Am I on the right track?

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Jade86
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Re: Am I on the right track?

Post by Jade86 »

well Bossman, so far.. with 4 days at the gym I am going.. leg day the first day, upper body the next which was today.. I started with a 30 min walk.. then went on to do ..

6 sets of 8 reps 47 kilo pull downs
6 sets of 5 reps pect fly 26 kilos
5 sets of 6 reps tri extentions 32 kilo
6 sets 6 reps seated row 33 kilos
I'd love to add some abdominals in there.. but I'm not sure what equipment gym has for that.. so maybe something at home.

so then tomorrow I will do cardio on the stairs and treadmill..

the next day cardio on just treadmill...?

then a leg day at home squats, lunges, frog jumps ( not sure if theres a better term for those lol) that kind of thing

then a rest day

then some arms at home.. curls, bench (step :P) press.. umm and a few others..

then a rest day again..

then back to the beginning , leg day.

Hows that???

oh and thanks for the info Chris :) I thought I was best to increase weight slowly, now I know how to do it! :) thanks heaps. lower back is a bit sore today, but good sore :) so will stick to the weight I was doing for a while and increase reps slowly like you said :)
vamp
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Re: Am I on the right track?

Post by vamp »

I am glad I could help ;) If I might say, perhaps on days you do weight, do your cardio after the weights so you can do stronger and potentially heavier lifts which will build strength up. After 30 minutes of cardio you are starting to get tired so cannot perform the lifts as well as if you were fresh. Strength training relies on glycogen within the muscle and the reserves in the bloodstream.... if you do cardio first you burn a lot of this off leaving less for your muscles to use towards their full potential.

I believe I explained that right :oops:

Chris
Jade86
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Re: Am I on the right track?

Post by Jade86 »

haha yes makes sense, I kind of only did the walk because a friend came along to gym with me plus I love cardio, if legs would have let me I prob would have been sprinting like an idiot! lol. But, I will do it after next time :)

ps friend who is around 100 kilos made what I do look easy.. ! hahaha.. I'll show her... one day -_- LOL
vamp
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Re: Am I on the right track?

Post by vamp »

let us know how switching the weights and cardio feels ;)
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Boss Man
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Re: Am I on the right track?

Post by Boss Man »

I think you'll be alright doing the extra leg stuff at home as long as it's just plyo, like jump squats, squat thrusts, pedulum swings, spotty dogs etc, not actual bodyweighted or weighted movements.

You're doing a really solid leg workout at the gym, which I think has enough volume to be done once a week. 12 sets on both major muscle groups is plenty for one week, whether you do it in one workout or two and in total it's 24 sets on the leg muscles, not including the calves.

As for the chest workout, I'd suggest subbing the flyes for dumbell bench press. I know it might seem like a no-no for women, due to the obvious anatomical difference compared to men, but actually it can be done because you can lower the dumbells, until the inner part of both dumbells are very close to the edge of the upper torso, but you wouldn't make contact with the breast area, if your arm positioning is good.

Flyes work the pec minor which are the lateral, (outer), parts of the pec area and have some, but probably not much impact on the medial, (inner), parts of the pec area, compared to bench pressing

Remember to do the pull-downs in front of the face, not behind the neck, in case you cause rotator cuff problems.

As for the bench press, because pressing movements work the triceps, I'd cut the extensions out, because you could do them at home as part of a small muscle workout.

You then don't need a second chest workout, as I feel the chest and back volume you're doing is good for one session a week.

This allows you to do a small muscle workout at home utilising the delts, biceps and triceps.

As a row movement partly stimulates the biceps, you need not do a massive amount on the biceps at home.

You could therefore do a workout consisting of something like 3 sets bicep curls, 3 sets hammer curls and maybe 1 sets of concentration curls, as what's referred to sometimes as a finisher set, so 7 sets a week on biceps, with 6-8 reps.

