Please Critique my Fitness Routine

[diamond lil]

I am trying to get back into shape and lose weight. I joined a gym last week. So far, I love it and I think my body does too. Fitness experts, please critique what I am doing and let me know if I am on the right track or if I need to step it up to start losing weight.

First 30 minutes: cardio on cycle or eliptical. Not very fast, but not very slow. I am able to carry on a conversation and break a light sweat.

Weight machines: Started out with only 10 pounds the first week, but went to 30 pounds this week. Legs: 50 to 60 reps (or 25-30 per leg) on three different machine. Arms: 30 to 50 reps on three different machines. Total weight-working time about 20 minutes.

I feel like I should be doing more. I am slowly building up my cardio. Started out doing 15 minutes, and recently worked up to 30. Should I bump it up to 45?

I am doing this 5 days a week.

Thanks

[bec]

The cardio seems fine. Maybe see if you can increase the resistance or go a little faster and see if you can maintain that conversational level. I know, at 30 minutes on the bike or treadmill, I'm sweating like a pig, so it may be that the light sweat could be an indicator that you could work a little harder?

Also, for the weights, it seems like you are doing A LOT of reps. I would think about increasing the weights a LOT (for legs, I would think closer to 50-70 pounds to start for big muscles like quads and calves), with MUCH smaller reps (think 10-15, 2-3 sets). There are a bunch of mamas here with much more experience lifting than I have, so I'll let them chime in. But, that's what seemed to jump out at me.

Oh, and WAY TO GO getting to the gym!!

[CarrieMF]

cardio - work a little harder. A conversation is fine, but like a pp said if it's just a light sweat you can work harder. You could mix it up too, go medium for 2-3 minutes & HARD for 1 minute.

weights - why are you doing so many reps? You should have a weight that is heavy enough to do between 8-12 3 times & on the last set it should be HARD to finish(with good form still).

In addition to the cardio & weights you should be adding stretching in at the end.

You also need to be having a day of rest between your weight workouts. So every other day do JUST cardio & go for an hour. The days you're doing weights you can do less cardio(20min or so) as a warm up & then do your weights.

[rootzdawta]

For weight loss, intervals are really good like Carrie MF. About 30 seconds of pushing yourself and 30 seconds of recovery and as you get more fit, increase the time you push. Personally, I think you should be working at your target heart rate (i.e. shouldn't be able to comfortably carry on a conversation) for most of your cardio. For weight training, I also agree with Carrie MF, you want to really build muscle because muscle burns fat and boosts your metabolism. The way to do that is by lifting more weight and doing less reps. I also agree about stretching. I practice yoga 2x's a week and while technically that's not stretching, it's a good way to recover. I stretch after each workout though, a good 2-3 minutes.

And don't forget the diet aspect. Good luck!

[mystic~mama]

i'm working w/ a personal trainer who specializes in fat loss and here is what we do...

3 X's / week Cardio, total of 24 min. (w/the cool down) interval training........ie: heart rate up to 122-140 for a few min then up to 155 for 2 min and down to 144...ect...w/ a few min of cool down at the end...

3 times / week.......workout

warm up stretches
core (balance ball used)
circuits *lots of squats and lunges
includes upper body (10 reps is what we usually do of every excercise)

zone exercises on the other 3 days 1 to 3 my choice

one day of rest

she says

cardio is 1/3

diet is "

workouts are "


diet.......all the fat and protein I want...lots of fiber. LIMIT sugar big time.....I am only eating raw honey.........cut carbs way down...NO White Flour or Cane Sugar. 1 or 2 servings of fruit (low sweet fruits like berry's and tart apples) No White potatoes. 1 yam and 1 sweet potato per week. 2-4 servings grains / day. Black Beans are highest in sugars. Pinto's lowest. Make sure you get antioxidants to help fight free radicals released when you are losing Fat (blueberries, ect,,,_) Don't eat root veggies or banana's...very starchy = sugar = fat.

good luck!