Need help with hour long weight work

[Kimenem]

Tomorrow I'm starting a schedule of running Tues/Thurs/Sun; full body weights Mon/Fri; and a step or kickbox on Wed. I need help putting together a full body weight workout that lasts about an hour. I've done stuff like the "up" portion of both PUB and PLB and that works well but I feel like I'm cheating by not doing the whole pyramid. Any suggestions? Hmmmm, as I'm sitting here, I'm wondering if this is too much cardio. Maybe I should cut back to 2 days of running and add in another weight day? If I did that though, 3 days of total body would be too much right? I can never figure out the cardio/weight ratio. I know I want to work legs 2x per week but would the running help with that? Geez this is confusing. Also, for anyone that has suggestions, I don't have S&H or PS.

 

[Stacy]

Here's a suggestion...

It seems with running 3x per week you're working your legs enough, but if you have to do legs, I'd only do legs once, and possibly even think about cutting your running down to twice per week. Since you're working legs alot have you considered not doing total body but instead doing a more thorough upper body workout twice per week along with abs that day.

Maybe something like...

Monday---upper body and abs
Tuesday---running
Wednesday---kickbox
Thursday---Legs
Friday---upper body and abs
Saturday---Rest Day
Sunday---running

For upper body you could select from: the entire Pyramid Upper Body, CTX Upper Body, the premix from Body Max 2 Double Upper Body, the upper body x 3 premix from Push Pull/Supersets, total upper body premix from 4DS, both timesavers from Gym Style upper body workouts.

 

[Kimenem]

I never really thought of running as a sub for leg work. I say "running" but it's actually more like jogging.

 

[amyg]

Sounds like you've jumped into running a lot. Take it slow and cross train with other cardio to avoid injury!

If you're looking for a full body hour workout why not do pyramid up both LB and UB one day, then pyramid down both LB and UB another day?

Try looking around to see what others do and that will give you waaay more ideas than you can use!

 

[maddiesmum]

How much running you do depends on what your fitness goals are. If you want running to be your mainstay cardio and you want to improve at it and make it easier, you should shoot for 3 runs per week as the minimum. That still leaves 4 other days of the week to get your kickbox and weights in. Suggestion:

day 1: run
day 2: total body weights, ME (and GS legs floorwork)
day 3: kickbox
day 4: run
day 5: total body weights, MM or PH (and GS legs floorwork)
day 6: run
day 7: off

If you are only running to lose weight, this makes running well and easily a hard goal to attain, especially psychologically, and in which case, subbing the third run for another kickbox or weights day is an idea for you. But if you truly care about running itself, as a sport, and want to get good at it, keep the third running day. You will surprise yourself at what you can achieve with running. One day, just all-of-a-sudden, you will get it all together and run that day with ease and love it. And then, you'll never look back and will chase that same feeling forever! In this latter case, weight training is the perfect cross training for you and it will help keep injuries at bay. I would add in the floor work from GS legs as an insurance against leg injuries. Some of the exercises there are the same as those used by physical therapists to rehab running injuries. Therefore they also have preventative prowess.

Clare

 

[Kimenem]

Well, I started the running with the goal of weight loss. I still have that goal, but now it's like I'm on a misson to be able to run at least 1 mile. I don't think I can let up until I've reached that. I would love to continue running if I could just find that groove. I think I'll try this schedule until STS comes and see what happens. Thanks so much.

Oh, would these 2 weight days be total body for both plus the floor work? That would be 1 1/2 hours and I don't know if I could swing that. I'd have 1 hr 15 min at the most. What about 1 day of lower body plus floor and 1 day of upper plus floor?

 

[maddiesmum]

Oh, would these 2 weight days be total body for both plus the floor work? That would be 1 1/2 hours and I don't know if I could swing that. I'd have 1 hr 15 min at the most. What about 1 day of lower body plus floor and 1 day of upper plus floor?

What I would do is: do the first day as total body with the floor work, yes that would be long, but well worth it once per week. The second day, I would make it upper body only plus floor work.

If this doesn't work, try this: do one day of weights as total body. Then, shorten your kickbox cardio day to 40 mins cardio, and tack the floorwork from GS legs on after this. In addition, you could then make the second day of weights an upper body only plus GS floorwork.

The reason I keep the two days weights with upper body work is that your running and kickbox will do much to strengthen your legs, but running does nothing for the upper body! Having a strong upper body though helps you to keep going when running as you start to feel fatigued. A strong core also helps keep your body stabilized as you run and also works to prevent injury.

Clare

 

[EVCT]

Somebody else (I don't remember who!) suggested this rotation and I really like it!
Day one Cardio
Day two Total body ( I like ME or Muscle Max)
Day three Cardio
Day four Upper body
Day five Cardio
Day six Lower body
Day seven rest
I even put a rest day in the middle of everything. It works for me!
Ellen

 

[Kimenem]

These are all such good ideas! I think I'll combine a couple and do this:

Mon=Total Body Weights
Tues=Run
Wed=Kickbox plus GS floor
Thurs=Run
Fri=Upper Body Weights plus GS floor
Sat=REST
Sun=Run

That would give me 3 runs plus a kickbox; floor work 2x per week; 1 lower and 1 upper per week?

How does this look?