PLZ HELP: What Mix of Cardio/Weights to Do & How Often?

H

HBoogie

New Member
Hi there.

This is my first time here, though I've been doing Cathe workouts
absolutely ever since I found out about her -- about a year and a
half ago? Anyway, I'll try to make this quick. :)

I lost 50lbs and gained about 10/12 of them back due to all I had
going wrong with my life. I have a wide range of Cathe workouts,
from (advanced) older ones to Kick Punch & Crunch being the newest.
I don't have anything after that, though my roomie recorded a few
from FitTV ;-)).

I don't have any beginner/intermediate workouts of hers, though I
do have fluke workouts from other instructors, as well as a huge
selection of yoga and pilates stuff.

My goal is to lose 20lbs, and that's an estimate as I don't care
about weight, I care about how I look. I'll know I'm the weight I
want to be when everything looks right and I have a 6-pack. At 169
I was SOOOOOO close. I had 2 already in and the next 2 were coming
when I lost focus. :~(

I got buff then by doing cardio 5-6 days per week, and alternating
Pyramid Upper and Pyramid Lower, doing each one twice a week. My
main cardio workouts were Step Blast and Rhythmic Step, and I did
All Step when my muscles were somewhat tired and I needed to take
it (somewhat) easy. But I threw various other workouts in there a
lot to keep things mixed up because I get bored VERY EASY and am a
"Moody Worker Outer".

:~|

BUT...

Then, I ran a home business and was home all day every day. I could
do my cardio soon after I got up, and do resistance not long before
bed. NOW I have a stupid !@#$%^ "9 to 5" which doesn't allow for
that. (I am SO not a morning person. I tried numerous times, but the
"work out in the A.M. before work" thing is NOT goin' down!)

MY QUESTION IS:

Assuming I have everything else down (diet, rest, etc.) ... what do
you recommend I do to get buff as fast as humanly possible and burn
massive calories quickly? Right now I'm down to workout level 7.5
or so as described in the "Updated Ultimate Guide" in the Video/DVD
workouts forum... :-(

What I'm looking for is a # of times per week you think I should try
to workout, and how I can squeeze in a FULL upper body workout and
FULL lower body workout hopefully twice each week, without tiring my
lower body so that I'm unable to do a tough cardio workout. (This is
a prob I had before - I'd find myself having to take 2 days in a row
off sometimes, which bothered me. Now I'm not too terribly opposed to
it. :~)) But I think I need to do two upper and lower body workouts a
week again to get to where I need to be. I guess my dilemma is just
when and how to squeeze cardio in there -- and HOW OFTEN.

Thanks for any help any experienced exercisers out there are willing
to offer!

H-Boogie
 
Welcome H-Boogie... I don't have any advice because there are some people on here that can give you some very good advice and I'm sure they will when they see your post.

I just wanted to say hello and welcome to the boards. You'll like this place:) Look forward to "seeing" you on the boards!!
 
Hi H-Boogie,
Have you checked out the various rotations posted in the rotations forum? Cathe posts a new rotation every month. That would give you some great ideas on how to mix things up! Welcome and good luck!
Angela:7
 
Just some suggestions to get you started. But remember, people can react differently to different training regimens, so you have to tweak things depending on how they are working for you.

I would recommend focusing on weight loss before focusing more on muscle building, since it's hard to do both at once.

One possible rotation would be to do 3 cardio workouts a week (including one interval workout, to really spark the metabolism). Vary these, to avoid overuse injuries and so that your body doesn't get too used to one type of cardio (the more used to something your body gets, the more efficient it gets at it which, when you want to lose weight, is NOT a good thing, because it burns fewer calories).

If you're not up do doing interval workouts like Interval Max and IMAX2 yet, you could just bump up the intensity of whatever workout you're doing for spurts of 30 seconds to 1 minute, then go back to steady state (pretty much creating your own interval workout). You could also do interval type workouts on a treadmill or stationary bike or ellipical or even rebounder (if you have any of those).

In addition to those three days of cardio, you could do two days of total body weight training, preferably a workout where you move quickly from one exercise to another (ie: NOT Slow and HEavy), so that there is also an aerobic affect to this workout, and you burn more calories. WOrkouts like PH or ME would work well. Another option would be a cardio/weights combo workout.

As you see how this is working for you, you might want to change the weight workouts to a day of separate cardio and weights (using a short cardio workout--about 20-30 minutes) as a 'warm-up' then do a heavier 1/2 body workout (like PLB one day, and PUB the next).
 
My Draft Plan...??!?!?!?! :-D

Hi Kathryn.

>If you're not up do doing interval workouts like Interval Max
>and IMAX2 yet, you could just bump up the intensity of
>whatever workout you're doing for spurts of 30 seconds to 1
>minute, then go back to steady state (pretty much creating
>your own interval workout).

That's a great idea. I just realized that sometimes I kinda do it,
but now that I'll have a purpose, I can start consciously beefing
it up in intervals. I appreciate that.



>As you see how this is working for you, you might want to
>change the weight workouts to a day of separate cardio and
>weights (using a short cardio workout--about 20-30 minutes) as
>a 'warm-up' then do a heavier 1/2 body workout (like PLB one
>day, and PUB the next).

Are you suggesting this because you think it can get better/faster
results than doing 3 cardio / 2 resistance days?



Right now either sounds great. I just am not sure how to plan this
out right now. My brain is broken with so much on my mind. I guess
my main concern now is also finding the time AND energy to do it,
having to work. I mean, I know people make it happen all the time
and I sound like a wuss. I promise I have a lot more going on than
just that. :p

Hmmmmmmmmmm ... thinking about it now actually, I think BOTH of
your ideas will work for me. One week I do W--C--SC--C--W, taking
the weekend off. Then the next week I do:

SC+PUB -- C -- SC+PLB -- C -- SC+PUB

---------------------
W = Weights
C = Cardio
SC = Short Cardio
---------------------

Wow -- nifty! This really has my brain working. THANK YOU...

* H-Boogie

P.S. I really appreciate the warm welcome and the tips. Thanks, all!
And I'll definitely check out those rotations. :)
 
RE: My Draft Plan...??!?!?!?! :-D

>Hmmmmmmmmmm ... thinking about it now actually, I think BOTH
>of
>your ideas will work for me. One week I do W--C--SC--C--W,
>taking
>the weekend off. Then the next week I do:
>
>SC+PUB -- C -- SC+PLB -- C -- SC+PUB
>


Looks like a good plan!~
The only suggestion I would make is either alternate the SC + PUB etc. week with a week where PLB and PUB change places (so one week, you do two upper body and one lower body, and the next week you do two lower body and one upper body). Or, just do the 2 PLB and one PUB a week (I suggest this because lower body work with squats and lunges gives more of a boost to the metabolism than upper body work, because there is more muscle involved and larger muscle groups, so it might be more beneficial for weight loss).
 
RE: My Draft Plan...??!?!?!?! :-D

Yeah, I was gonna do that. I prefer PLB for just that reason.

Nifty! Thanks again. ;~)
 
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