I would love some advice, please?

A

amy_s

0
Hi,

I am a 26 year old female, 5'5' (and a quarter lol) and I weight 119 pounds. I have always been naturally slim and don't tend to put on weight - now and again I have gained a couple of pounds but I lost them again and basically stayed on 119 pounds, however my diet has been pretty awful. Whilst I always ate fruit and veg, I always stuffed my face with sweets, greasy junk and loads of sugar. I have always wanted to be toned and so have stopped eating crap and begun exercising.

A few weeks ago I started exercising every day, but ended up taking a week off, went back to exercising but then took another week off and as of the 20th of November I have worked out every day - today has been my first rest day and I feel so guilty! I am starting to see some small results, a line, between my ribs, has appeared on my stomach and there is slight definition on the side of my stomach. Underneath my bum is slightly higher. I know results are slow to come, and that's fine, and I am happy with results so far but I would love some feedback on my current routine and any advice about what I could do to speed up results before Christmas, and any other advice/insight you would like to share. My goal is to have a toned stomach, I don't want a 6 pack but maybe a little 4 pack, and I want a higher, harder bum. I follow exercise routines from Youtube and do a slightly different layout every other day. I would love some professional advice regarding what I am doing.

My routine has been basically an hour and a half of toning exercises: hip thrusts, ab crunches, planks, the lower ab exercises which invole lying on your back and raising your legs up and down (sorry don't know the name), hamstring curls, bicycle kicks, weighted clams, butterfly, putting a weight behind my knee, whilst on all fours and lifting the bent leg toward the ceiling and so on. I also do 10 mins of interval training every second day and this week have added 10 mins of HIIT (not inc. warm-up) for the days I don't do the regular interval training. My HIIT involves a warm up of walking up and down the stairs, and then: running up and down the stairs 4 times, doing 25 star jumps, running up and down the stairs 4 times, doing 10 squats, running up and down the stairs, doing the star jumps and so on.

I also walk my dog every day, but don't count that in as it is low-mod intensity for about 30-40 mins.

I hope I haven't bored you all with all the info but wanted to provide as much as I can, and would love some advice.

Thanks so much in advance,

Amy
 
Nothing wrong with that as a good solid start, and you are doing well.
There is likely a bit of inbalance in your session which can easily be fixed next time you change, and doesn't look bad enough to worry about.
I would say stick with this until it feels like time for a change. People are often pulled in various directions with training and suffer for not keeping to a routine long enough to get real benefit. For toning I would say you want to keep each set of routines for at least a couple of months then move on to the next.
As with any general training ensure you work the whole body. I know you have specific things you want to see but failure to do everything will mean potential for injury and an unbalanced look you won't like.
 
Thank you so much for getting back to me! With just trying to Google info, and not having a professional around to ask, I have read quite a bit of contradictory info and, whilst I have seen some small results, I just didn't know if I was wasting most of my time. I will keep doing what I am doing for now and really focus on working on my whole body. I will also try and ensure I make it more balanced. Thanks again! :)
 
If you are working your abdominals, make sure you work your back. Biceps / triceps, etc. Sounds like you are on the right track, though. If you are working out, you aren't wasting your time :) just be sure to give yourself a day of relaxation so you don't end up burning out or overtraining.
 
thanks a lot for your advice! i am def going to add some bicep/tricep moves because, to be honest, i think i am neglecting them a bit. i took a rest day yesterday and although i felt guilty at the time, today when i woke up i was really ready to go so def going to make sure i include rest days from now on. i am thinking once a week on a Sunday. it's amazing how regular exercise makes you feel, i knew for years how good it is for you both physically and mentally but was always too lazy to really make fitness a part of my life and now, whilst of course it is still very early days, i am loving how energetic and happier i feel after a workout!
 
Hey Amy,

You are doing excellent to start, a key factor to muscle building or fat burning, in exercise in general is explosive power. I mean drink a cup of green tea (non packettes) to get revved up and push hard through your workouts. Also try supersets, those are basically 2 exercises (opposing typically) and each time you are done one, immediately do the other and as you are doing the other exercise, your first muscle worked will be resting. This will keep your metabolism burning, also eat protein. Do not bother counting calories, its an obsessive trait. (opinion).

And your diet, drink lots of water, green tea everyday!, oatmeal and eggs in the morning (make sure you get lots of protein and carbs in the morning)

You'll be fine, just one step at a time, you are already plenty of steps ahead of others!
 
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