BodyBuilding/Cardio Rotation

S

Sekcy_Gymnast

Cathlete
On the days I don't have practice, and can't get to the gym (cause my Mom can't take me) this is what I do. Also, at the end of hte summer, there's no practice for 2 weeks to prepare us for competition season, so this is what I do. (My rotation goes by days, not weeks)

MONDAY:
Upper Body- Gym Style Triceps and Biceps and Chest, Back & Abs
Lower Body- Legs & Glutes or Gym Style Legs
Cardio- IMAX 3 or Elliptical
Abs- some sit-ups

TUESDAY:
Upper Body- Pyramid Upper Body + Biceps from Gym Style
Lower Body- Pyramid Lower Body
Cardio- Kick, Punch, & Crunch
Abs- Body Max and/or some from Ab Hits

WEDNESDAY:
Upper Body- Slow & Heavy Shoulders(only) + Triceps from Gym Style
Lower Body- Slow & Heavy Legs + 20 minute Leg work from Muscle Max
Cardio- OFF (instead do some stretching, Stretch Max)
Abs- Abs from Muscle Max + some sit-ups

THURSDAY:
Upper Body- Pure Strength Back & Bicepts + Triceps from PUB
Lower Body- OFF (instead some stretching from Stretch Max)
Cardio- IMAX 3 & maybe a walk around the Mall
Abs- Abs from PUB segement 3 from Core Max

FRIDAY:
Upper Body- Slow & Heavy Chest + shoulders from PUB or Slow & Heavy
Lower Body- Pyramid Lower Body + the floor work from Gym Style Legs
Cardio- OFF (stretching)
Abs-Ab Hits, Sit-ups, + abs from Power Hour

SATURDAY:
TOTAL BODY WORKOUT- Super Sets + Muscle Max (highest possible weight from both)
Extra Abs from core max and sit-ups
Cardio- walking around mall, stretching

SUNDAY:
Upper Body- Just shoulders from Slow & Heavy, and bicepts from Pure Strength (maybe 3 or 4 sets of all bicep work)
Lower Body- Floor work from Gym Style Legs
Cardio- OFF (LOTS OF STRETCHING)

This might seem like a lot of work, so if you try this rotation, you DO NOT have to do every single thing listed. If you want, you can take Sunday off.

Have Fun & WORK HARD!!!

~Adri;-)
 
Adri, please don't take this the wrong way.

I am concerned. I am a second year medical student studying to be an MD and I do not think that this rotation is a good idea, especially for a teenager. Your bones are still growing and by doing such heavy lifting you are taxing those bones. Overuse injuries that you may acquire by doing this much weight training can stunt your growth and/or cause fractures.

If you do want to lift, do not do the same body part on consecutive days. For example, you have listed that you plan on doing triceps on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. That is too much. Weight lifting breaks down the muscle so that it can hypertrophy. By doing this much training with the same body parts, you aren't giving your muscles time to "grow" or hypertrophy...instead you are only constantly breaking them down.

If I had a patient come into the clinic for a routine physical and she/he told me that this was her training schedule, I would counsel that patient on exercise addiction. Just like some girls have problems with their body image and become anorexic or bulemic, some girls get addicted to exercise. None of these addictions or problems is healthy. I know you think you are helping your body by exercising so much, but instead you are hurting yourself.

I hope this hasn't hurt you in any way, but I have seen quite a few of your posts describing your long and hard workouts and I thought that I should finally say something.

-Becky, B.S., MS-2
Florida State University College of Medicine
 
Adri,

Becky is giving you great advice.

Stay healthy,:)

Janie

"If you can't say anything nice about someone, then don't say anything at all."
-My mother, Mary Cooper-:)
 
I understand. But trust me, I'm not ADDICTED to working out, It's just what I like to do. It's like my hobby. Like some people like to play an instument or play a sport (kind of like I do) I also like to work out. I look forward to it everyday. But I eat extremely healthy, and get lots of protein (for muscle building/ maintenance. But I really apprecite what you both said. But I do have 1 question. Becky, what did you mean by when you said that I'm breaking up the muscle by working it so much? and Will it still get stronger and bigger?

~Adri ;-)
 
Lifting does break down muscle. Then, when you rest it, it builds back up. Blood rushes to the worked muscle, adding vascularization and nutrients, and the muscle hypertrophies. We don't actually grow new muscle fibers, but our current fibers just get larger. (That is what hypertrophy means...getting bigger)

I don't know if you have ever noticed, but often your muscle actually gets larger during a period when you do less weight work. Say you work out really hard with weights for a couple weeks and then do mostly cardio or just don't do as much weight training for a week...that is the week you'll notice larger muscles. This is because you aren't breaking it down, but allowing it to hypertrophy.

You'll gain strength and size in your muscles by working them and then resting them. You'll get the same benefits if you just don't work the same muscles on consecutive days.

Even though you say you exercise because it is your hobby, you are still overtraining, and you aren't allowing you muscles time to catch up. Working your muscles as hard as you do actually is slowing down your progress.

I hope that helped. Also, make sure you are getting 1200 mg of calcium per day. Our bodies can only absorb and process 500 mg at a time, so take it in doses. For example, milk or yogurt with breakfast, another source of calcium at lunch, another at dinner. Or just try the Viactive chews at different times of the day. With all the work you do, you need to make sure you have strong bones.

I do commend your interest in a healthy lifestyle. But, as in everything we do, we should use moderation.

Do you train so hard during the school year too? Or is this just something to occupy your summer?

