curious about weight building workouts

[Elaine Keller]

I use Cathe's workouts as cross training with my running. My purpose for using them is to get good interval training and to build muscle. Weight work is done to make me stronger so that I can run faster and although I have definition one could hardly call it cut. (which is fine for what my fitness goals are)

I'm curious though about those that work out to body build. I think that's the right term. I'm getting the impression from reading some of the posts that working one body part a week, along with other variables such as diet and cardio, is sufficient in building lots of mass.

If working one part a week accomplishes this then my question is: How long you work a particular part per day? Does one Cathe workout, i.e GS or PS or SH, do the job or do you have to incorporate more than one on any given week?

I'm fascinated with the different results that people are aquiring with Cathe's DVDs and know pitiful little about the body building aspect of working out. Thanks so much for any and all replies!

Elaine

 

[Mic]

I'd like to hear some more varied answers to this one, I saw something similar to this on the Ask Cathe forum and there were a few answers.

 

[Maximus]

I work one body part per week. I used to lift 6 days & do one body part per day. That's when I built most of my muscle mass. When my schedule started getting more crammed w/work stuff I went to lifting 3X per week, 2 body parts per day. But since then I've really just been maintaining what I built years ago.

My lifting workouts take a little less than an hour, not including abs. During the week I split up cardio & lifting, so I'll do cardio before work twice a week & go to the gym to lift one night. On the weekends I do 45 minutes of cardio before I lift, & I'm usually at the gym for about 2 hours on Saturday & Sunday morning.

 

[Lynn M.]

Hi Elaine--

For muscle gains, I like doing one bodypart/day. I saw great gains using the S and H series and splitting it into one bodypart/day. If you are really lifting heavy and focusing, I think you will see big results just doing one body/day/week.

Also, I have been kind of sort of doing the Gym series that way and am liking the results, with the exception of the back and shoulder segments. I do tack on a few more exercises to those 2 workouts as that I have always had weeny shoulders and am always trying to build them up more.

I am not one who builds muscle easily, and this type of rotation coupled w/ clean eating, has given me my most satisfactory results.

Take care, Lynn M.

 

[CAgostini]

Elaine and Maximus,

How much cardio do you do when muscle building? when fat burning?

Thanks, Cathy

 

[Maximus]

Well, cardio is kind of hit or miss for me & I vary it a lot. My early morning cardio is usually a Cathe workout, but I don't plan what I'm doing in advance, I just pick whatever I haven't done in a while so I don't get bored. The gym workout is typically 20-30 minutes on the elliptical or arc trainer & another 15-20 minutes on the recumbent bike.

I don't really look at my routine as either muscle building or fat burning. To me it's just a hobby that I really enjoy (although I enjoy the lifting MUCH more than the cardio LOL).

Anyway, my cardio breaks down to about 4 times a week, 45 minutes each. I have not seen muscle loss when I increase my cardio, but that could be b/c I've been doing this for about 15 years & my body has adjusted to whatever I throw at it.

However, I do get weaker when I get really strict on the diet. I do low carb & that does affect my strength, but it only takes about 2 weeks to get back to where I was.