Fitness

So I went on vacay last week and after walking around for 5 days I have realized that I am seriously out of shape.    (Along with being about 30 lbs overweight).   I am going to head back to the gym.   Has anyone here started a routine at the gym and had success with losing weight?  What was your routine? 

• How many days?
• When did you do cardio?
• Did you also do weights?
• Etc...

I'm no gym bunny, but I started going last February, and I've lost somewhere around 10-12 pounds. It may not sound like a lot, but I definitely look quite a bit different, I think since I've been putting on some muscle at the same time that I've been (very slowly) losing fat. I also was only about 2-3 pounds into "overweight" territory when I started.

That being said, I get to the gym about 5 days a week. Each day that I go, I lift weights/strength train for about 30-40 minutes, rotating between arms/chest/shoulders, back/abs, legs/lower body from day to day. After that, I do cardio for 20-45 minutes, depending on how much time or energy I have. Over the winter I was doing the elliptical and I started out just doing level one or two for about 10 minutes, but I've slowly worked up to level 5 for half an hour or so. Since the weather is nice in the summer and I'm staying near a beautiful bike path, I've been jogging/walking several days a week instead for cardio. I also try to get to a yoga class about once a week, but that's mainly a mental-health thing for me.

The cardio stuff is probably responsible for the actual weight loss portion, but it's great to start feeling and seeing some muscle definition in my arms and legs, and I think it's seeing those changes in my shape that encourages me to keep exercising and building it up more.

Hi April!

I use the gym mainly for weights/strength training. I'm fortunate enough to have a nice little gym I can use for free in my office building. My thing is trail running, and I'm again fortunate that I have a great place to run, but one must cross train & strength train, right?

So here's my routine:

Mon, Tues, Thurs, Sat or Sun: 60 - 75 minutes trail running/hiking/hills; push-ups & exercise ball crunches at home before I go for my run in the evening.

Weds & Fri: 20-30 minutes on an elliptical machine or maybe split the time between the elliptical and the recumbent bike, then 30 minutes of machine & free weights for all-over body. I do heavier lifts with fewer sets.

One rest day per week, usually Sunday.

I just switched up to going to the gym 3 days a week and it's working very well as I'm now trying to put on more lean muscle. Heres what I was doing before though;

 

Mon: Chest, Shoulder, Triceps, and Abdominal; (I also did a short 30 min run)

Tues (Every other week): Spin Class and Core/bootcamp type of training

Wed: Legs (I biked for this day along with lifting for Legs)

Fri: Back and Biceps (Longer run at about 45 min)

Sat/Sun: Depending on how I felt I would run outside for about 45 minutes (or not run at all), not looking for time but just a steady pace. The times are not that important as you can tone down the speed based on your level (even if your walking).

One thing I should stress is for you to get outside for running, the treadmill should be used as a tool, however it's nowhere near what you will experience running outside from a calorie standpoint and general difficulty.

 

I go pretty much every other day.  I do a 5 minute warm up on either treadmill or elliptical, 20-30 min of weights depending on how busy the gym is and how i'm feeling, then 20-30 min of cardio.  I try to switch up what I do fairly regularly within these time amounts and this works for me.

Well I just started going at 6am before work in the morning. Although it was a transition it is the best thing I have ever done. This way my workout is done before life can interrupt me. I do 30 - 45 minutes on the elliptical because I can burn a lot of calories and it is mindless. At 6am I am mindless. I try to vary the program and the intensity as to not get "too comfortable". I do 10 - 20 minutes of weights everyday. I do legs one day, chest, back and shoulders on another, then another day of legs and then bi's and tri's and start the cycle again. I have lost 12# and 14.75 inches since the end of April. I am fitting into size 8 pants again and I still weigh 167#!! I highly advocate building muscle - being toned is an amazing feeling! I still have a long way to go but this is part of my life now and I love it!

 

PS I go 5 - 6 days a week.

I lost 30 pounds in 5 months simply by buying a food scale so I know how much I was eating and going to the gym 6 days a week (purposely went more than I wanted to get that nasty goo off my body).  Yes, you must do strength training if you want to get maximum fat burning to rev up your metabolism longer than just cardio alone.  I did my strength first so that I would use up my energy stores so I would burn more fat doing my cardio (at least in my mind - anyway, I can lift more weight when I do strength first).  I did the following:

Monday - 45 minutes of weights (arms/chest) and 30 minutes on elliptical

Tuesday - 30 minutes on elliptical

Wednesday - 45 minutes of weights (back/shoulders) and 30 minutes on elliptical

Thursday - 30 minutes on elliptical

Friday - 45 minutes of weights (legs) and 30 minutes on elliptical

Saturday - 30 minutes on elliptical

I am now going 5-days a week by just cutting out the extra Saturday cardio.