So, I hear about people saying that it's good to weight lift at least 2 times per week. I meet with my personal trainer 2 times per week, one day we do upper body and the next day we do lower body. Does this sound okay or should I kick it up a notch and do upper body two times per week and lower body two times per week? Of course I'm doing cardio as well, I just wanted to know if it was enough?

My personal trainer suggested that I do whatever I feel comfortable with. I know that I could do two sets of upper body per week... but deffinately not lower body.

Should I just stick with once per week until I get more used to the training, then bump it up later on?

Dunno... I'm highly confused.

What is everyone elses workout schedule?

I think it is best to listen to your body and press your trainer to give you more direct guidelines to structure your workouts.

I will check back in with this thread (if I can find it ) to answer your question about my training schedule in more detail but for now I'll say that I am starting a new plan that has me working out at least 5 days a week for a minimum of 60 minutes (and usually 90-120) per day.

Best of luck!

One way to do it...
Mon- upper body
Tue- cardio
Wed- lower body
Thur- cardio
Fri- upper body
Next week- continue the alternation of the exercises. In a two week period, you will have done upper 3x and lower 3x.

Well the reason it is only suggested at 3 times per week is because your body needs a day of rest in between working the same muscle group twice. You can do upper body one day and lower the next if you want...just dont repeat the same muscle group two days in a row. Although building muscle will definitely help you burn more fat without having to workout I would say if you main goal at this point is to LOSE WEIGHT than perhaps you should stick with doing upper once a week and lowers once a week and focus the rest of the days on cardio. CARDIO is going to be where your fatloss will come from this early along in your goal...

For someone just starting out, two times a week on weights seems sufficient to me, especially if you are also doing cardio (keep in mind though, that I am just an amateur, not an expert on weight training). There's no secret, one-size-fits-all diet or exercise program; sometimes the only way to figure out if a program is right for you is to stick with it for a while. So why not stick with this program for several months then evaluate your progress? If you aren't happy with your progress, you could add a couple of more days at that point. By then, both you and or trainer will have a better idea of how your body responds to the exercise and what your goals should be, so your trainer might be able to give you more specific guidance.

- Barbara

I hate trainers who are so wishy-washy. I've run into more than a few. Worse are the trainers who blow you off because you aren't a fit size 2! (Duh, that's why I'm here, dufus!)

Fortunately, I used to be in athletics in high school, so I ended up talking the bull by the horns in my workout schedule. I weight train (upper and lower body) on Mon., Wed., and Fri. Cardio is Mon.-Sat. I just make sure to "shake things up" by rotating the exercises I do in any given workout session. Gotta keep the body guessing, or it can get too used to it so that my workouts are less effective.

If you're sure you can't manage two sets of lower body per week, then stick with one set/week on that until you feel able to do more. But if you can manage the two sets for upper body, then go for it.

I've been getting physical therapy for my knee, and the therapist has actually recommended that I do less!

For example, my legs (except for the knee injury) are very strong, so I tend to pedal fast and use a hill level. But when he took my heart rate, it was far above the desirable workout level, so he said to power down.

Also, he felt that lifting weights (I do a very light weightlifting workout with only 3 pound weights) should be done only 1-2 times/week to start, not the 6 I was doing.

I'm not sure I agree with him, but his point of view was interesting. IMO, a lighter, shorter workout several times a week seems a better way to cut back than going to 1-2 times/week. But when I mentioned the weekend athlete effect (that infrequent workouts can actually do more harm than good), he felt that someone with a low level of fitness would get the benefit.