all? I forget if I started drinking them at the very beginning of 30DS or if it was partway in, but... I do have one a day most days. I wasn't getting nearly the amount of protein that I wanted to, so I started mixing one up to have after my workout. I still don't usually hit my protein macro, but I'm much closer than I was before. I have them set at 45/30/25 c/p/f. If they were at the defaults I would easily be reaching the protein goal, but I think I need a bit more with these routines. :smile:

    I don't have protein powder (too expensive) but I have really started to up my protein (my macros are c40/p30/f30) I try to aim and get at least 100g a day BUT I do fall short quite regularly tho :( x

    Check out Vitacost's Whey Factor protein powder-I buy the unflavored 2 lb. for 29 bucks and I mix it with almond milk, organic strawberries, flax meal, sugar free cheesecake or vanilla pudding and cottage cheese. I have had it nearly everyday for 6 months-my cholesterol has dropped 39 points and I've lost 8 pounds. I really have not been good on the weekends, but I've just joined a 10 pound loss challenge for the month of June. Good luck-look around and you can find some reasonably priced protein powders online vs. in the stores.
  • hteapot
    hteapot Posts: 29 Member
    You should try Bodyrock.tv - Check out their website www.bodyrock.tv
    I have done a few of their exercises and they are pretty tough. A lot of people have great results from doing their 12 min. exercises each day.
  • Jenjaz1910
    Jenjaz1910 Posts: 433 Member
    In the two days I've done RI30, I like at least level 1 better than anything in 30DS. lol Do you do protein shakes at all? I forget if I started drinking them at the very beginning of 30DS or if it was partway in, but... I do have one a day most days. I wasn't getting nearly the amount of protein that I wanted to, so I started mixing one up to have after my workout. I still don't usually hit my protein macro, but I'm much closer than I was before. I have them set at 45/30/25 c/p/f. If they were at the defaults I would easily be reaching the protein goal, but I think I need a bit more with these routines. :smile:

    I don't have protein powder (too expensive) but I have really started to up my protein (my macros are c40/p30/f30) I try to aim and get at least 100g a day BUT I do fall short quite regularly tho :( x

    Check out Vitacost's Whey Factor protein powder-I buy the unflavored 2 lb. for 29 bucks and I mix it with almond milk, organic strawberries, flax meal, sugar free cheesecake or vanilla pudding and cottage cheese. I have had it nearly everyday for 6 months-my cholesterol has dropped 39 points and I've lost 8 pounds. I really have not been good on the weekends, but I've just joined a 10 pound loss challenge for the month of June. Good luck-look around and you can find some reasonably priced protein powders online vs. in the stores.

    I'm going to have a look in town tomorrow and online :) good luck for your June challenge :) x
  • Jenjaz1910
    Jenjaz1910 Posts: 433 Member
    You should try Bodyrock.tv - Check out their website www.bodyrock.tv
    I have done a few of their exercises and they are pretty tough. A lot of people have great results from doing their 12 min. exercises each day.

    I have a 4 day weekend so will def be looking at that :) x
  • Jenjaz1910
    Jenjaz1910 Posts: 433 Member
    You should try Bodyrock.tv - Check out their website www.bodyrock.tv
    I have done a few of their exercises and they are pretty tough. A lot of people have great results from doing their 12 min. exercises each day.

    I have a 4 day weekend so will def be looking at that :) x
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