[phoenix98]

hey everyone, i found this weigh training regimen online and want to incorporate it into my daily cardio workouts to lose 30 lb. is this good enough?

Daily Workout Schedule:
Day 1 - Chest & Triceps

Chest
Exercise Sets Reps
Incline Dumbbell Press 4 12-15
Flat Dumbbell Press 3 12
Incline Flys 3 12
Pec Deck 3 12

Triceps
Exercise Sets Reps
Skull Crushers 4 12-15
Rope Extensions 3 12
Straight Bar Pushdowns 3 12

Abdominals
Exercise Sets Reps
Rope Crunch 4 20-25
Hanging Knee Raise 4 20-25

Day 2 - Back & Biceps

Back
Exercise Sets Reps
Wide Grip Chins 4 12-15
Wide Grip Rows 3 12
Narrow Grip Pulldown 4 12-15
Hyper Extensions 3 12

Biceps
Exercise Sets Reps
Concentration Curls 4 12-15
EZ Bar Curl 3 12

Day 3 - Legs & Shoulders
Legs
Exercise Sets Reps
Squats 4 12-15
Leg Extensions 3 12
Leg Curl 4 12-15
Stiff Leg Deadlifts 3 12
Seated Calf Raise 3 12

Shoulders
Exercise Sets Reps
Dumbbell Shoulders Press 4 12-15
Cable Lateral Raise 3 12
Reverse Cable Fly 3 12
Smith Machine Shrugs 4 12-15

Abdominals
Exercise Sets Reps
Rope Crunch 4 20-25
Hanging Knee Raise 4 20-25

Day 4: Rest Day
Day 5 - Chest & Triceps
Chest
Exercise Sets Reps
Incline Barbell Press 4 12-15
Flat Barbell Press 3 12
Flat Flys 3 12
Cable Crossovers 3 12
Triceps
Exercise Sets Reps
Reverse Grip Pushdown 4 12-15
Dumbbell Kickbacks 3 12
Dumbbell Extension 3 12
Abdominals
Exercise Sets Reps
Weighted Incline Crunches 4 20-25
Hip Thrusts 4 20-25
Day 6 - Back & Biceps
Back
Exercise Sets Reps
Wide Grip Pulldowns 4 12-15
Bent Over Dumbbell Rows 3 12
Good Mornings 3 12
One Arm Dumbbell Row 3 12
Biceps
Exercise Sets Reps
Preacher Curl 4 12-15
Dumbbell Curl 3 12
Day 7 - Legs & Shoulders
Legs
Exercise Sets Reps
Leg Press 4 12-15
Lunges 3 12
Leg Curl 4 12-15
Straight Leg Deadlifts 3 12
Standing Calf Raises 3 12-15
Shoulders
Exercise Sets Reps
Smith Machine Press 4 12-15
Dumbbell Lateral Raises 3 12
Dumbbell Rear Delt Flys 3 12
Upright Rows 3 12
Abdominals
Exercise Sets Reps
Weighted Incline Crunches 4 20-25
Hip Thrusts 4 20-25

[DietVet]

Those will take you HOURS! And so many reps!

That kind of a program is really suited towards someone doing bodybuilding for careful aesthetics--trying to tweak every little muscle. For a normal woman looking to gain strength, build muscle and lose fat, that's not the best kind of program.

I really recommend finding a program that focuses on movements rather than muscles and which uses compound exercises that use many muscles at once. Those kinds of workout are really effective, functional, and burn lots of calories. The complicated 4 day split isn't necessary either: you'd do great with either upper and lower splits, or whole body workouts.

I love the New Rules of Lifting for Women (and apparently the new one, the New Rules of Lifting for Abs is supposed to be brilliant--and whole body, not only abs), which is a 6 month program. People also recommend Rachel Cosgrove's Female Body Breakthrough. If you don't want to do a published program, I've made suggestions a couple of times in this forum for a basic workout that will be simple and effective (though I think I've only posted explicitly about the upper body exercises).

Good luck and have fun!

[indiblue]

+ 1 to what PP have said.

Moves that isolate muscles not only take longer (because you work each muscle separately) but it doesn't yield as much benefit. Working muscle in functionally, in conjunction to how they are supposed to be used is better.

For example, the tricep kickback is an awkward motion that you would never have to do in real life. The horizontal cable row however is. It works the tricep not in isolation- because that wasn't how our body was designed to function- but in conjunction with biceps, lats, traps, etc.

