Need to step-up my routine....
 

Ok, I can feel myself slipping into plateauville. I need to mix things up a bit with my routine. It's becoming a bit too routine.

I currently do the following:

5 days of cardio 1-2 hours per session
3 of those days I also incorporate 30 mins of strength training.

I am thinking about doing the following:

5 days of cardio still with longer duration 2 of the 5 days. I currently do 20 mins on the recumbent bike, 15 on the elliptical and usually 20 on the treadmill as well as take a 30 - 45 min power walk. I am thinking on 2 of the days, 60 min walk/30 min elliptical or 30 min bike and 30 min elliptical or 30 min bike and 45 min walk. For my strength training I was thinking of doing 4 days instead of 3 and doing one session just upper body, one session just mid section, one session just lower body and one day of all 3 combined. I was going to increase my reps/sets, but not my weight. I currently do 10 mins of each body group 3 times a week with at least a day in between. But I read that if you only work one section per session you might get better results. That also green lights it to do it 2 days in a row if need be.

What do you think? Any suggestions?

I found that getting a heart rate monitor really helped. Do you have one?
Also see if you can find a thread in Ladies Who Lift about lifting heavier. I found that helpful too.
Oh and Krista's site .... www.stumptuous.com

Check out this thread it has some great suggestions on changing up your works...

Instead of increasing the duration of your workouts, you might try increasing the intensity. Increasing the incline on the treadmill can really ramp up your workout (pun not intended)! In fact, I've read that most treadmills are set at a slight decline, so if you don't set an incline of at least 1.0, you're actually running downhill. For your powerwalk, is there a hill that you can incorporate? (If you walk on the treadmill, increase the incline for five to ten minutes of the walk). On the bike or the elliptical, you could increase the difficulty level.

Sprints are also good. Try to do one to three minutes at your top speed on the treadmill.

Also, consider adding some cardio to your weight lifting routine during the periods between sets when you would normally rest. My trainer often has me do short bursts of cardio in between sets and it really increases the intensity of my workout. Things that he has me do include jumping from a squat and/or lunge position, running fast raising my knees waist-high for 15 seconds, jumping from side to side, and moving side to side on a step (or on the half ball thingy) starting and ending in a squat position.

- Barbara