I would like to start lifting weights at the gym and I wanted to know: How many days a week should I do it?
Should I do my cardio before or after?
How much cardio should I do? Right now I do 5min on the low bike (I forgot the name) 10 min on the treadmill, 5min the the other bike, 5min on the eillitpcal trainer, 10min on the stairmaster and 5min on a machine that works your arms. It's like a bike but it's for your arms. I workout at the Y and this program is called technogym where I wear a band around my ribs the it reads your heartrate and it's programed in there computer and I stick my key into the machine. I hope you understand! After that I walk on the treadmill for another 30min. Advice please!! Should I cut out the extra walking on the treadmill? Thanks for the help!!
General guideline is: train each muscle group about 2 times a week. For a beginner, you can do a full body training 4 times a week, but with lighter weights, to let your body get used to it. Do cardio AFTER weights. As for your cardio: do you really need to change machines that often? 60 minutes cardio is good. But I don't see the point of walking on the treadmill, unless it's powerwalking.
First, with the cardio you'll get a better session if you stick to the one machine, preferably a treadmil.This way you are not stopping and starting so often which hamps progress. I would do cardio at a fast pace for 30 minutes every day, no matter what your goals are (unless you are a bodybuilder). If you want variety you could use treadmil one sessoin, then bike then the arm machine or what ever else. When is it best to do cardio? For weight loss definetly first thing in the morning before eating anything. This is also good as it puts your system in working mode, and gives you a jump start for the rest of the day. If you dont like mornings, before or after cardio? I would say if you aim to loose weight or care more about fitness, do it before weights. This is because if you do weights first, you will have limited energy left for the cardio! And the walking is a waiste of time because it'll give you no benifets - you've already gained fitness benifets from you other intense cardio. You do need to warm up and then warm down for 10 mins. each so you could walk then.
with weights seeing as though you are a beginner you should do full body programs every other day. Don't concern yourself with the amount of weight you are lifting, strength will come with time!
Do NOT do weights after cardio! You need bloodsugar to do weights, and if you do cardio first you won't have any bloodsugar left. Which is bad for the muscles... Better still is to do cardio at another time than the weights.
What's your goal? This is still good advice to begin to condition yourself, which can take 6-8 weeks but ultimately, what do you want to get out of lifting weights? Strength goals? Just appearance? Sports or athletic performance?
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Keep your body lean, your blood clean and your mind sharp. -Rollins
I want to look lean or I guess for appearance! I'm 144 and would to loose 14 more pounds but I still look fat! I have alot of body fat and I do cardio but I havn't started to lift weight which at the gym in the morning I will. I just hear so much and I get so confused!! Some say do cardio before and other say after, come say just do cardio 3 days a week and some say 5! I don't know whats right. Right now I do all of those machines I listed and maybe I should just start jogging on the treadmill! I just want to loose the last 14 pounds and look lean and not look cubby!! All my weight is in my abs!! I thought about low carb thing but I don't know if that is right for me!! Please HELP!!!
Weights will help to get you leaner, but diet is a BIG BIG part of it. One thing you need to do is to get the scale out of your head if you start using resistance training. You will gain a littlemore weight since muscle is more dense than fat, but you can be leaner, which does not show up on the scale.
There is no set program that works for everyone. Every bit of advice you hear are just suggestions (though some are more educated than others). Start with 3 days a week for cardio, at least 30 minutes at a shot. You can increase this later as you get more conditioned or if you feel it will help you reach your goals. Also incorperate weights or some kind of resistance training. Adding a little lean muscle does make a big difference. Diet is also extremely important. Low-carb is not weight loss panacea, especially since it is often done wrong. You will have to watch calories and be more aware about what you eat, but it doesn't have to be a huge struggle or ordeal. What does your current diet look like?
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Keep your body lean, your blood clean and your mind sharp. -Rollins