Replicate the volume on the triceps and do 3 sets extensions, 3 sets kickbacks and 1 set of bodyweighted dips as the finisher, if you've got anything to use for that like a bench or a stable chair.

Then you've got a delt workout, including 4 sets of shrugs and 3 on front raises. I've avoided any pressing movements again to avoid the triceps, so no arnold press or shoulder press.

That small muscle workout could be done once a week.

This means you've got your leg workout and your chest and back workout in the gym, small muscle workout at home, plus the plyo workout at home and 2 cardio sessions in the gym.

So you've got a way of working this around your 4 consecutive days a week in the gym.

Day 1. Legs

Day 2. Cardio, 30 minutes of exerise bike to spare the legs.

Day 3. Chest and back

Day 4. 30 minutes, treadmill, so as not to use any muscles worked the previous day.

Day 5. Day off.

Day 6. Small muscles and leg plyo.

Day 7. Day off.

Does this all make sense and look fesible, as I think this is how you could look to carry on with what you're doing.

You're certainly doing a lot on your legs, so more stuff bodyweighted or weighted, using standard biomechanical movements as opposed to plyometric stuff, could be overdoing it.

You're getting 2 days off there as well, which will help, as I think a 6 day schedule will be a bit much.

Here's a small other thing regarding increasing reps that you might find useful, as it worked for me in the early days, just learning from trial and error.

When you're doing a machine or cable or barbell weight execise, basically any exercises where you're using both hands or legs in tandem, when you've gotten stronger that you can do another 3 reps, you'll find you should be able to add another 2.5kg, (5.5lbs), to the weight and get 3 less reps.

The lower number then represents the base level of reps intended for the new weight, the amount that's 3 more, represents the peak level before switching up again. This should help you remember when to switch up, so you don't keep using a certain amount of weight for too long.

In the case of dumbell exercises, you need to allow a difference of 6 reps from base to peak reps, because when you increase each dumbell by 2.5kg, the weight is actually a combined 5kg, so a longer timeframe is needed before swithing up, or you could for example go from 6-9 reps, add more weight and start struggling to get 3-4 reps instead of 6.

Hopefully everything I've said makes sense, but feel free to use some, all, or possibly none of what I said, to keep tweaking what you're doing.

All in all though you seem to be progressing quite well, so be proud of yourself, keep believing, chin up, be strong and no worries, because i'm proud of you and your radient personality is really infectious as well :).
Jade86
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Re: Am I on the right track?

Post by Jade86 »

Yes! that all sounds awesome!! happy happy :)

so, how would you increase squat weight? cause I really want to move up in those as quick as physically possible.. do you think each set should be till muscle failure or just have a number that I increase??

the pull downs at gym are set up to do them to the chest so no problems there, I actually didn't know you could do them behind your head.. awks..

and as for the weight and breast contact.. well, I'm a part of the itty bitty committee sooo no worries there either haha :D just FYI :P sure you needed to know :P
vamp
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Re: Am I on the right track?

Post by vamp »

Nice humor Jade, I remember Mom used to use that phrase about herself all the time.... thanks for the unintended nostalgia!

I would work to a number for the squats instead of each to failure, it helps prevent injury and allows for progressive growth all the same.. if its strength you are looking for I like the 5x5 sets and work up to 5x12 then increase the 5lb and go back to 5x5. that last set should be killer and pretty much fatigued by then. But I am not sure if this fits well with what you and Bossman have been discussing.

Chris
Jade86
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Re: Am I on the right track?

Post by Jade86 »

Cool thanks Chris, I'm doing 8 reps at them moment and they're still hard so will wait till I am able to do more reps then plonk some more on! Can't wait for that day :) I will be sure to tell you both all about it haha..
Jade86
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Re: Am I on the right track?

Post by Jade86 »

I just thought of another thing that I've been pondering and confused about and couldn't find answers through google...

eating, obviously all healthy.. but what about calories.. I'm tossing on whether to go big calories to gain muscle or less calories to lose fat.. the muscle is more important to me atm, but the fat is annoying me that its there.. what is your advice in this area??
vamp
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Re: Am I on the right track?

