Worried about workout routine

eviltapanga · Post by **eviltapanga** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 9:15 am

Well I love exercise, it makes me feel so great and it's time off from everyday hum drum jobs! But after floating around the different forum topics on here, Ive become worried about diet/exercise! It seems almost impossible to fit in the right diet! With all the right portions of carbs, protein etc! And I thought I'd post workout routine to see what kind of feedback I get.

Please keep in mind I'm pretty much limited to home as I have 2 kids full time!

Strength Training - Every 3rd day, so 2 days off between.

Once a 3-day cycle I do PTFitness with Rosalee Brown, it's a half hour overall body workout, very strenuous for me so I figure must be good.

the other 2 days

I warm up with 1 rep of 16 with 1 lbs weights and then complete the reps listed here with 5-6 lbs weights.

Chest: Push ups with lat raises, 2 sets of 6 reps

Back: One arm row, 3 reps 15

Shoulders: Overhead press 2 reps 10

Biceps: Hammer Curl 3 reps 15

Triceps: triceps extension 3 reps 10

Quads: squats 3 reps 10

Hamstrings: Beginners lunges 2 reps 6

Abs: crunches 2 reps 30

Cardio etc.

I do a pilates workout everyday

I do 35 minutes on Eliptical everyday except one, which I am now substituting in Tae Bo

I play on Wii Fit for 30 minutes a day. (Very light exercise, but fun)

I also do a 20 minute overall body workout I recently found online everyday.

Except Sunday, which I will do strength on if it falls on that day.

I decided to take some time off school to work on losing weight so this is project basically which is why I have dedicated so much time to it each day.

I really need to work on diet too!

Thanks for your input!

evilT

bigboy5491 · Post by **bigboy5491** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 9:59 pm

Your exercise seems good.

I'm confused with this statement.

Strength Training - Every 3rd day, so 2 days off between.

So you do the PTFitness on the first day then the dumbell workouts the following 2 days? That seems fine to me. If your muscles feel overly sore or you feel exhausted then tone down the workouts for a couple days to get the rest you need. Then, go about your normal routine.

If you are not getting the results you are hoping for it might have to do with your diet. Don't expect pounds to shed off instantly. It takes a steady diet and workout plan over time to lose wieght and keep it off. And remember, it's only healthy to lose 1-2 pounds of weight per week.

When you have time, post a diet of what you typically eat during a day. Be honest with yourself.

eviltapanga · Post by **eviltapanga** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:42 pm

Hey! Thanks for the reply

Well I read that it is best to have 48 hours between strength training sessions, so I do it every third day I.E. this week it's

Monday - PTFit
Tuesday - off
Wednesday - off
Thursday - free weights
Friday - off
Saturday - off
Sunday - free weights

so it's every third day

goal has been to lose 1 lb a week but that hasn't happened, I'm assuming due to water/muscle gain, so Scale Wise I'm going by body fat percentage loss and not pounds loss... less discouraging!

Diet wise, I'm trying to get in a good routine of eating every 2-1/2 to 3 hours... I like to have a Slimfast Optima almost everyday as a meal replacement... and I've been trying to work in soups and smoothies to up hydration levels.

Planning to eat the proper proportions of carbs, protein etc looks so overwhelming though! But I know to get the results I want, I'm going to have to spend some time figuring out what to eat each day/week.

To help keep calories around 2000 daily I keep a food journal. When I have more time I'll be sure to post an average day

evilT

RK19 · Post by **RK19** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 1:59 am

your actually waiting 72 hours when you count it.

it should look something like this:

mon=weights
tues=cardio
wed=weights
thu=cardio
fri=weights
sat=hiit cardio
sun=off

bigboy5491 · Post by **bigboy5491** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 5:31 pm

I would suggest taking a picture of yourself to compare yourself to keep you motivated and so you can track your progress.

While starting your diet, don't go nuts about counting every single calorie or gram of carb you have.

Some tips off the top of head:

*Don't drink your calories. Water is the best option.
*Frontload carbs at the beginning of your day and try to keep them low if you can after lunch.
*Hit a light workout after dinner to burn some of the cals you've eaten.
*Don't eat too late.
*You can eat some fats, but don't cut them out completely.
*Only weigh yourself once a week at a consistent time and day...don't obsess over the number on the scale.
*Minimize sugars late in the day. If you are going to have fruit, have it for breakfast or early snack.
*Lots of fiber...vegetables, grains, bran.
*Keep your stress levels low and get enough rest.
*Stay motivated!

