Recently i read somewhere that if you spend more then an hour at the gym that it could be bad for you. My current routine involves about 45 minutes of weight lifting then i end it with 30 minutes of cardio. Should i cut down on my cardio time or re-evaluate my weightlifting routine?
Ive heard that too, but im suspicious! Mabey its like, if you're just looking to bulk big time, its better to get it over and done with as quick as possible. Im sure one of the lifting experts knows though, I'd like the answer to this too!
Depends on "how" you spend the time... If you spend 2 hours talking and 20 min lifting that's a waste of time. If you're high intensity training for 2 hours straight non-stop...well good luck then same thing with strenght training. It's hard to workout for longer than an hour or so unless your mouth is doing most of the work.
um....no. I seriously doubt that the morons you see at the gym who spend more time talking then they do working out would come near an internet forum. I already said how much time i spend doing what in my original post, and your answer wasn't very helpful.
Your question wasn't very specific either. What is your goal? IMO 30 min of cardio is only good for loosing muscle...that's unless you're doing HIIT (which i doubt).
I'd say that you are spending more time than necessary at the gym. Not necessarily saying that what your doing isn't good, but it could probably be done more efficiently. We would need more information on what you actually are preforming for the strength workout and what your preforming for the cardio. Also how often you do it a week and do you do the same routine each time?
Yep, it eats into your TV watching time! It depends on what your goals are. If you're trying to develop bulk or basic strength then sure, it's too much time. At a really basic level, for example, you'd want to: Warm up (say 10 min on the bike) Have two/three compound lifts (say 5 sets, 2 min rest, there's 24 mins) Cool down/Stretch (say about 10/15 min) There's approx 45 mins without the time it takes to do the actual lifting sets (say 1 min per set, so that's 15 mins). Without really trying I've hit about an hour (remember though set up times, telling idiots to give you the 20 kg plates, chatting up girls...). But it all depends on what you're doing.
I spend around 40 - 50 minutes warming up and lifting. Then it's a quick protein shake and into the steam room and jacuzzi for 15!
I apologize, i should have specified what my goals were in the gym. Currently, my main goal is to get back into shape and lose some weight. When i say weight, im talking about body fat. That is how i justify the 30 minute cardio at the end of my work out. I know eating habits/diet will have a bigger effect on my weight loss, but that is something that i have already resolved. In addition to being in better shape and losing body fat, i want to increase the strength and size of my muscles. Not specific groups, but my entire body. I typically have 2 weightlifting/cardio days then 1 rest day. 1 upper body, and 1 lower body. ( i tie in my abs/lower back to lower body training days.) This is not training for MMA, but simply put, to have a nicer beach body. Now that you guys have mentioned it, it seems that i am doing too many excercises on my upper body day. All my sets and reps are as follows. 3 sets x 8 reps, heavy weight. Bench press (barbell or dumbells i switch it up), Incline press (again i switch between bar/dumbell), Military press, same as above. Cable chest flys. Concentrated bicep curls, hammer curls. dumbell lateral raise. cable triceps push down, and weight assisted dips. With all those excercises and set up time i can't seem to get below 45-60 minutes of lifting. But my goal with all those lifts is to target all my upper body muscles. My lower body routine is fine though. Deadlift, Squats, calf raises, hamstring curls. I will often mix it up with isolation machines for my glutes and quads. After working on my legs i switch up my ab workouts, using machines, situps, crunchies ( weighted or without )
You could condense it down to: Bench/dip Military press Pull-ups I do those at least, then I throw in a couple of isolation exercises as well for good measure (hammer curls, dumbell overhead presses etc.)!
What an amazing contribution! So amazing infact, that your answer could be applied to nearly all the threads on this messaged board. Congratulations on finding the ultimate answer
If you actually had the common sense to ask one of the fitness trainers at the gym where you train, they could give you the answer without you needing to post on here. My previous answer doesn't apply to every thread.
no, not every thread. But a lot of them. In fact, people would be better off just going straight to their physicians, fitness trainers, nutritionists, etc. But guess what? People get bored, and if they're surfing the web, whats wrong with posting on forums, and discussing several topics? If it really bothers you that much then perhaps you shouldn't read forums to begin with. I see that your just a bitter old man, but thats ok. I forgive you.
no, not every thread. But a lot of them. In fact, people would be better off just going straight to their physicians, fitness trainers, nutritionists, etc. But guess what? People get bored, and if they're surfing the web, whats wrong with posting on forums, and discussing several topics? If it really bothers you that much then perhaps you shouldn't read forums to begin with. I see that you're just a bitter old man, but thats ok. I forgive you.
Tonyv107, You asked a question. I gave you the one bit of sound advice on this thread that will give you a definitive solution to your problem. Or would you prefer I give you a "maybe" or "supposedly" or "I heard about" answer that appear 99% of the time? Axelator, There is a reason why those so-called idiots at the commercial gyms are in that job in the first place - they know their stuff. At least, they know more than a lot of keyboard warriors who presume too much.
