[CHUNKEY_MUNKEY]

hi i was just kinda wondering im curentley 234 5'6 and following the weight watchers plan i got down to 212 with this plan and ive been off the wagon scince xmas ... im OFFICIALLY BACK ON ... ( just verifying that so i can keep myself accountable ) i feel so bad about having gained back all that weight that i worked so hard to loose so i joined a gym to kinda make the financial commitment to try and help myself keep chugging along i eat 30 points daily and i was just wondering how many calories should i shoot to be burning at the gym ?
how many do you aim for?

my typical night at the gym looks like this

30 minutes @ 2.8 MPH @ an 8 incline
5 minutes on the eliptical level 1( pathetic i know )
5 minutes on the stair stepper also level 1
10 minutes on the bike low resistance
20 weighted crunches
20 weighted squats
20 each leg inner and outter thigh weights
20 kick back thingies
or on alternate nights the same cardio but working the arms
20 shoulder presses
20 bicept curls
20 tricept curls
and 2 sets of 10 of what ever else i can think of using free weights

i also wanted to know how much weight should i be using on my arms so as to tone them i have SUPER flab going on on my upper arm region i really dont want them to get bigger ...

thanks in advance <3

[CHUNKEY_MUNKEY]

okayy i thought id bump the thread incase anyone who could help me missed it but if not i guess what im doing now is good enough?

[Eliana]

Hi there! This is a tough question, I think. Maybe that's why no one has responded. I find it difficult to tell another person what to do not knowing your endurance and never having seen you work at it.

However, for what it's worth...

I would stick to one or two cardio machines per session and switch them up each time you visit, because the body does get used to it. The treadmill doesn't do much for me, so I prefer the elliptical. I like the bike, but only in a Spin cycle class. I don't push myself on it very well. My suggestion is to pick one and increase your time each visit by a minute or two or five and once you've reached your desired endurance time, start increasing the stride/speed and resistance.

For strength training, change it up and then change it up some more. You can do whole body in one day or you can work on one body part each session, giving yourself at the very least two days to recover. I like to give myself a week to recover. I tend to do lower body, biceps/shoulders, triceps/back which takes three days.

I have two patterns for increasing weight:

Pattern 1:
Weight maybe 10 lbs 10 reps; 10 lbs 12 reps 10 lbs 15 reps

Pattern 2:
weight maybe 10 lbs 15 reps; 12 lbs 12 reps; 15 pounds 10 reps

So I'm either keeping the weight the same but increasing the reps or I'm increasing the weight but decreasing the reps.

I don't know how much to tell you to use as far as poundage. I would suggest smaller weights with more reps. My first set is always pretty easy, but generally I have a hard time lifting the last rep on my last set.

Any questions, ask. I'm not sure I covered what you were asking.

ETA: One more thing, I never do the same strength exercises in the same order again. I'll reverse the order or pick from the middle. Whatever I do last is generally pretty weak, so I'll do that one first the next time.

[toomuchmoxie]

Yeah, this is a hard question to answer. Most gyms allow a free session or two with a trainer, so you might take advantage of that to get some sort of foundation.
I do know that you're supposed to do the weights before the cardio. And you're definitely not supposed to do the same thing day after day. I meet with a trainer 3x a week for 30 minutes. We do two sets of 15 reps each of an upper body and two sets of 15 of a lower body and then 3 reps of 15 each of crunches/ball/something ab, switching with a 15-second plank between.