Weights All Week???

Reese777

Cathlete
Hi,

I really struggle with setting up a rotation for myself...I guess I feel like i need to do both cardio and weights every day. Does anyone here do weights all the time - like each workout day? I'm so tired of mulling this over in my mind that I just want to go take a nap. :(
 
I'm so tired of trying to figure this out too. I have really been slacking on the cardio lately since I've gotten a wee bit obsessed with weights....

I try to fit both in, but some days I just do weights and other days I just do cardio (well, not very often...) Trying to figure out my workouts for each week is really obnoxiously frustrating.

Allison
 
*ahem*

May I point you both in the direction of the Rotations forum? Cathe does the thinking for you! And that's why there are programs like BBC, P90X and the new Cathe 4DS. You don't even HAVE to figure it out! It's all done for you:)
 
I know, I know. I have BBC and Cathe's new series but feel like doing those rotations alone aren't enough and I get frustrated trying to figure out what else to add in. PLUS, I don't have many of the workouts that Cathe uses in her rotations and I don't want to have to sub with others that might derail the effectiveness of the rotation. Does this make sense or am I just rambling......?

Allison
 
It's a hard balance, especially if you are more accustomed to one versus the other. More women seem to have the tendency to fit in as much cardio as possible. Neither are absolutely necessary every single day - it just depends how you feel, how many rest days you want, how much time you have, etc. You most certainly can do both. I'm a huge fan of splits, so here are some examples for you:

Mon: Chest/tris/core HIIT
Tues: longer steady state cardio
Wed: Circuit workout
Thurs: Back/shoulder/bis HIIT
Fri: Legs/core steady state cardio

OR

Mon: Chest/Tris
Tues: HIIT / Core
Wed: Back/shoulder
Thurs: longer steady state cardio / core
Fri: Legs / biceps
Sat: HIIT

OR:

Mon: long endurance cardio
Tues: Back / Bis
Wed: rest
Thurs: HIIT / chest/tris
Fri: Legs / core
Sat: rest
Sun: shoulders / longer cardio
Debbie


I don't want to take a pill. Go to Africa, go follow some bushman around. He's being chased by a lion. That's stress. You're not going to find a pygmy on Paxil, I'll tell you that right now.
-Ellen Degeneres
 
I basically do split weight routines 3x a week, do 2 cardio workouts a week (usually kickboxing and dancing) and one yoga practice.

Marcy
 
I go back-and-forth between having separate cardio and weight days, and doing both cardio and weights most days of the week.

Either way works, though I usually prefer separating cardio and weights to get the best out of both. When I do both on the same day, I found it is most effective for me to do a short cardio (almost as an extended warm-up) before doing the weight work.

Pick your poison, and try it for a while, then try another way of mixing things up.

The important thing is to do something.

Some examples (by no means the only way to do things):
Cardio and weights on separate days:
Day 1: chest/back/core
Day 2: interval cardio
Day 3: lower body weights/core
Day 4: steady-state cardio (different from day 2 type)
Day 5: shoulders and arms/core
Day 6: cardio
Day 7: rest/stretch

Or do a full-body weight workout 2-3 times a week, and cardio 2-3 times a week.


Cardio + weights:
Day 1 : 15-20 minutes cardio + chest
Day 2: off (or cardio, or cardio and core)
Day 3: 15-20 minutes cardio + back
Day 4: 15-20 minutes cardio + lower body
Day 5: off (or cardio, or cardio + core)
Day 6: cardio + shoulders + arms
Day 7: yoga/stretch

Why not just choose the weight work you want to do, and build around that? If you choose a 6-day split like CTX, you'll be doing cardio and weights every workout day. If you choose a 4-day split like 4DS (duh! LOL!), you may do them every other day, with more cardio in between. If you choose full-body workouts, they go best with alternating cardio and weight days.
 
>*ahem*
>
>May I point you both in the direction of the Rotations forum?
>Cathe does the thinking for you! And that's why there are
>programs like BBC, P90X and the new Cathe 4DS. You don't even
>HAVE to figure it out! It's all done for you:)


Yes, those are there, but I tend to pull away from them because the rotations usually include workouts that I don't own (Cathe's) and therefore, I have to go back to figuring out what to replace them with.

x(
 
>PLUS, I don't have many of the workouts that Cathe uses in her
>rotations and I don't want to have to sub with others that
>might derail the effectiveness of the rotation. Does this make
>sense or am I just rambling......?
>
>Allison


HA HA! I wrote my response before I read your post and I said pretty much the same thing. I guess we need to buy all of Cathe's workouts and we'll be good to go! :)
 
Ah, just like from Casablanca, Shelley--

"Oh, I don't know what's right any longer. You have to think for both of us. For all of us."
 
