- For Beginners: You should start slowly with a basic cardio program and a full body resistance training routine. You'll want to have recovery days to allow your body to rest and your muscles to heal from your new routine. A typical beginner program will include about 3 days of cardio and 2 days of strength training. If you're not sure about your fitness level, you can take the quiz, What's Your Fitness Level? to get insight and resources to help you get started. Below is a sample schedule just to give you an idea of a typical week of workouts:
| Monday: Cardio 20-30 minutes. You can choose from one of the following Sample Cardio Workouts: | Tuesday: Total Body Strength and core training. You can choose from one of the following Sample Strength Workouts: |
| Wednesday: Rest or gentle yoga/stretching | Thursday: Cardio-20-30 minutes. You can choose from one of the following Sample Cardio Workouts: |
| Friday: Total Body Strength and core training. You can choose from one of the following Sample Strength Workouts: | Saturday: Cardio-20-30 minutes. You can choose from one of the following Sample Cardio Workouts: |
- For Intermediate Exercisers: If you've been exercising for a while and your goal is to lose weight, you want to shoot for 20-60 minutes of cardio about 5 or more times a week. Your strength training schedule will depend on what type of workouts you're doing (e.g., total body training or a split routine). You can do cardio and weight training on the same day, depending on your time constraints. It doesn't matter which one you do first, so vary your routine and try different combinations to find the one that is right for you.
- Sample Split Routine for Upper and Lower Body:
| Monday: 30-Minute Cardio Medley Workout, Upper Body Training | Tuesday: 45-Minute Treadmill Interval Workout, Core Training |
| Wednesday: 30-Minute Low Impact Cardio Blast Workout (2 circuits), Lower body | Thursday: Rest, stretch or yoga |
| Friday: Total Body Strength or Circuit Training | Saturday: Cardio-60 minutes, stretch |
- For Intermediate/Advanced Exercisers: If you're more advanced, you can split your routine further, focusing more attention on each muscle group. You can also increase the intensity of your cardio, incorporating interval training and other advanced techniques to burn calories and build endurance.
- Sample Split Routing for Advanced Exercisers:
| Monday: Chest, Shoulders & Triceps, HIIT Cardio | Tuesday: Lower Body and Core |
| Wednesday: Back & Biceps, Boredom Buster Cardio | Thursday: Rest, stretch or yoga |
| Friday: Basic Total Body Strength | Saturday: Advanced Intense Intervals |
For a variety of strength training workouts and helpful articles, visit my Workout Center.
(from exercise.about.com)
Here is an example of my program that I have just started to implement.
Monday- 1 hour cardio (zumba)
Tuesday (full body strength training+1 hour cardio)
Weds- 30 min express cycling (cardio)
Thursday (total body strength training+cardio)
Friday - rest
Saturday -1 hour cardio (zumba)
Sunday- rest or Yoga
My personal goal is weight loss , so my aim is to have 5 hours a week of cardio and 2-3 days a week of strength training. Remember clean eating is the key to weight loss. Which is my biggest weakness. Also, you don't want to work the same muscle groups back to back , you want at least 1 or two days between strength training to allow your muscle to repair. If you do weights and cardio in the same day, you want to warm up at least 10-15 minutes prior but don't do a whole hour of cardio and then weights. It's best to weight train first and then do your cardio. I hope this helps, but remember start off small and then add to your routine. Stay healthy and see you in class.
from exercise at about.com
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