[aweighstogo]

I go to the gym 5 days a week and weight train all five days alternating upper and lower body. Is that too many? Everything I seem to be reading says to weight train 3 days a week. I also do cardio all 5 days.

[Mel]

If you are just alternating upper and lower, training 5 days a week probably is too much. I lift 5 days a week, but a different body part each day so that no body part gets directly worked more than once a week. If you want to lift 5 days a week, I'd suggest changing your "split" so that you don't overtrain. You can work major muscle groups with 4 days rest between workouts. Here are a few sample splits just to give you some ideas:

The "work legs twice" split":
Monday: legs
Tuesday: shoulders and abs
Wednesday: back and biceps
Thursday: legs
Friday:chest and triceps

The once a week routine:
Monday: chest
Tuesday: shoulders and abs
Wednesday: legs
Thursday: biceps, triceps, abs
Friday: back

IMO, you should be too tired on leg day to do much cardio
How long have you been lifting and how much time do you spend during each session? Do you lift heavy to near failure? If so, you are overtraining.

Mel

[aweighstogo]

I use the weight machines for about a 1/2hr. It is hard to do cardio after hitting the machines. I use enough weight so that I really feel it but not to failure. Do you think I am doing too much?

[Ilene]

I lift 5 days/week like Mel using the second split she mentions... If you have been doing the split you mention for a while now, 4-6 weeks or so, try the splits Mel mentions... It'll give your body a bit of a shock and you may see some nice differences in your body composition...You should also try to get away from the machines and use some freeweights... here is a great site for routines and suggestions... http://www.stumptuous.com/weights_index_revision.html ...
I do my cardio after my workouts but never on leg day because the legs are like jell-0!

Hope this helps, ask any questions you may have... Don't be shy and join us on the main weekly thread...

TTFN