Need workout ideas with upper body and wt loss emphasis

[Marie1120]

HELP! My step daughter is getting married and I have 4 months to prepare to look as best as I can in my dress. I recently started strength training (total body on my own or with a personal trainer) and cardio (spin) at the gym on Saturdary plus 2 nights of cardio (spin and kickboxing) at the gym during the week. But I could use ideas for my morning home workouts with the emphasis on the upper body (esp the TRICEPS) and losing weight (wt seems to be stuck in the same range for the last 10 yrs) so they show. LOWER ABS could use some help too! I only have 30-40 minutes for my morning workouts. Any suggestions to make the most of this time?

ETA - for home cardio I have a Precor Elliptical and a lot of DVDs but need to be careful with high impact esp at 4am!

Thanks.

 

[Marie1120]

Cathe or anyone??

 

[JesusLives]

Hi Marie!
I'm not sure what Cathe DVD's you have, but Cathe posted this rotation years ago:

Oct '05 Upper Body Bliss
http://www.thecathenation.com/forum/...d.php?t=236101

The workouts are longer than 40 minutes, but you could always do pre-mixes which are shorter.

If that doesn't work, maybe you will consider doing 3 day splits instead of total body workouts, that way you can concentrate more on particular body parts. For example Mon- chest/tris, Wed - back, bi's, shoulders, Fri, legs. Do you have 4DS? The weight sections on those are only around 30 minutes. Also, the Pyramids and Gym Styles have time saver options.

Hope this helps!

 

[JesusLives]

The link doesn't work when you click on it, so I copied and pasted her rotation below:

Hi Everyone! This rotation is designed for those who are looking to really see some improved definition in their arms while burning body fat and maintaining leg endurance/strength.

WEEK ONE:
Mon: Gym Style Back/Biceps and Shoulders
Tues: Imax 3
Wed: GS Chest and Triceps/ any segment of coremax
Thurs: Any all step workout of your choice/any segment of coremax
Fri: Gym Style Back/Biceps and Shoulders
Sat: off and stretch
Sun: GS Chest and Triceps/Light 30 minute run


WEEK TWO:
Mon: Imax 2
Tues: Slow and Heavy Triceps and Biceps
Wed: Any all step workout of your choice
Thurs: S&H Chest and Back/ 30 minute run
Fri: 30 minute run and leaner legs/12 minutes of ab hits
Sat: S&H Shoulders/ any segment of coremax
Sun: off and stretch

WEEK THREE:
Mon: Gym Style Back/Biceps and Shoulders
Tues: Imax One
Wed: GS Chest and Triceps/ Abs from Muscle Endurance
Thurs: Any all step workout of your choice
Fri: Legs & Glutes/ Abs from KPC
Sat: off and stretch
Sun: CTX Upper Body


WEEK FOUR:
Mon: Cardio Kicks
Tues: Slow and Heavy Triceps and Biceps
Wed: KPC
Thurs: S&H Chest and Back/ 30 minute run
Fri: Body Max (eliminate the upper body weights but KEEP the ab work)
Sat: S&H Shoulders/ any segment of coremax
Sun: off and stretch

 

[Marie1120]

Thanks for the suggestions and copying that rotation. This gives me some ideas to set up a rotation but with some shorter workouts.

I think I have all of Cathe's strength workouts!

 

[meowracer]

Hi Marie - Do you have Slow and Heavy, Pyramids and 4DS? I assume so from what you wrote? If you like to lift heavy, you can do some neat things with these DVDs by mixing them, but separating body parts so that they aren't so long. You could hit each part once a week and see how that feels and/or do heavy one week and lighter circuit work the next and rotate that way if you felt you needed to hit them more often for endurance/fat burning. For lower abs, there is some great work you can do but you just have to concentrate on proper form so your lower abs are doing the actual work. And, super important...eat a squeaky clean diet

 

[Miss Lee]

I agree with the suggestions you've already been given, but I would add that planks might really help your lower abs!! Planks and push ups are my go-to exercises for core and I feel they are more effective than crunches. I wouldn't eliminate crunches, but I'd put a greater focus on planks.

 

[Marie1120]

Thanks for more ideas.

Michele - I can do planks but can't hold it very long. Any other lower ab exercises that might help while I build up some strength?