How often should I workout, and what are the best exercises to do?!
Question: I have an ok-ish body, but after 3 children I just can't ignore how I feel about it and I need to work on it.
I eat healthily, I am 5'4" and I weigh 112 lbs.
I'm NOT trying to lose any weight, I just want to tone-up
everywhere (especially around the mid-section).
Can anyone tell me what are the best all-over body toning exercises to do??
And how often should I workout?
I have never really worked out before so I want to make sure I get it right and not do any damage!
Any advice on this would be great!
Thanks!
Answers: I have an ok-ish body, but after 3 children I just can't ignore how I feel about it and I need to work on it.
I eat healthily, I am 5'4" and I weigh 112 lbs.
I'm NOT trying to lose any weight, I just want to tone-up
everywhere (especially around the mid-section).
Can anyone tell me what are the best all-over body toning exercises to do??
And how often should I workout?
I have never really worked out before so I want to make sure I get it right and not do any damage!
Any advice on this would be great!
Thanks!
You should start by lifting heavy weights until you plateau, then lift slightly less weights more times and take shorter rests. Try to increase reps per set by 1 every workout.
Also you can avoid fatigue by working one muscle group one day, then skip a day, then work another muscle group, skip a day, work last muscle group, skip a day and repeat.
So do your upper body front: incline bench presses are good for women, military press for shoulders, bicep curls for arms, weighted crunches, and weighted reverse crunches for abdomen).
Rest a day
Do upper body back next day: do some rows, deadlifts, and hyperextensions for lower back.
Rest a day
Do your legs on 5 day: box squats, leg presses, calf raises and use really heavy weight on both leg press and calf raise, these muscles can take it.
Rest and repeat.
May sound like a guys workout but women can do it without worrying about bulking up. They dont have enough testosterone to build massive muscles, and the added muscle will really firm up the body.
Once you have plateaued where you cant seem to increase reps or weight over a couple sessions, then you should start to lift slightly less weight for more reps which will cause the muscles to tighten. Decrease your carbohydrate intake slightly below your daily requirement (you will need to figure this out separate) and continue with the weight and you should lose excess (not all) fat and have a toned physique underneath.
Your actually a perfect weight for your height! Your BMI is about 19.2 so you fall within the "normal" range. I would just say be careful in that you don't want to lose anymore weight or you could be underweight for your height.
I would recommend circuit training that includes a small amount of cardio, legs and arms and then sit ups and doing this about 4 days a week and allow your body to rest the other 3 days. The best time to work out is usually in the morning, because working out speeds up your heart rate, so many tend to find it difficult to go to sleep if they've just worked out.
Here is what Day 1 would look like:
Bike 20-30 min
Series of Arm exercises
Sits ups
Day 2:
Treadmill for 20-30
Series of leg exercises
Day 3:
Take an aerobics or kick boxing class to mix it up
Series of arm exercises
Sit ups
Day 4:
Stair Climber for 20 to 30 min
Series of leg exercises
Things to remember:
1. Don't push yourself to hard when first starting out
2. Set goals that are attainable, so for example, if you've never worked out before, it's probably more attainable for you to say you will work out 3 to 4 times a week instead of saying you will work out all 7
3. Make sure to give your muscles a rest each day
4. Stay positive - it can take a while to see the tone, but it'll come if you are consistent
5. Drink at least 5 glasses of water a day!
Finally, I would recommend getting a trainer just to show you what exercises you should be doing for your first one or two sessions.
Pound the big lifts to pack on super muscle!
Squats!
Deadlifts!
Bench press!
Clean and Jerks! (i want to die after a set of 20 of these)
But make sure you eat well too! Shitloads of protein!
Google stuff about protein shakes and supplements!
Find a nice all in one supplement with whey,casein,bcaas,glutamine and creatine! Super gains for a beginner!
Oh and I usually pound that **** 3 times per week.
I usually work 1 big muscle per session. Then add smaller muscles in with them
For instance Monday Back + biceps
weds legs, shoulders
fri chest triceps
also i try to do a bit of core/ab work every session.
You are too thin. If anytihng, you should gain some weight. I am 5'3" and the lowest I can be in the healthy range is 118... Which means yo are at an unhealthy range. Cardio will only make you lose weght, and since you just want to tone, then do light weight lifting.