Exercise Routines - recommendations

[momofmany]

I'm a periodic reader - looking for some feedback.

I'm working to shed 30 lbs. I run on the treadmill 4 times/week (4 miles for 35 min. plus cooldown) and tone 3 days. I tone with hand weights (5 & 10 lbs) to Kathy Smith's Lift Weights to Lose Weight, Tami Lee Webb's I want that body, and Chris Freytag's Butt, Belly, and Thighs. On the cardio days I do about 20 min. of weight work and on the tone days I add about 20 min. of treadmill walking on an incline. I just got a stability ball and need to find a new video for this.

So far I've kept it up for 2 weeks..........but I'm wonding if these are challenging enough? I know many of you are fans of Cathe but she (and her equipment requirements)seem overwhelming to me.

Any feedback or suggestions you have would be most welcome.

Thanks so much,

Becky
Mom of 4

[JacksMommy]

I can't speak to the specific videos you mention, but I can say that no one way is going to work for everyone - moreover, it's not the workout itself that is going to do it for you, but how hard you work it, if that makes sense. You can tell if you are working out hard enough by how your body feels during and after workouts. I'm not an expert on this so hopefully someone else can give you better advice, but for example, you want to make sure that your heartbeat is sufficiently elevated during your cardio workouts - generally this means that during most of the workout it would be difficult to carry on a conversation but you are not so out of breath that you can't speak. You should definitely be breathing harder than usual. If you feel you can't tell whether you are working out hard enough, in my opinion you probably aren't, but you can look up some information about target heart rates and how to find yours.

When you are lifting weights, what I've been told is that the weights should be at a weight where you can complete most of the workout but heavy enough so that your muscles start failing right at the end. If the workout is really easy for you, you should add more weight. If you can't even make it most of the way through, lower your weight. Your muscles should definitely be sore the next day (at least in the beginning).

Others can chime in here, but my understanding is that cardio is better for losing weight and that to lose weight, you'd want to be getting at least 45 minutes of cardio 4 times a week. But that is just off the top of my head...

It's been a long time since I did the workout/weight loss thing and I'm just getting back into it. So I'll be interested to hear what others have to say.

Laurel
WOHM to Jack, 6/4/02
Baby Madeline 12/14/04

[jerseygirl07067]

I think what Laurel said about exercising with the weights almost to the point of failure is pretty on target. You should feel like those last few reps are VERY VERY hard to complete, and yes, you will feel sore the next day, or maybe even the day after that if you're working hard.

While cardio is a huge part of losing weight, I feel that weight training is just as important. Loss of muscle mass as we get older is one of the biggest reasons that our metabolism slows down. :) In all my years of marathon running, I've never been able to reshape my body the way I have with weight training.

I'm not as familiar with the videos you mentioned, but you sound like you're off the a great start. If you decide to ever check out Cathe, the equipment requirements aren't actually that bad. If anything you probably need to buy heavier weights, which you will need to do anyway as you get stronger. :) But you can use the stability ball for many great exercises for your core and lower body too.

To get the biggest bang for your buck, compound exercises, those which work multiple large muscle groups, are most effective when you're limited for time. Squats, lunges, pushups are some examples. You could even do bicep curls while holding a squat position, to step things up a notch.

HTH a bit,
Marcy