Advice needed and greatly appreciated

[Aaron00]

Howdy ladies and gent's


I thought it was about time I started taking care of my body, not that I need to but choose to by going to the gym and eating right and I must say I feel great!.

I was curious if any of you good folks would mind helping me setup a workout schedule. I currently goto the gym mon-thur and try to get in atleast 4-5 day's a week then rest. I usually goto the gym for about an hour and a 1/2 later in the evening's and I cant name off the machines that I use off hand but if need be I can jot down the exact machines I use to help setup a proper routine.

I do about a 30-50min cardio 3 times a week on the tredmill, the machines says my heartrate should be around 129 so I do a nice fast pace walk/jog and keep my heartrate around 129, I do this monday/tuesday/wensday.

After my cardio I proceed to work on my abs/stomache...ect one machine I am sure of is for doing situp with weights connected to it, I do around 60-80 situps with this machine. Then there is another machine that I believe works out the Obliques (hips or waist) and I do about 30-40 of those each side.

After that I proceed to workout my back/chest/shoulders/arms..ect on various machines. Again I am unsure of what the machines are named but there is an image on them that shows exactly what areas they work out.

I just recently picked up a incline/decline...ect bench and some weights for it that I could use here at home.

I am just curious how I can fit all this in to a routine or if there is a more proper way to go about this if broken into days of week...ect

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated and if needed like I sayd above I can jot down exactly what machines I use...ect when I go time.

Thanks ladies and gent's
Much appreciated


PS. Let me know if this is posted in the wrong forum, if so I greatly apologize.

 

[katt]

http://www.ironmagazineforums.com/showthread.php?t=60738

 

[vinceforheismen]

u can try a push/pull/leg system or a chest tri mon, back bi wed, shoulders abs thurs, legs, sat

 

[CowPimp]

Are your goals merely to maintain good health, or do you have body composition and/or performance goals as well?

Either way, read the stickies. Put together a resistance training routine based on that information. Post what you whip up here and we will help you refine it.

 

[Aaron00]

Howdy

Thanks for the input ladies and gent's it is greatly appreciated.

CowPimp to answer your question, my main goals are pretty much not to bulk to much but but loose a few pound's and make my arms/legs/chest/shoulders...ect more defined and toned.

Katt that stickie is awsome! I should of actually read that prior to making this topic.

Pretty much so far its been 4 day's a week at the gym mon-thursday working out my entire body and doing cardio along side prior to lifting mon-wens of those 4 day's. I do both push and pull about 3-4 set's of 10-12 rep's, and on my last set I will add a little more weight.

As far as resting goes should I fit that in between each workout day, I pretty much been going mon-thur and taking fri-sun off for rest.

In between my workout's after using one machine for lets say my chest I will take a small break and relax prior to going on to working out my arms...ect so I dont strain myself on the next machine.

Iv been pretty much doing this for about 1 1/2 to 2 month's now and it hasnt been burning me out but I was unclear if I was over doing it or I should mix around my routine and try something different.

Thanks

 

[CowPimp]

I don't really think lifting 4 days in a row is the best idea. Something like lifting on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday would be best. If you are really partial to having off on all 3 days of the weekend, then I recommend lifting on Monday and Thursday. If you are lifting at a high level of effort this will be plenty to achieve your goals.

I personally recommend trying to turn the full body sessions into circuits. This will boost up your heartrate during the session and provide the benefits of resistance training and cardiovascular conditioning all rolled into one. Supplementing with some cardio on the days in between would certainly be a great idea. Hell, if you make the circuits intense enough the cardio will seem like child's play. I almost exclusively perform circuits for my cardio (Although I use a lower intensity and focus on lifting heavier when I do lift, as my goals are different from yours), but when I go and do some traditional cardio it is a walk in the park.

 

[Aaron00]

Thanks CP

You have been a great help my friend and I appreciate you taking the time to lend me some advice, I actually think breaking it down into circuits would be the best route myself.

What do you think about this routine bud?

Sunday- Upper/Lower Workout

Monday-Cardio

Tuesday-Rest

Wens-Upper/Lower

Thur-cardio

Friday- rest

Sat-cardio

Do you think 2 days of upper and lower body workout is enough? Or should It be changed around to 3 day's a week of upper and lower? Also should one of those day's be pure push and the other pull?


Thanks bud

 

[P-funk]

if you are going to train twice a week I would leave it total body (upper/lower) so that you can get more volume in. If you broke it into push and pull on seperate days you wouldn't be able to get enough volume. In general I like total body for 2-3 days of training a week. If you increase your split to 4 you can go with somthing like upper one day and lower the next.

 

[CowPimp]

Thanks CP

You have been a great help my friend and I appreciate you taking the time to lend me some advice, I actually think breaking it down into circuits would be the best route myself.

What do you think about this routine bud?

Sunday- Upper/Lower Workout

Monday-Cardio

Tuesday-Rest

Wens-Upper/Lower

Thur-cardio

Friday- rest

Sat-cardio

Do you think 2 days of upper and lower body workout is enough? Or should It be changed around to 3 day's a week of upper and lower? Also should one of those day's be pure push and the other pull?


Thanks bud

I think two days per week is just fine if you're performing a full body routine. Sunday and Wednesday is a great way to set it up for that. Another 3 days of cardio will certainly get you in the right direction.

To maximize the metabolic nature of the exercises you perform during your lifting sessions I would stick purely to compound exercises. About 6 exercises seems to be the sweet spot give or take a movement. If you're performing circuits, you will blast through the sessions pretty quick. If you find that you can toss in some isolation stuff without ending up in the gym for 2 hours then great, but it probably will only marginally improve your results if at all.

 

[Aaron00]

Thank you guys for the great advice and helping dial my routine in.

Cowpimp, I dont mean to sound like an idiot (or I am in this nature )
when you say stick to compound exercises and that 6 exercises seems to be the sweet spot give or take a movement what exactly does this mean?

Again sorry guy's about me being slow with all of this, but I am constantly learning while viewing this boards and you gent's have been nothing short of awsome

Also on my cardio days the treadmill says I should stick around a heartrate of 129 and I do a fast paced walk or job if you will, on some of those days should I mix it up and run? Or just gradually build up to runing so I dont wear out my body to quickly.

 

[drew.haynes]

Cowpimp, I dont mean to sound like an idiot (or I am in this nature )
when you say stick to compound exercises and that 6 exercises seems to be the sweet spot give or take a movement what exactly does this mean?

Compound is multi-joint/multi-muscle... such as squats, rows, bench press, shoulder press, etc... as opposed to isolation which would be something like flyes, leg extensions, etc. Compound movements accomplish far more than isolation exercises.

 

[CowPimp]

Thank you guys for the great advice and helping dial my routine in.

Cowpimp, I dont mean to sound like an idiot (or I am in this nature )
when you say stick to compound exercises and that 6 exercises seems to be the sweet spot give or take a movement what exactly does this mean?

Again sorry guy's about me being slow with all of this, but I am constantly learning while viewing this boards and you gent's have been nothing short of awsome

Also on my cardio days the treadmill says I should stick around a heartrate of 129 and I do a fast paced walk or job if you will, on some of those days should I mix it up and run? Or just gradually build up to runing so I dont wear out my body to quickly.

Yeah, what Drew said regarding compound movements. When I say 6 movements, I mean pick 6 different exercises. You don't have to pick 6 exactly, but it's a good baseline and you can adjust from there.

Example:

Back Squats
Overhead Press
Chinups
Deadlifts
DB Bench press
Bent Rows