Short quick workout questions... Please....

[Momtoaaa]

Hi,

I just had my 5th child (7 weeks), so it is sooo very busy aroung here. It is just HARD to get a full hour to 1 1/2 workout in right now!!! I was wondering if say 3 quick 15-20 minute workouts a day would be a waste of my time... Here is an example day..

am- Legs/Arms alternating
1. Legs Step ups 3 sets of 15reps
2. Arms Shoulders Front raises, overhead press, lat raises 3 sets of 12-15
3. 50-100 walking lunges
4. Bicep curls and overhead presses(triceps) 3 sets of 15 reps


After Lunch sometime- A quick 15-20 minute run


Pm- after dinner or before dinner.. either another run or I would work my chest and back since my other parts have already been hit.

This would vary daily... Any advice would be great! I have about 25-30 pounds to lose... I am hoping in a few months things will slow down to allow my to workout once a day for a bit longer time. I also homeschool.. so it is busy busy!!

Baby is crying, gotta go
Jen

 

[LauraMax]

First of all let me say 5 kids, holy crap, congratulations for maintaining your sanity much less trying to fit in an effective workout routine!

So, there are a couple basic exercise principles you should know when you design your routine:

1) your muscles need to warm up before you can start to really work them. So just doing 3 sets of one exercise for one bodypart probably will not be very effective.
2) in order to burn fat, you have to get your heart rate up for at least 30 minutes (used to be 20 but that recently changed). So a 15 minute run probably won't do much for you. However from my perspective running is like THE most intense cardio you can do, so it might help some.
3) in order to lose weight, you should do 30 minutes of cardio 4-5 times per week.
4) in order to lose weight, you have to watch your diet.

I'd suggest you maybe split up your cardio & lifting into a more effective routine. For example, 4 days a week do 30 minutes of cardio. The other 3 days concentrate on your strength training doing 2 body parts per day, 3 exercises 8-10 reps each. If you start to burn out from exhaustion maybe reduce the number of days you do cardio & increase the time if possible.

There are a variety of different splits you can try, but the most traditional is:

1) back/chest
2) bis/tris
3) legs/shoulders

And you can throw abs in there whenever you have the time (which it sounds like never LOL).

 

[kathryn]

> I was wondering if say 3 quick 15-20
>minute workouts a day would be a waste of my time...


If that's what you have time to do, I think they can be very effective. And it seems like you've come up with a workable way of getting in exercise while taking care of 5 (!) children. Bravo!

Here is
>an example day..
>
>am- Legs/Arms alternating
> 1. Legs Step ups 3 sets of 15reps
> 2. Arms Shoulders Front raises, overhead press, lat
>raises 3 sets of 12-15
> 3. 50-100 walking lunges
> 4. Bicep curls and overhead presses(triceps) 3 sets
>of 15 reps
>

Alternating lower and upper body is a good way to make efficient use of your time.

I'd personally omit the front raises, just because if you ever do chest work, those muscles are worked. And maybe substitute some rear delt flyes instead. (FYI: 'overhead presses' are what the shoulder exercise is called. The tricep move is called a 'tricep extension' or 'overhead tricep extension'--just to avoid confusion).

It seems like you don't always do chest/back as much as shoulders/arms. Don't forget those larger muscles, which burn more calories than working smaller muslce groups. But also don't do the same muscles every day (unless you are using very light weights, then it would be okay).

You might also want to think of adding some compound moves sometimes, which work more muscles in the same amount of time. For example, you can do a bicep curl into an overhead press into a tricep extension. ( I wouldn't do only compound moves, though, because the weight that challenges the smallest muscle group in the bunch wouldnt be enough to really challenge the largest muscle group, though you could compensate by doing more reps for the larger muscle group). You might do some days where you do compound moves, interspersed with some plyo moves, as a calorie-burn day.

 

[luv4life]

Wow! Congratulations!!! I admire homeschoolers, and think that is incredible.

I think that whatever words for you is perfect and you should feel great about it. I actually have noticed that when I break workouts up throughout the day I am actually able to lose more weight because my metabolism stays up all day.