[Christina7806]

For the past year and a half, I have been lifting weights three times a week. I would do cardio in the morning and weights in the afternoon. Well, that now has to change for various resons. Anyway, I will need to do all my exercising in the morning. I have one hour. I am also beginning to focus on running as my cardio. I will need to do the running for 4 days which only leaves two days for weights. I lift heavy and I will be able to devote 2 days a week for 45 minutes to a full body routine...I like these best and will need to stick with this type of routine. My question is what should I be doing to get the most bang for my buck...so to speak....with 2 full body routines a week?? Anyone have any suggestions? I know I should stick to compound exercises. But, how may reps, sets, and exercises for each group should I be doing? Thanks for whatever suggestions you can give me.

[Depalma]

What are your main goals for the resistance training? The answer will be the main determinant of your rep/set scheme.

Also, what rep/sets are you currently using and are there any rep/set schemes that you have used in the past that seemed to really work well for you and/or that you really enjoyed?

[Christina7806]

My main goals are to 1) At least maintain the muscle I have built and, hopefully, continue building muscle 2) Continue reducing my body fat. I am currently 19.6% and would like to see it be closer to 16% 3) Build my metabolism as it tested 5.7% below the norm for my age...probably due to dieting.

Currently I do one set of pull ups, push ups and step ups...to failure...then I move on to my routine which is three sets of 6-12 reps, one exercise for chest, back and legs (I switch them up every couple of weeks)....I then do 2 sets same reps for shoulders, core and lower back and one set for triceps and biceps.(All sets are to failure and when I can reach 12 reps on all sets I increase weight) Every 3-4 work outs, I do circuit training with higher reps and lower weight. I also add pyramids and drop sets every few weeks etc.

I guess what I need to know is can I still accomplish lowering my body fat, and building muscle with only two 45 minute sessions a week, as long as I continue to lift fairly heavy for the majority of the time. I am also cutting out one cardio session to make time for weights so I would like to see at least one of these workouts have more of a cardio effect...perhaps by lowering rest time as I currently rest for one minute between sets....I never have needed a ton of rest time.

Any idea would be very helpful. Thanks.

[Depalma]

Christina, I have very few suggestions as, in my opinion, you did an excellent in putting together your program and I like the occassional use of shock techniques such as the drop sets.

The few tweaks I would probably recommend is narrowing your range from 6-12 reps to 8-10 and working primarily in the hypertrophy range. While sometimes doing lower reps for more of a strength and higher reps for endurance are good even when focusing on building and maintaining muscle, I think your occasional use of pyramid sets and drop sets will cover this aspect and allow you to focus mainly in the 8-10 range.

Also, with going from 3 day to 2 day, I would probably remove the remaining isolation and thinking in terms of body parts and muscle groups. This is a "bodybuilding mindset" which really requires more of a bodybuilding type split and thus would require more workout days than you have available. I would suggest thinking in terms of movement patterns and make sure they are balanced. Judging from what you've stated, it looks like it's not going to be a lot of tweaking.

Normally, I would do 8-10 with 90s rest between exercises, so to keep the rest time between sets of the same exercises at 90s so that you can still lift the same amount of weight but to reduce overall rest period, we are going to do 2 tri-sets with "full rest" (ala AC and NROL). You will do one set of the first exercise, rest 30s, do one set of exercise 2, rest 30s, and then do one set of the third exercise. Rest 30s then repeat.

I would do something along the lines:

3x8-10 of a knee dominant exercise (squat variants, step ups, etc)
3x8-10 of a vertical pull (such as your pullups or some lat pulldowns)
3x8-10 of a horizontal push (such as your pushups, or a bench press variation)

3x8-10 of a hip dominant exercise (deadlift variants, pull-throughs, GM's etc)
3x8-10 of a horizontal pulls (such as various rows)
3x8-10 of a vertical push (such as a shoulder press variation)


I would save the bicep/tricep isolation for the occassional workouts in which you do drop sets or do 1 set at the end of the workout

[Christina7806]

Thanks so much! This is exactly the type of advice I was looking for. You have been a great help!