I'm doing NROLW and am enjoying it. There are a lots of other routines based on compound, full-body workouts that are highly efficient, geting you in and out of the gym faster and with more effective results.

[phoenix98]

actually i got though day 1 in about 45 minutes because i only did 30 sec. rest between sets. are you guys looking at that entire list like its 1 day???? thats 6 days worth of workouts not all in 1 day. day 1 i did chest , triceps, and abs. i got an awesome burn and my arms feel like spaghetti now i dont know what they will feel like tomorrow. but ill take a look at the workout you suggested.

[indiblue]

No, it's clear it's broken up into different days.

The style, not the length, of the workout is the concern. There's no reason to work muscles in isolation if your goal is not to make those 'pop,' like a bodybuilder. Having two workouts devoted half each to biceps and triceps is unnecessary. There are better moves that work your entire upper body, including your biceps and triceps IN CONJUNCTION with the rest of the muscles around them. They weren't designed to work alone so there's no reason we need to train them by themselves.

The number of sets/reps is an issue as well. Effective lifting entails lifting higher weights at lower sets/reps.

If you could do fewer sets, fewer reps, fewer exercises fewer (2-3) times a week AND have your workouts be MORE effective, better for your muscles/tendons/ligaments/joints because they are being worked together not in isolation, why wouldn't you want to do that? I can assure you you will still get that "awesome burn" you are looking for, and a whole lot more. Sounds like an easy choice to me

[ValRock]

Yikes, that's a TON!

I would be bored out of my skull with all those reps. I've had good luck just alternating days of arms and legs and throwing some 'whatever' days where I do planks and core work if I'm too sore everywhere else. It's totally not necessary to do that much isolation work. Your muscles work together more than you know. Don't be afraid to lift heavy at lower reps, too. I starting seeing serious results after I raised my weights and lowered my reps.

I second longer rest periods, too! Your schedule would take HOURS if done properly! There's an indoor walking track adjacent to the weight area in my gym and I do a lap (14 to the mile, so it's short) of walking and a lap of sprinting in between each set. Mixes it up and gets my heart pumping.
Best of luck!

OH and check out The New Rules of Lifting for Women! It's a fabulous resource and has some great tips. I refer to it all the time.

[phoenix98]

ok ill lower reps and change it up a little, ive been lifting 15lb weights and 8lb for chest flys but if im going to be doing less i can do a min. of 25lb. btw is the rules for womens weightlifting that your talking about a book or a post somewhere or article???

[EofAZ]

It's a book.

The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess
Lou Schuler (Author)

You can check it out on Amazon and it has 168 reviews for you to read if you like
.

[Julia75]

That is way to many exercises to be doing. Not only will you be living in the gym, but you will also be overtraining. I would recommend you do an all body workout 3 times per week as that would be less taxing on your body. The workout you show is meant for more experienced lifters.

[kaw]

Coming to the party late, but I agree that you're making this way too complicated. I disagree that you *have* to do a full body workout, and in fact for some people there are good reasons not to (e.g., joint recovery). And, a three-way split of legs/abs, back/bis, and chest/tris is also pretty conventional. BUT, you don't need all those different exercises.

A good leg workout can be accomplished with an exercise that primarily hits quads (e.g., squats or leg press), an exercise that primarily hits hamstrings (stiff-legged deads or leg curls), and calf raises. That's it, 3 exercises.

Similarly, you can go far with a chest workout that consists of one pressing movement for the chest (e.g., flat bench OR incline bench), one exercise for shoulders (e.g., military or overhead press), and one tricep exercise (though if you're benching, your tris will also get hit) like dips (which also works shoulders and chest) or close-grip benches. Ditch the tricep extensions etc.

And, for back day, you need an exercise to hit your upper back and lats (chins/pullups or pulldowns), an exercise for the mid back (cable rows or low rows), and ONE bicep exercise (e.g., curls).

Abs and low back can be worked in where they fit your schedule: some people like to do them at the end of leg day, others build it into back or chest day. Work abs like any other muscle: one compound exercise is fine, as long as the resistance is challenging.

Keep your reps in the 6-10 range, increasing the weight if necessary so that the last rep is tough but not impossible to do with good form. 3 sets for each exercise, and you have a great base for building lean muscle mass. Don't worry about bulking up, because it won't happen accidentally unless you're running a big caloric surplus, cut way back on cardio, etc.

HTH,

KAW