[Sandi]

Hi All! I am a newbie on this board, but I moderate on the 100lbs club. I have started lurking over here because 2 weeks ago I joined the Y and am finally able to lift weights again. I have lifted before, but with a trainer, never done that much on my own.

Anyway, here is my question. I hit the Y 3 times a week. On Tues & Thurs I only have 45 min I can spend there, but on Saturday I can take all the time I need. So what I have been doing is lower body on Tues, Upper on Thursday and both on Saturday. Doing just lower or upper takes about 40 min. Even thought I lift 3x a week, I really only hit the whole body twice a week. Do you think that I am wasting my time and maybe doing too many machines? I think I do like 12 machines, 3 sets of 12 reps. I was thinking about hiring a trainer for one time and having her put togther a full body program that I could do all 3 days. Do you think that would be better?

How long does it take you?

[Meg]

Hi Sandi! Welcome to LWL! I like to peek in at your 100 Pound Club from time to time (and lurked there when I was losing) — what a great group of people you have over there! Terrific support and lots of success stories. So we’re glad you wandered over this way —

In answer to your question, NO — you are absolutely not wasting your time! What you’re doing now sounds like an ideal way to get back to working out with weights. I don’t think you’d want to hit any body part more than twice a week anyway, since I think it’s a minimum of 48 hours recovery time after working a muscle group.

I started with three days a week with weights myself and made great progress from the beginning. Are you doing any cardio? If you have time, it might be a good idea to do three days of cardio alternating with your three days with weights. I’m guessing you’d definitely see some results with that program. Of course, I have to add that about 80% your success is going to come from your nutrition (what and how much you eat and don’t eat). Unfortunately.

I worked with a trainer in the beginning because I was totally clueless in the gym and really needed some direction and instruction about what to do. If you can afford it and know a good trainer, I think it would be helpful to get some ideas on setting up a program, especially as you progress. You may discover that you’re ready to move on to some free weights (dumbbells, barbells etc) after you spend some time with the machines.

Feel free to drop into the weekly thread anytime and tell us about what you’re doing and how you’re progressing.

And, Sandi, I can’t let you go without saying that I never had any success in losing or keeping off weight until I started going to the gym and lifting weights, so as far as I’m concerned, you’ve hit on the Magic Formula for Weight Loss. I hope you have as much success with it as I did/do!

[wcolleen]

Hi Sandi - I agree with Meg - you are *definitely* not wasting your time! Personally, I only hit each muscle group once per week anyways. I do back and shoulders one day, then triceps, biceps and chest another, and lower body on Saturdays. I tried twice per week, and my muscles just never really had a chance to recover between sessions.

[MrsJim]

Actually that sounds a lot like the BFL split...

Monday - Lower body workout (LBWO)
Tuesday - cardio
Weds - Upper Body workout (UBWO)
Thurs - cardio
Fri - LBWO
Sat - Cardio
Sun - rest day
Mon - UBWO
Tues - Cardio
Weds - LBWO
Thurs - Cardio
Fri - UBWO
Sat - Cardio

and so on...

A lot of the gals here (including yours truly) started off like that.

And if you can find a good trainer (too bad you don't live in PA - I know an excellent one there... ) to show you the ropes and check your form then I say go for it! I used a trainer myself for a few weeks in 2002.

And I definitely recommend mixing up things a bit with free weights. Check out the "Basic BB Info" sticky at the top of our forum for some cool links (especially recommended is Krista Scott Dixon's Stumptous website...)

[Sandi]

Wow, am I glad I asked. I thought FOR SURE you would say that yes, I should be hitting all the muscle groups 3 x a week. I thought you needed 24 hours for a muscle to recover. Shows you what I know.

I am just counting calories for now 1200 - 1800 depending on the day. BUt I do not eat sweets at all. I have started doing step aerobics and try to fit that in 3x weekly. I really want this to work for me.

Another question, is it bad that I am not sore? I have lifted 4 times so far and never been sore at all. Last night I even bumped up my LB routine, and still nothing. Don't you need to be a little sore so you know it's working. I thought especially since I was brand new (I was doing curves, but not very regularly)

I apprecaite your help and will check out the daily thread. I just LOVE weight lifting and am so glad that I made time in my life for it. The excuses were many, but I finally just did it!!

[JEC]

Yes you should be sore especially if you are doing it for the first time. I would recommending upping your weights on each exercise so that you are lifting heavy enough. Lack of soreness is a sure indicator that your weights are too lite.

Good luck with it all,
JC

[Ilene]

I'm with alllll of the above girls! JC is absolutely right if you're not at least a little sore up the weight a bit... My pet peeve is that women think they will bulk up...NO NO NO NO it's a myth!! K? Believe us on that one, just have a look at our skinny gals here Meg, Mel and Karen who lift very heavy and are a size 4, that's not bulky in my mind anyways... They are just little power houses these women!!

[Mel]

Ummm, I'm not skinny. But I agree with everything else everyone has said. Lift weight that is heavy enough that you can barely do the last two repetitions. That is what causes muscle tissue to break down, then re-grow stronger while you rest and feed it good unprocessed carbs and lean protein. Don't forget to eat enough protein

Mel

[Sandi]

That's what I was thinking. That's why I upped the weight on LB, but still no soreness. I was fatigued on my last two reps of my last set. Shoudl I be fatigued my last two reps of every set??

Speaking of protein, I do make sure I have it with every meal. But what is the amount per day that I should shoot for? As far as my diet, my BIG problem is that I am a vegtable HATER. Seriously. Lettuce is about all I can stand.

[Meg]

Good morning, Sandi! I really identified with what you wrote yesterday about loving weight lifting. I was so surprised myself to discover that I love lifting weights too — quite a revelation to me since I was one of those fat girls who hated gym class and would do just about anything to get out of participating (like having periods that lasted for a semester at a time ). Though I guess it makes sense since weightlifting is something that fat girls can be good at because most of us are pretty strong (from hauling around our bodies) and you don’t need much hand-eye coordination (thank heavens), you don’t have to go diving after a ball, and you don't have to wear perky little aerobics outfits and bounce around with some degree of coordination. So it worked for me, too.

About the protein: do you track what you eat in something like Fitday? If so, I’d suggest shooting for maybe 35-40% of your calories from protein — which would probably be somewhere between maybe 130—150g? If you eat frequent, small meals with protein at each one, it’s not hard to reach those numbers. About veggies: you may learn to like them. After a while, if you stay away from sugar, veggies start to taste better and better. And they fill you up. If you can’t stand them, don’t try to force them because this way of eating has to be something that you enjoy or you’ll never be able to stick to it for the rest of your life (and I’m sure you know that this is for the rest of your life). Find healthy foods and recipes that you do like and that satisfy you and fill you up.

About muscle soreness: this kind of came up in an thread in the Exercise Forum — about working a muscle to fatigue vs. working it to failure: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36689 Maybe you need to try to go to failure rather than just fatigue.

Let us know how you’re doing!