The other day, I was at the gym doing my routine as usual when something clicked in my head. I saw a woman with her personal trainer, started remembering some things that I had read on the web, and it really got me wondering. Anyway, here is the workout routine I had been doing for 2 months:

1. Cardio 30 minutes 5 times a week
2. Alternating between working upper and lower body during that week.

Okay, so my problem is that I don't think I should be doing cardio and strength training on the same days. Am I right or is the old routine okay? I really want a plan that incorporates strength training and cardio, but I want to make sure that I'm doing it right. This week, I've altered my workout routine to...

1. Cardio 3 times a week for 30-45 minutes
2. Strength training 3 times a week. Alternating between upper and lower body on different days. These days of the week, I also walk my dog around the neighborhood.

I would really appreciate any suggestions or tips .

Honeydipped,
If you have cleared all with your doctor...( mine always says 'do what you want, if it hurts stop" --told me I was old enough to have sense enough to be careful)
My personal program is Weights mwf and Toning tthsat and Cardio every day along with some Stretching.
It is your program. You can set it up any way you want and are physically able and have time for. Some days can be longer than others. Take a day off a week or 2 days if it suits better.
You need a rounded program; with some of everything. You dont have to do some involved long routine. It can be as short as you want it to be.
Best of luck to you. It is a hard thing to maintain. We are so used to setting a limit...a week, a month, even a year....but this is forever ...with some adjustments and variations.

O2BN...Arras

one little step at a time
slip of the lip puts a pound on your hip

wannaBa loser

Honey dipped - My work schedule often includes evening meetings, which means I can't get to the gym every day (and it's closed on Sundays!) so I almost always do my cardio and weight training on the same days. I just warm up on an elliptical or treadmill (or if all else fails a stationary bike ) for about 5 minutes, then do whatever I have planned for weights, then go back to the cardio for a longer session. I don't usually go as long on the cardio when I've worked my legs with weights, but otherwise I have no problems doing them on the same day. Your plan for spreading things out will work too - about the only thing you don't want to do is weight training using the same muscles without a 24-48 hour break in between. Otherwise, devise a program that works for you! Good luck.

Different people have different opinions on this. But for me, the only way I can squeeze it all in is to do cardio and weights on the same day. I go to school full time, work 2 jobs, and want to have "a life," too , so I *only* go to the gym three days a week. On those days, I do 30 - 45 minutes of cardio and then 30 minutes of weights. And since it's working, I'm not gonna mess with it .

Thanks so much for the replies! I learned some really helpful stuff. I will probably change up my routine every so often, but I'll remember to stick with what works for me. I was so worried about doing things the "right" way that I wasn't giving myself any credit. Thanks so much .

I'd also like to add that I do weight training and cardio on the same day but as other people mentioned do some warm up, then weights, then cardio. You're not supposed to do cardio before weights, can't remember why though. You might want to think about splitting your upper body workout up too because some movements work more than one body part and you don't want to overdue it. If you look around a library or book store there are tons of books with sample routines in them. Personally I do Bicept/Tricept/Back on Monday, Chest/Shoulders on Wednesday, and Legs on Friday with abs on all the in between days. I use to do full body three days a week but my muscles were getting so fatigued I'd end up skipping days so this way you get more quality vs. quantity. Good Luck!

Ok, I don't mean to be ignorant here, but what's the difference between weight trainging and toning?

Here's a short answer from Krista (http://www.stumptuous.com/weights_index_revision.html)

LIE: Men train, women tone.

To be serious about strength training, eliminate the T-word-"tone"-from your vocabulary. Lifting a tiny weight for a hundred reps is a waste of time and energy, plus it never really stresses your muscles enough to make them much stronger. As the good Sgt. Robo says, "More isn't better, better is better." In fact, according to one study in which men and women trained the same muscle group 3 days a week for 20 weeks, "the women made significantly greater relative increases than men in strength." (MacDougall et al, McMaster University)

Women and men have exactly the same skeletal muscle composition. It would not be possible to tell biological sex from muscle tissue alone. But more importantly, 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. In other words, there is no reason why you should waste your time on the stupid little weights when you could be getting tough and strong.