That's all I can think of right now. Hope it helps.

eviltapanga · Post by **eviltapanga** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 7:26 pm

Yeah, I realized it was 72 hours between strength training sessions, but at the same time I wanted to make sure there was at least 48 between sessions to avoid injury. I'd like to up sessions eventually, but I'm trying to keep it at a good pace to get started. I was worried that if I did a session later in the day one and then early in the day the next session ... which happens due to other commitments sometimes...

So is it best to do strength on one day the cardio the next? Because I love cardio and I feel its important to fat loss.

I took pictures in December, but I've been avoiding it since then sigh... I set a picture date of May 1st... hope I don't chicken out <('>')>

Thanks for your input

evilT

RK19 · Post by **RK19** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 12:47 am

yeah try keep cardio for days inbetween weights, but if you cant always do cardio after weights.

eviltapanga · Post by **eviltapanga** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 4:02 pm

why cardio after weights? just curious

TY

evilT

swanso5 · Post by **swanso5** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 11:52 pm

never do wts when you're already fatigued...it's better to have to stop running because wts made you tired beforehand then to stop wts from dropping them on your head because of tiredness from doing cardio first

www.uponlinetraining.com

eviltapanga · Post by **eviltapanga** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 4:25 pm

Well its been a month and since May 18th I've adjusted work out some, as per your suggestions, I'm now strength training every 48hrs:

Chest: Push ups with lat raises, 3 sets of 6 reps

Back: One arm row, 2 reps 20 (10 lbs)

Shoulders: Overhead press 3 reps 10 (16lbs)

Biceps: Hammer Curl 2 reps 20 (10lbs)

Triceps: triceps extension 3 reps 10 (8lbs)

Quads: squats 3 reps 45

Hamstrings: Beginners lunges 3 reps 15/per leg

Abs: crunches 2 reps 50 plus 50 oblique twists

But muscle gain is very slow, I can't help but think I'm doing something wrong! I wonder if it is diet? Managing a proper diet seems to be biggest challenge, it all seems so complicated trying to balance everything! I eat healthy and all, but getting the right protein, carb, etc and at the right time

evilT

cassiegose · Post by **cassiegose** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 5:22 pm

eviltapanga wrote: I can't help but think I'm doing something wrong! I wonder if it is diet? Managing a proper diet seems to be biggest challenge, it all seems so complicated trying to balance everything! I eat healthy and all, but getting the right protein, carb, etc and at the right time

evilT

What does your diet look like? In order to make your muscle grow you need to be eating enough calories (especially protein). Show us your typical diet so suggestions can be made.

Also, are you consistently increasing (or atleast trying to increase) your weights? In order to grow stronger you must consistently overload your muscles by using heavier weights. As you use heavier weights you muscles adjust by growing stronger/bigger. If you always use the same weights your muscles would have no reason to get stronger/bigger. So question for you... when you doe those weights is it HARD to lift the last rep of each set? I mean making-funny-faces-breathing-hard-Oh-man-am-I-gonna-get-this-weight-up kind of hard? If not, you need to increase your weight. When I was lifting this morning it was taking EVERYTHING I had to get the last rep up of each set. It should be like this for every set, every workout. When it gets easier, increase you weights so youre still working to get those weights up.

Does that make sense?

Cassie

eviltapanga · Post by **eviltapanga** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 5:52 pm

yeah, I think problem is probably too little weight for too many reps... ugh just bought these stupid DBs!

oops!

Can you pls tell me what number of reps/sets would be best?

I was doing okay, the last rep of some exercises is still , whats the term? failure? lol idk but the 5lb DBs I could just keep going forever it seems, the 8lbs I can do too many reps it seems... Thanks so much,

evilT

cassiegose · Post by **cassiegose** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 4:23 pm

I was kinda thinking that was your problem. Increase those weights!

I vary routine regularly. Sometimes I do 3-4 sets of 10, sometimes I do 5 sets of 5-6, sometimes I do 4 sets of 8, and sometimes I do 2-3 sets of 15-18. This will keep your muscles guessing. You might be able to use your lighter weights for the higher reps, but do get some heavier weights for those lower reps. I think you'll be happy with the results. Keep us posted on your progress!

Cassie