Post by vamp »

To be honest, I can't be bothered to count calories... I do however count proteins, bread carbs and veg & Fruit Carbs while obviously limiting unhealthy fats...

I aim for 1-2 proteins at each meal (after workout meal is always 2 with a bread group item) I try to limit starch Carbs to four servings (15 g is a serving) it includes: Potato, breads, pastas, rice, etc. mainly the grains. then it is a minimum of one veg or fruit for a meal, often 2 veg. Fruits I try to keep to morning and veg for afternoon/evening. And water consumption is 2 Plus Litres a day (I am often between 3 and 5). Only other liquid I will drink is the odd Orange Juice/Cranberry Juice/Skim Milk or Coffee. Much of diet is loosely based off the Canadian Food Guide. (this is a publication you can find on the internet)

I use a multivitamin, a vitamin B100 Complex and 2,000 UI of vitamin D. Currently I do not use protein powder.

I believe Bossman is excellent at calorie consumption regarding amounts and timing if you want something more precise. : :P
Jade86
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Re: Am I on the right track?

Post by Jade86 »

I use to calorie count when I was losing weight a while back, now it's almost second nature, I can pretty well just estimate what calories are in a meal. I'm probably not going to get all obsessed with counting calories but yeah. Not sure If I should be aiming for more or less than daily req.

You do well to balance your meals so specifically, I just aim for anything non processed, plenty of nuts, fruits, dairy, meats, salads, vegies.. omega3's and proteins. I'm not getting a lot of carbs, just the odd piece of whole grain toast and sweet potato ( family isn't a fan of white potato).

I just make what I feel like within reason.. works for me because I don't feel forced to eat something I'm not feeling like, just lucky I love all the good stuff :D
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Boss Man
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Re: Am I on the right track?

Post by Boss Man »

You weigh 132lbs currently, so I think if you consumed just over 1.1g per lb of bodyweight, then you're getting 150g per day, or 600 calories of protein.

You'll be consuming an average of 25g per meal based on a 6 meal eating strategy.

I suggest you can then count the protein as 30%.

The fat could be 30% as well, which would be around 11g fat per meal and pretty much the same calorie intake as protein.

Then carbs would be 40%, or 200g carbs a day, (800 calories) and roughly 30-35g carbs per meal.

This way you've got a good protein intake and around 2,000 calories a day for now. This could be increased at a later date, but it should sustain your progress to begin with.

You could also explore the option of red potato as well if yo uwant something difference to sweet.

Also regards failure, don't bother with it. It might happen occasionally, but the extra use of ATP and glycogen energies isn't worth it, because it doesn't make much of a difference and it just leaves you feeling more wasted after a workout then you need feel.

What you want to feel is like you're good for another rep or maybe two, so if you've experienced failure on a set before, hold back a bit and do one less rep, so therefore don't struggle to do ten for example just do nine.

Regarding the squat weight, if you were trying out the little doozy I gave you, then you'll be able to switch up by around 2.5kg on squats, when you're good enough to nail another 3 reps, without struggling on that 3rd one of the 3.
vamp
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Re: Am I on the right track?

Post by vamp »

Told ya Bossman knows his calorie stuff. :wink:
Jade86
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Re: Am I on the right track?

Post by Jade86 »

Certainly does, I have a headache hahahaha..
Jade86
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Re: Am I on the right track?

Post by Jade86 »

so 6 meals a day, can I just eat three large and nuts/fruit in-between to keep metabolism up? 2000 calories a day is certainly more than I have been having atm I think I would be lucky to be having 1200, but am not losing any weight (which I'm not upset about) , that I know of. 150g of protein a day! ok, that's good I have that to work with, because I had no idea there, was just stuffing anything protein related in gob LOL. Can I use two shakes to help reach that or would you suggest more in the food?

anyway off to do food research thanks again :)
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