-Becky
 
Thanks Becky. Now I understand it more. I wasn't really sure what the hypertropy meant. So you mean if I don't work every muscle everyday, than it would get bigger rather than working them everyday? I dunno this is all kind of confusing, but started to get clearer. If that's the case, than do you think I should set days where I work different muscles or something? Like Monday Bicpes, Chest & Abs, and Tuesday, Tricpes, Legs, and abs or something like that along with cardio?

Thanks for helping me,

~Adri

Oh, yes I do work the same like this during the school year too, but have more practices. (because it's competition season from December to about March)
 
I think that would be much better, yes. What would be even better is to do only one body part a day. This would prevent you from over-training.

-Becky
 
I agree with Becky, the rotation you posted is over-training! I was a personal trainer for 5 years, and what you have listed is way, way too much exercise and not enough rest, especially with practices too. Your body needs adequate rest to become stronger. You should not work the same muscle group two consecutive days in a row. If you want to lift heavy, I agree with Becky's suggestion to train each body part once per week.

It's great that you are enthusiastic and excited about exercise, but it's very important to remember the principles of moderation and proper rest & recovery. You want your body to perform at it's very best, and it can't do that if it doesn't get enough rest.

Good luck and keep fit!
 
Hi Adri -
Gymnasts train longer and harder than other young athletes I know so I definitely understand your goals with this rotation. If I remember right, you have practice four times a week, right? Which days do you practice? Do you do this rotation only on the days you don't have gymnastics? Or do you do both - practice and the workout above?

One body part per day, once a week combined with your gymnastics practices will give you the results you want. OK - not overnight, but then you already know that any skill worth having takes time to get, right?

Another question - does your coach know that you're doing these other workouts too? If not, you may want to tell him/her. Your coach can help you determine what areas you need to focus on based on your own personal strengths and weaknesses.

Adri, I'm glad to see that you're learning so much from this forum. Can you post a revised rotation once you've got it?

Thanks, Claude


"Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter." Satchel Paige
 
Hi Claude,
yes I do train 4 days a week for 4 hours. I don't do this rotation on practice day, (I'd be dead}( ) but sometimes I do a step like IMAX 2 just for fun. I love step;-). I do these workouts on days I don't have practice and/or can't get to the gym because my mom works a lot, and I can't got to the gym alone until i'm 16:-( .

I learned a lot at the gym from instuctors (similar to Cathe) and employees who are pros. I learned a lot about eating because at one point I felt like I didn't eat enough, but not on purpose like I was starving myself, I just didn't. I definatley ate right. I ate veggies, salads, loved salmon, and extra lean turkey burgers:9 and then learned to eat alittle more portein because I'm into bodybuidling.

Anyway, I know that was off the subject, but just wanted to share that. I'm not trying to pat myself on the back or anything, but I know quite a bit about nutriton and want to become a personal trainer and/or fitness instructor (like Cathe) when I'm at age.

Ok... Off the subject again..LOL. I will post a new updated rotation that still consists of Bodybuilding and Cardio. Oh, forgot to answer your second question. No, my coaches don't know I do these workouts, and it kind of feels weird to tell them I work out for hours outside fo the gym, but maybe I will sometime.

Sorry I wrote so much. I just so into fitness & Nutrition, but there is SO MUCH TO LEARN STILL!!! LOL
I appreciate you giving me advice.

~Adri;-)
 
Hi Adri,
I'm glad to hear that you're not doing the rotation on practice days - that would be WAY overtraining. I'm assuming you do about an hour of conditioning at each practice. Most gyms follow a basic warmup and conditioning cycle before practice, so that would make sense. Does your coach have you use weights for conditioning? If so, how heavy? Again, I'm assuming, but my DD's gym won't let them use more than a 3 lb weight. Most of their conditioning is done using their own body weight for resistance. If that's the same for you, I believe this helps balance out the training you're doing. (Becky - feel free to chime in if I'm off base).

OK, OK - I know the mom in me is coming out again - but I still think your coaches should know about your off-practice training schedule. Believe it or not, what you do outside the gym impacts how they train you. You wouldn't want to inadvertently do something to screw up your gymnastics, right?

BTW - what are the latest skills you're learning? Flyaways, giants, suks, etc? I'd love to hear about them!

Claude


"Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter." Satchel Paige
 
Hey Claude,
Our gym does have weights, but we don't use them much. Only if you get injured during practice (like twist your ankle or hurt your wrist or something) They have you strengthen your shoulders and/or hold the wieghts and do lunges. Your're right. Most gyms just hae us use our won body weight to condition. Like leg lifts, levers, pull-up-pull-over, beam push-ups, ect.

Right now, I'm learning giants on the strap in bar. (If you don't know what this is, it's a metal bar that allows you to strap your hands in so you attached to the bar, and can't like fly off or something) I can do giants on my own here, but need a spot on the real bar. I kinda scarey ;(! I'm also learing my round off back-hand-spring back layout, but for me it's hard to straighten my legs when doing anything backwards. I can do it in a back-hand-spring, but not w/ back flips. But I can do it fowards. Layouts, pikes, halfs, ect. I'm just weird I guess:7!

Since I'm training to be a level 6, I NEED that fly away on bars for my dismount, but I keep letting go too late;(. I get it sometime. Oh, I got my back walkover on beam not last week, but the week before!!! I was working on that forever!! I still don't know what Level I'm competing at this year yet, but will let you now when I do.

Nice talking w/ your!

~Adri;-)

P.S. I'll post the new rotation sometime today!
 
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