Hi everyone! I have been doing total body Monday, Wednesday and Friday with Tues, Thursday and either Saturday or Sunday as my cardio. My problem is that it takes me a whole hour to finish. I use free weights at home in the basement but I just don't have that kind of time. How can I work the whole body effectively with say maybe 30-45 minutes MAX? I have been doing 2 sets of 15 reps for everything. I also do abs as well. I am not looking for building muscles as much as I want to create a nice toned sculpted body. Any advice would be appeciated. And, of course, I want the fastest results
Gumby, break up your workout so that you aren't doing your total body every time you do weights. http://www.stumptuous.com/weights.html under the workouts section has some ideas for breaking up your workout.
I do a three day split at home and each day is roughly 30-40 minutes:
For example: Legs/Glutes (day 1)
Squats: 3 x 10
Front Squats: 3x10
Barbell Stepups: 3x10
Straight leg deadlifts 3x10
Walking Lunges: 25
Lunges (w/barbell) 3x10 (each leg)
(I'm wimpy so we're talking 55-70 pounds on a barbell)
I don't do full body anymore, because occasionally I do weights two days in a row. I started doing splits - So day 2 is Chest/Shoulders/Triceps and Day 3 is Back/Biceps. Abs I do when I'm in the mood, which isn't often.
I agree, stumptuous.com/weights.html is a great site to not only learn specific exercises and routines, but to really understand how different exercise modalities (weight training, cardio, etc.) work towards specific results. To quote:
Quote:
... there is no such thing as "toning". There is muscle mass and strength gain, and fat loss, and that's it. In purely technical terms, "tone" refers to the ability of the central nervous system to provide passive muscular resistance to being stretched. What you probably think of as "toned" muscles are merely muscles which are not hidden by a lot of bodyfat.
...
Please don't write me asking how you can tone but not sculpt, or firm but not tone, or whatever. There is no such thing .... There is only building muscle mass and losing bodyfat, nothing else.
For those of you like MrsJim who work one body part per day, thus each body part once per week ... is this recommended for a heavy "development" or weight loss phase, or is that just what you do as "maintenance"?
Speaking only for myself, I do one body part per day as "maintenance." I do a five day split just like Karen laid out. Abs get thrown in with other body parts (BTW, Karen's right about Pilates and abs -- it is the BEST ab workout!).
I'm happy with the muscle mass that I have (about 117-119 pounds of lean body mass) but I know that at my age (49), I have to work out hard just to keep what I have. Muscle loss is a huge problem for older women, so maintenance doesn't look any different than when I was losing weight and actively looking to build muscle. I don't scale back my workouts or go light -- then what fun would it be?
For what it's worth, I do 45-60 minutes of cardio every day and my five workouts are each about an hour long so I'm afraid that I'm not the person to ask about shortening workouts.
I do only one body part per day because it's hard for me to imagine having the energy to do two or more body parts in one workout. When I finish a back workout, I'd have a heard time mustering the energy to go on and do something like bi's. Maybe it's because I do a lot of exercises and sets for each body part? Like 4-6 exercises, 3 - 4 sets each? Not sure what everyone else does. Hmmm, I may also be a little slower than most because I work out with a partner and notice that I go faster when I'm on my own.
For those of you like MrsJim who work one body part per day, thus each body part once per week ... is this recommended for a heavy "development" or weight loss phase, or is that just what you do as "maintenance"?
I don't personally feel that the split type is the deciding factor in how hard n' heavy you're working during your time in the gym (or garage/basement/whereever). I've done LOTS of different splits over the years - the only one I HAVEN'T done is a full-body split, simply because I believe it is damn near impossible to hit all the muscle groups effectively by doing it in one shot - KWIM?
For me, the decision to do one bodypart or muscle group a day was for the most part, a time-based decision. I only have so much time a day to devote to the gym - I generally get there between 4:15-4:30 and I need to be home by 6:00 so I can take my shower and get out of the bathroom by 6:30 so Jim can get ready for work. While I'm in the gym I spend about 30 minutes or so on weight training, 30 minutes on cardio (plus a five minute cooldown) and oh about 10 minutes or so doing floor stretches and maybe some Pilates moves. When I'm weight training, I tend to do a lot of supersets, just because I can get a lot more accomplished that way. Here's a recent back day for example:
Superset:
close-grip pulldowns/wide T-Bar rows/hyperextensions
3 sets each 15/15/12 reps (or to failure)
Lying Dumbbell pullovers - 3 sets 12-15 reps per set (or to failure)
One-arm DB rows 5 sets 5-8 reps per set (or to failure) I do these HEAVY.
I'm all about time management. I guess I'm just wondering if working a part once per week is *enough* while a person is still losing weight & working on development rather than maintenance. I typically weight train 4 days per week -- 2 days upper, 2 days lower, alternating. Do you think you can lift heavier by doing it once per week rather than two? And, is there an advantage other than time? In other words, are the results better? Or does it even out in the wash?
I like splits because I can concentrate on only a couple body parts, it shortens my workout even though my workout is still an hour long mostly and I can rest the muscle groups between the splits. Honestly, I plan to keep doing this for as long as I do weight training. It has helped me lose the weight so far.
Funniegrrl, I'm sure no expert on which is better -- all I can go by is my personal experience.
I worked with a trainer for the year that I was losing and the five day split is what he put me on. I started with an upper/lower split similiar to what you do but he wanted to move me to a five day split ASAP. I don't know if it's standard elsewhere, but the more serious bodybuilders at my gym (and the trainers themselves) all do that kind of split. It may just be my gym though? Anyway, I worked out with him three days a week and he wrote out workouts for the other two days that I did on my own (cardio was on my own, of course).
It worked well for me since I managed to add ten pounds of muscle while losing 132 pounds of fat that year.
These days I'm glad that I have a week between working out body parts because often they feel like they need it to recover. Besides, you work out multiple body parts with most free weight exercises (which is what I mostly do) so shoulders get worked when I do chest, bi's get worked when I do back, etc. I have to be careful how I space the days so that I don't end up working certain parts back-to-back (like chest and shoulders). So maybe they really do get worked more than once a week -- just not as intensely?
If you are working to failure, you really need 3-4 days recovery time minimum between working the same muscle groups. The larger the muscle group (back, legs) the longer the recovery. If you work the same muscles before they've had adequate time to rest and GROW, you are cheating yourself out of muscle growth, increased strength, and much needed rest. Do it long enough, and your muscles will just stop recovering. That's what over-training is all about.
I usually start beginners on a full body workout 2 sets per exercise, and not lifting to failure. The theory on this is that it takes 3-6 weeks to strengthen ligaments and tendons to the point where they can sustain lifting to failure, and generally takes that long to get a deconditioned person to the point where they have the stamina to go 3-4 sets and multiple exercises per body part.
Once a lifter has an adequate conditioning base, I think hitting muscle groups once a week or on a rotating 6 day basis is optimal for muscle growth or maintenance. As Meg said, us older folks are basically fighting an uphill battle against muscle loss, so you eventually find yourself working just as hard to maintain as you did to build or lose weight in the first place
My workout is too long! Need advice!
Besides, you work out multiple body parts with most free weight exercises (which is what I mostly do) so shoulders get worked when I do chest, bi's get worked when I do back, etc. I have to be careful how I space the days so that I don't end up working certain parts back-to-back (like chest and shoulders). So maybe they really do get worked more than once a week -- just not as intensely?
