weight training

aimtobe

Active Member
I was wondering how often you are supposed to do weight training? I do it 3 days a week now, and should I do the same videos for a certain number of weeks and then change or should I be changing every week? Also, are the Intensity series videos meant to be done just once a week or should those be done 2 or more times per week? By the way, I LOVE ALL your videos/DVD's, I thought I was in pretty good shape until I started working out to your dvd's and now I realize I didn't know what "in shape" meant. Thank you!!!:)
 
Not Cathe here, but I can tell you that from two days a week of Cathe strength training DVD's and my cardio work, I could not be happier with the results.

YMMV, but two days a week is perfect for me..I may change it up down the road, probably will, but for now I wouldn't change a thing.

Cathe is a miracle worker in that she did something I once thought impossible...got me to enjoy strength training, I used to hate it, and that's no exaggeration.
 
How often you weight train depends on whether you are doing total body weight training workouts each time or split routines, i.e. working just a few muscle groups intensely per workout.

If doing total body workouts, like Cathe's Muscle Endurance or Muscle Max, you could do these 2 or 3 times per week depending on result you see and degree of soreness. Two would be good for people new to Cathe.

After a couple of months, you can progress to 2 or 3 day split routines dividing the work up as follows:

2 day: 1 day lower body, 1 day upper body (example PUB and PLB)

3 day: 1 day lower body, 1 day chest/back, 1 day shoulders/biceps/triceps

If you do 2 day split routines and are getting into pretty good shape, you can choose to do upper and lower body once or twice each per week, or do lower body once and upper twice, or vice versa, depending upon what your body's needs are.

With 3 day splits, it can be hard to fit in working each muscle groups twice per week, time wise, given that you need to schedule 3-4 cardio session also, but it is indeed possible.

Re: Intensity series. You could do certain of the workouts twice per week, but do you have time to schedule each one twice? Don't forget that doing high impact cardio more than 4-5 times per week increases your chances for stress-related injury and burn out, and muscles do need time to recover in between workouts.

Clare
 
I am also interested in the question about doing the same DVDs for a month, for example - like in the rotations - or can you switch it up on a weekly basis and get the same results as long as you keep up the same sort of training? I would assume so, and I enjoy the variety. I will do a slow and heavy one week, plus one circuit workout and cardio throughout the week (ex. S&H Mon, Tues, Wed, circuit Fri). Then the next week, I'll switch it up to maybe GS series, etc. I'm seeing improvements and enjoy the challenge of choosing different workouts and putting together my own "program!" If, however, I would be better off following a month long rotation, then I'll give that a whirl. :)
 
I WORKOUT 6 DAYS A WEEK & DO CHANGE IT UP OFTEN. CURRENTLY I DO 2 CARDIO ONLY DAYS, 1 DAY STRICTLY LOWER BODY STRENGTH TRAINING, 1 DAY STRICTLY UPPER BODY (MAY ADD ABS ALSO) THEN 2 DAYS CARDIO CIRCUIT WITH 1 DAY FOCUSING ON UPPER BODY & 1 DAY LOWER BODY. I WILL DO THIS FOR A WHILE UNTIL I GET BORED OR HIT A PLATEAU THEN CHANGE IT SOMEHOW. ALSO IF I REACH A POINT WHERE I FEEL MY MUSCLES NEED A BREAK I WILL TAKE A "REST WEEK" WITH NO STRENGTH TRAINING, FOCUSING ON CARDIO.
 

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