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MiragesMom
02-04-2003, 05:38 PM
Hello everybody! I'm 19yo female, 5'6, and 155lbs. I'm looking to do some weight loss and a lot of toning. I know the 155lb may seem a bit large to some people, but it's mostly do to my thick thighs and calves....almost all muscle due to horseback riding almost daily.

But that's not the point lol! I need to find a plan to loose some weight in the tummy area while toning everything, but specializing on the abs, thighs, and calves. I'm clueless as far as exercising so I don't know where to begin! I do have access to my college's gym (hate going with all the guys always in there though) so machines shouldn't be a problem.

Also, where do I start for weight and reps on the machines? How do I know when to increase the weight?

Thanks!

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darkwolfofvoid
02-05-2003, 02:36 AM
I would suggest doing some cardiovascular workouts in addition to weight training. You should do a circuit weight training program too since you want to lose weight, plus the circuit will give you that resistance training you want. Just to note, it's not "toning." In literal sense, toning is nothing more than making your body able to ... flex lol (substaining a contraction is tonus, and being able to return back to normal means you're toned pretty much)

As for finding out what reps and sets you should do. Start off light. If you do a circuit, you'll want your upper body routines to generally tire you out at about 12-18 reps, and your leg workouts anywhere from 15-24. So do the different machines you have there and find out what weight it takes for you to get a good burn and get fatigued by so you can't lift much more within those rep ranges I gave. Now if you don't know what a circuit is, basically you use a machine for say 35 seconds, then you take 15 seconds to rest and be on something like a bike or do a jog and do that for 35 seconds, then another 15 second interval of recovery and you go back to a machine. There's many ways you can do this. The idea is to do a resistance training, then do a cardio something (bike, run, situps, jumping jacks, whatever comes to mind, etc).

The basic circut is weight to bike to weight to bike. You could also do something we call a "big five" where you do weight, weight, weight, weight, weight, then bike for the equivelent of time (still doing the activity for 35 seconds and 15 second intervals). This is the best thing for beginners (or returning from a long rest period after a marathon ... like me lol). This will give you great resistance training depending on how hard you want to go in it. Plus it gives you an awesome cardio (if you push yourself especially) which will help you burn fat. So it's the best of both worlds really.

And when do you increase the weight? As you become stronger your body will adapt to dealing with the resistance variable you have (which is the selected weight you've found), as it becomes easier and you can complete the say 15 reps in that 35 seconds and you're not tired ... increase the weight! Your goal is to strain to lift up that 15 reps.

Another big thing to look at, especially if you don't have a specific circuit class, is to what order you do the machines in. I can't give any order you should, but you don't ever want to hit the same muscle twice in a row, and you want to keep the big muscle machines separated well in this routine so you don't hit say leg press, abs, squat! Your legs will be dead after being fatigued not too long ago. But it is good to have opposite muscles close together or right after each other, say a leg press and then a leg curl (first works quads, and the other hamstrings - agonist vs antagonist).

And you should be able to do a circuit in 45 min say. So it's a good duration, your intensity and overload is dependant on how much you want to lift on each station and how hard you push yourself in the cardio aspects (as I have a cardio class after my circuit class I don't go very hard on the bikes, but sometimes I'll do sprints). The good thing about this is you can change it up (variability) by either how you go about doing the machines (and if there's no set design, you can really change it up, but you better preplan the orintation of how you go around to the different stations) or you can change what cardio aspect you're doing.

MiragesMom
02-05-2003, 11:04 AM
Thanks a bunch for all of the information. I honestly wouldn't have thought of almost any of it lol! I'm going to take a trip to the gym today after my classes and see what is in there exactly and start attempting to make a schedule with the stations. Hopefully the football players aren't taking over the gym again!

darkwolfofvoid
02-05-2003, 06:34 PM
There's a lot of people in the gym who are jackasses, but a lot of people are also helpful. It comes down to gym etiquette(sp?!). Don't interupt someone while they're lifting. Have patience, and dont' do stupid things or get in people's way. There's nothing wrong with asking questions and getting help. It's how most of the best lifters get their information. Word of mouth!





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