For your routine, start out light with every exercise. Do a light 5-min warm up on a cardio machine of your choosing. Then for resistance training (which will do wonders at helping you lose weight and achieve a 'toned' physique), follow the following sequence for every exercise.
Warm Up: 1 set of 10 using only the bar (if using barbells) or a light weight/easier version of the exercise (eg if using 6kg dumbells for working sets, use 3kg; if doing push ups with knees off the floor for working sets, do push ups with knees on the floor for warm up sets).
Work Sets: 2.
Reps: 10-12.
Rest: 1 min.
Tempo: 3:0:2.
Choose from the following exercises and try to stick with the same exercises for a month or longer.
- Squats or Leg Press. *
- Deadlifts or Straight-Legged Calf Raise.
- Lat Pull Down or Pull Ups (you may use an assist machine).
- Bench Press or Push Ups.
- Bent Over Row or Cable Row.
- Overhead Press or Seated Press.
Choose your 6 exercises, and on choose a decent starting weight for each exercise based on capacity. Train 3 non-consecutive days per week (eg 1=Mon, 2= Wed, 3=Fri). On day 1, perform 10 reps for every working set. On day 2, perform 11 reps for each working set, and on day 3, perform 12 reps for each working set. At the start of the next week, increase the weights for every exercise and repeat the 10/11/12 cycle. For lower body exercises, don't be surprised if you can increase the weight by 10-20lb/week (except for calf raises if used, which may not progress quite so rapidly being isolated movements). For upper body exercises, because the muscles being used are smaller, expect increases of 2-10lb/week. Keep this up until your results seriously slow down.
If two weeks go by and you haven't managed to increase compound lower body work by 10lb, or you haven't managed to increase upper body work by 2lb, it is probably time to give yourself a deload, taking 20-40lb off your lifts and then progressing back up in the same fashion. If you stall at the same weight, it's time to change your program.
* With squats, because you use your entire bodyweight as natural resistance, you may be starting out with an empty or very lightly loaded bar for work sets. With leg press, assuming you are able to sit down and stand up without special help in day-to-day life, your should be able to start out with at least your body-weight loaded onto the machine. It is not uncommon for women to be able to lift 2.5 times their bodyweight on this machine. My girlfriend's best friend leg presses about 450lb and is about the same weight as you.
