KR10N Posted June 8, 2011 Posted June 8, 2011 How many times a week do people normally workout? This includes minutes/hours a day. I'm female, 20 years old & workout 5 days a week for 1-2 hours. Cardio, resistance & just started lifting weighs since January. I ask for one reason: lately I've noticed my veins are becoming more prominent. I know this is the result of losing fat. I have never been overweight. But now I fear I may be pushing myself too hard. I am tall & have a slim build, I really don't want to be skinny minny on the block. Should I decrease my workout time wise, do certain exercises a day or just workout a few times a week? Thanks. Note: My calorie intake was 1500 per day, recently I've been eating whatever I want w/ no change in weight, etc. I've actually found out I have more energy if I eat unhealthy food.
tman666 Posted June 8, 2011 Posted June 8, 2011 I think that you sort of already answered your own question. If you start getting too skinny, either eat more, cut back activity, or both. Ideally, eating more should be your first solution so that you don't lose performance (get detrained). Another thing you could do is put more emphasis on lifting and less on cardio. It really just depends on your goals. Speaking of which: what are your goals? Without establishing a goal, it's impossible to give you a straight answer on what you should be doing.
tman666 Posted June 8, 2011 Posted June 8, 2011 My personal priorities lie in strength as well, with a dual emphasis on hypertrophy (muscle growth). I lift heavy three days per week, but I use a 1.5 week cycle: For example: Monday: Horizontal Pressing/pulling Wednesday: Squat Friday: Vertical pressing/pulling Monday: Deads/posterior chain Other than that, I'll try to do a couple of conditioning workouts per week that include bodyweight exercises such as jump squats, push ups, pullups, sprints, interval running, etc. On rest days, I usually try to do something active such as hiking or playing tennis. I very rarely have a day where I don't do anything at all. As far as sets and reps go, a good place to start is using something as simple as a 5x5 template. Another good way is just to do sets of 5 or 6 until you reach a daily 5-6 rep max, and then do about 10-15 singles. I personally use a 5/3/1 (ala Jim Wendler) style template, with heavy-ish (8-12 rep max) bodybuilding style assistance work at the end. There are many good methods out there: all of them involve heavy lifting and compound movements (such as squats, deads, pressing, and pulling). Since you're looking for upper body strength, make pulling movements a priority in all planes of motion. Pressing movements should obviously be done as well, but make it a priority to be able to do pull ups.
Chocolat Posted June 9, 2011 Posted June 9, 2011 Hi KR10N, I work out 4-5 days a week, typically 2 heavy days (5 sets of 5 reps or 10 sets of 3 reps), 2 longer rep days (5 sets of 10 or 4 sets of 12), and one general conditioning day (box jumps, incline runs, etc/). I do a full body routine each time: one vertical movement (one pulling and one pushing) one horizontal movement (ditto on pulling and pushing), one hip dominant movement and one quad dominant movement. I do all compound movements. I make sure I am in an out of the gym in 1 hours -- any more than that, and I am working against myself. Some people can go longer, but I tend to be ectomorphic and I am better off with shorter, more frequent workouts than less frequent, longer ones. YMMV. FWIW, I am female and my goals are to minimize bodyfat, increase strength, protect bone loss, and look and feel good! The other half of the equation (or maybe more than half) is nutrition. I eat to support my goals, which means watching not just how much I eat, but what and when. If anything, I put a lot more emphasis on what and when than on how much. Have you looked at New Rules of Lifting For Women by Schuler and Cosgrove? Once you get past Schuler's slightly patronizing tone, there is a lot of good content from Cosgrove.
Author KR10N Posted June 9, 2011 Author Posted June 9, 2011 Thanks, Chocolat! I'll have to Google New Rules of Lifting For Women by Schuler and Cosgrove. Just 1 hour? Depends on a persons goals I suppose. I almost went 3 hours out of pure boredom. I was extremely sore the next day.
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