I agree- the best rotation is one you will stick with and one you think would be fun....Be very generic at first and give yourself flexibility to choose in a category...

Monday: Total Body Weights Dvd
( ME/PH/MIS/SS/PP/ect....or premix total body)
Tuesday: Cardio of choice
( Kickbox/Step/Floor/Elliptical/Run )
Wednesday: Circuit of choice
( HSTA/Drill Max/Low Impact Circuit/body max/ect...)
Thursday: Cardio of choice
( repeat )
Friday: Legs and Abs of choice
( Leaner legs, 4ds legs, legs and glutes, butts and guts, ect)
Saturday: Upper Body weights of choice
(BM upper body only, PUB, 4ds upper body, ect)
Sunday: Rest

CHOICES CHOICES - - I try to always get in three cardio sessions a week and I count circuit training as cardio and endurance lifting because my heart rate is always just as high the whole time I am doing circuit workouts.......

I try to get in one solid leg workout and upper body depends on the style I am lifting.....

I change up my rotations every 4-6 weeks
 
For me, I do weights and cardio 6 times per week. With all my Cathe DVDs, I have made my own mish-mosh workouts, both weights and cardio. Typically I do my cardio first which varies between kickboxing, high intensity step (Imax), and high intensity plyo/drills (DrillMax) *I have some creative cardio!! If I don't feel like Cathe cardio, I do my machines. I have an Arc Trainer, Precor elliptical, and a treadmill. For weights, I take all of Cathe's weight workouts and create my own rotations. For example, right now my rotation is: heavy legs, moderate-heavy shoulders/chest, moderate-heavy triceps/biceps, light legs, moderate-heavy shoulders/back, and then total upper body circuit-style. Weights go after cardio. Then I hit abs 3-4 times per week. Lately I have been really enjoying Cathe's Hard-Core series (the Gym-Style, MM, HSC) she has some nice exercises that fit well into a workout. I guess, at least to my thinking, you need to do as you feel. As Cathe states in HSTA, "you know your own body". Hope this helps??


Kristen
 
Have you checked out some of the rotations that Aquajock has done?

At the end of many of them she will put a generic rundown of the workout like Kathryn did above.

That may help you if you then check out the Cathe Compendium (at least I thing that is the one that shows the different workouts and what type they are) or even the 2007 catalog which would help figure out subs for the ones you don't have.

Good luck :7
 
Hi-

I love working one bodypart/day for lifting.. it what I mainly focus on most of the time and get the best results from this type of regimen.

The upside is that you can really focus on just one bodypart at a time and mentally it doesn't seem to have as big a "dread" factor as that you know you are done after finishing the one bodypart.

The downside is that you have to commit to 6 days/week of lifting, which can be a challenge in busy times.

The Slow and Heavy and Gym Styles series are great for this type of regimen. You would just do one bodypart from each of the workouts/per day, giving it your absolute all.

As far as cardio, I will usually do 30-40 minutes 5-6x week as well.. Depending on how I'm feeling, depends on the intensity.

That makes for a workout that is about an hour/day, give or take.

Take care, Lynn M.
 
I get my best results from a combination of heavy lifting with only a few sessions (usually 3) of cardio per week. This meant lifting a minimum of 3 days per week. I alternate between 3 day splits, 4 day splits and 1 body part per day. My cardios are usually 20-30 mins long 2x per week and 40-60 mins long 1x per week. I work my core 2-3 times per week.

HTH.:)
 
I change my plans often (too often, really) but I basically prefer to alternate cardio days with weight lifting days. This is partly because it's a pain to get out all the equipment for lifting, the way things are stored in my little house. So that's a personal choice. I generally feel it's been a good week if I lift 3 days and do cardio 3 days.

[font face="comic sans ms" font color=purple]***Lainie***
My fitness blog: http://web.mac.com/lainiefig/iWeb/Site/Exercise/Exercise.html http://bestsmileys.com/exercising/7.gif
 

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