Hey Bianca!
Glad to hear you're still working at it
45 minute sessions at weightlifing is about right. Generally you want to keep it under an hour; get in, do your stuff, get out (though it would take more time if you rest a lot, socialize, or need to wait for equipment). If your cranking at full speed and go over an hour, you're probably overdoing it. For reference, beginners often take a 3 day full body workout approach. 8-9 excercises (1 per body part), 3 sets each, 8-15 reps per set (depending on weight) with roughly 1-1.5 minutes of rest between each set.
For example: 3 sets of excercises for your Back, Chest, Shoulders, Legs (quads, hamstrings, calves), Abs, Bisceps, Triceps. You generally want to do the bigger muscle excercises first, and as you'll go you want to mix up the exact exercises/body parts on different days.
IF that seems like a lot, it can be. It usually takes me about 45-50 minutes, though I'm tired as hell when I finish that kind of routine. I actually worked up to it by dividing those excercises in half and did a Monday/Tuesday, Thursday/Friday routine (2 full body workouts effectively over 4 kind of half days). When I took that approach I was usually done weightlifting within the 25-30 minute range.
More aggressive (intermediate+) workouts start to break up muscle groups and do 2+ types of excercises per body part (and often increase sets for the bigger muscles). For those you almost have to split up your workouts across several days.
Anyway - more on it later. (I'm at work slackin' again hehe)
Adam
Glad to hear you're still working at it
That 200-275 number doesn't sound right for a TDEE- It should be in the ballpark of 2000 (ish). (Maybe you forgot to convert your height to cm or something?). You may want to recheck that TDEE formula. If you're in a lazy mood (or just hate the math) feel free to post or PM me your height, weight, and age and I'll run it through the formula for you. In any case, this number is extremely useful to know so it's definately worth the couple minutes to check it.
Can you clarify this a little? You're doing two 30 minute cardio workouts per day, 7 days a week? 45 min gym workouts; 3 days per week? What kind/how many excercises are you doing? (I'm trying to nail down what your Activity Factor is for TDEE calculations as well as get a good idea on what workout routine you're doing).
45 minute sessions at weightlifing is about right. Generally you want to keep it under an hour; get in, do your stuff, get out (though it would take more time if you rest a lot, socialize, or need to wait for equipment). If your cranking at full speed and go over an hour, you're probably overdoing it. For reference, beginners often take a 3 day full body workout approach. 8-9 excercises (1 per body part), 3 sets each, 8-15 reps per set (depending on weight) with roughly 1-1.5 minutes of rest between each set.
For example: 3 sets of excercises for your Back, Chest, Shoulders, Legs (quads, hamstrings, calves), Abs, Bisceps, Triceps. You generally want to do the bigger muscle excercises first, and as you'll go you want to mix up the exact exercises/body parts on different days.
IF that seems like a lot, it can be. It usually takes me about 45-50 minutes, though I'm tired as hell when I finish that kind of routine. I actually worked up to it by dividing those excercises in half and did a Monday/Tuesday, Thursday/Friday routine (2 full body workouts effectively over 4 kind of half days). When I took that approach I was usually done weightlifting within the 25-30 minute range.
More aggressive (intermediate+) workouts start to break up muscle groups and do 2+ types of excercises per body part (and often increase sets for the bigger muscles). For those you almost have to split up your workouts across several days.
I think your doing the right thing. It's important you don't skip meals though - keep the meals small if you need to but skipping just slows your metabolism down. One thing that I really like is that once you have your TDEE number in your mind, you pretty much have the tools to formulate an eating plan. One of the nice perks of having a plan in place is you're always guilt free - you eat what you planned on eating to maximize fat loss and prevent calorie adaptation.i am going to start trying to go on that 5 meals a day approach... its just some days i get lazy and dont feel like eating. and when i do eat, i feel fat and digusting. i hate that, but its just the way i feel.
Anyway - more on it later. (I'm at work slackin' again hehe)
Adam
