Workout advice

T

teapot100

0
I've been working out at the gym for the past 3 weeks 5x/week. Currently this is my program:

M/W/S 35 minutes treadmill, 1 hour on the Nautilus - I do the whole circuit (lat pulldown, vertical chest, pec fly, compound row, overhead press, leg curl, let extension, leg press, abdominal, lower back, hip ab/add, biceps curl, seated dip...I think that's it!) I only do 1 set of 15 for each machine right now.

T/F/ 55 minutes treadmill

Th/Su - rest :)

Is this too much? Too spread out? What?

I've not experienced any injuries thusfar, no great soreness - I think my muscles have gotten better workouts in the past from free weights so maybe I need to increase the weights on some of the machines, but other than that, I'd like to hear opnions from others here about my workout program.

Thanks!

N.
 
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Advice

First of all, congratulations on hitting the gym and working on improving your health and fitness status! As far as your workout regimin goes, the American College of Sports Medicine identifies three stages that relate to the rate of progression of an exercise program. It seems that after three weeks, you should be either increasing your cardio intensity or duration or both, and definitely increasing your weight reps and/or resistance settings. Nonetheless, you are doing some good things in giving your muscles a chance to recover by implementing a couple "rest" days into your regimin. Another bit of advice would be to break up your large nautilus workout into different body areas. For instance, do upper body resistance on monday and wednesday and lower body resistance on tuesday and friday (or some variation that suits your schedule). In this way, you aren't burning yourself out in one great big weight lifting routine. This will give you more time and energy to spend on cardiovascular improvement. Finally, don't forget to include some form of flexibility/stretching into your workout. Although you haven't experienced must sorness up to now, by increasing your intensity and/or duration, you may become prone to muscle sorness. Flexibility training is quick, yet beneficial. It can be done 2-3 days/week holding each stretch for 10 to 30 seconds. You're on the right track, just a few little improvement in your training techniue will help you to improve.
 
Hi there,

not a bad program you've started yourself out with. Nice work. The way you spread it out and take some rest is good. The nautalis machines are ok to start out with, but slowly switching over to free weights would be a good idea. Make sure you hit each muscle group. Not sure what your goals are? Fat loss, muscle gain, increased endurance? More specific recommendations would be based on what your goals are.
Sarah
 
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Thank you, all, for the advice!

My goals are:
1. Weight (fat) Loss
2. Toning (muscle gain?)
3. Overall improved health (endurance?)

If I target upper body 2x/week and lower body 2x/week on different days, ex. upper body M/W and lower body T/Sat - would the spread between the upper body workouts be too far apart (W to M) to gain any sort of benefit from the workout? Or maybe I could do upper body 3 days/week on M/W/F and lower body on T/Sat only? Or should I do 3 days each? I want to maximize the benefit from the workouts, but I don't want to burn out, kwim?

Thanks so much again for the help.
 
Benefits

The alteration that you are planning to implement into your resistance training routine is great. By doing, say, upper body on M/W, you will not be losing the benefits, because like all things, the muscles need time to rest. You will find that you will be able to increase your weight load reguarly if you follow your designed routine. One other thing to consider: the ACSM does recommend that you exercise each muscle group 2 to 3 nonconsecutive days per week and if possible, perform a different exercise for the muscle group every 2 to 3 sessions. This should assure you that by concentrating on correct form and breathing, your resistance program will give you results. :)
 
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