[EofAZ]

Good Morning Mel, Meg & Ilene, I need some advice, guidance and direction.

Yesterday morning I under estimated how much time I needed to complete my workout before work and still had my pulley pushdowns and standing cable curls (using the rope) to do. I workout at home so all my equipment is right there nice and convenient and typically, lately, I've been doing a 4 day split. Anyway, after I got home from work I was really feeling disappointed that I didn’t get to finish in the morning so I went ahead and finished my last two routines. It felt so good to finish and it really made me feel so under control all evening that it even helped me really stayed focused on my eating plan (I have been really struggling with my eating this year). If I try to do my whole workout in the evening I feel so tired when I walk in the door that I never even start, the old “I still have to fix supper, wash dishes, pack lunches, etc. etc., etc. gets in the way", but knowing that I only had a couple of routines to finish up was effortless to motivate myself, took only a few minutes to finish up and I felt so under control and motivated it was unbelievable.

Now my question, how bad an idea is it to split your work out that way, save the last routine or two for later in the day? Today was leg day so I’m just saving some abb work on the exercise ball and I'm confident that isn't a big deal. I’m hoping I get the same feeling of accomplishment but I'm afraid I won't. I just couldn't believe how pushing a few weights around destressed me almost instantly last night, I’ve been struggling with the food side for so long I can’t tell you how good it felt to be in control.

Thanks for any guidance you can provide.

[Mel]

Hi Evangeline Good to see you again

I sometimes split my workout into several sessions because my gym time gets very fragmented. No scientific documentation for this method, butwhat I do is make sure I complete all the sets and exercises for a particular muscle group at once. For example, on Tuesday I did legs in two sessions. My first group of exercises were all quads: squats, lunges, leg press, jump squats. Then I taught a class for an hour. After that, I went back and did hamstrings (deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts and leg curls). Certainly my hammies were used during the quad phase, but not isolated. In between sessions, I had a protein drink.

I don't think splitting your session is a problem as long as you divide it by muscle groups.

If you can get all your cardio in during one session, it's more effective for fat loss. But again, if it's just not possible, doing half in the morning and half at night is certaily better than not doing it at all!

Hope that helps,
Mel

[EofAZ]

Thanks Mel that was what I was hoping you would say. My cardio isn't typically an issue; I usually do that as a 3.5 mile walk during lunch, I get out of the office and walk to the airport and back. T y p i c a l l y the weightlifting isn't an issue but I was so hyped by doing a couple of routines that evening that I was thinking about scheduling it that way just to help elevate my energy in the evening. More energy = more control.

Thanks again, you’re the best.