need help with my gym routine

annae

i have recently joined a gym and am just looking for advice on which is the best routine for me to tone up my abs, back and arms mainly. I have very skinny legs and a not-so-skinny upper body so I'm just wondering which equipment i should be using to work these areas in particular?

I have been doing 30 minutes on the bicycle, 10 mins on the rower and 20 mins on the crossramp. Are these just working my legs too much?

Should I be doing weights? Im a girl so I don't want to be beefy and muscly, just smaller!

Any advice would be appreciated!

celestial

annae wrote: »

i have recently joined a gym and am just looking for advice on which is the best routine for me to tone up my abs, back and arms mainly. I have very skinny legs and a not-so-skinny upper body so I'm just wondering which equipment i should be using to work these areas in particular?

I have been doing 30 minutes on the bicycle, 10 mins on the rower and 20 mins on the crossramp. Are these just working my legs too much?

Should I be doing weights? Im a girl so I don't want to be beefy and muscly, just smaller!

Any advice would be appreciated!

Hi Annae,

First off, doing weights won't make you beefy, unless you're gonna take steroids and hit the gym minimum 3-5 hours per day:)

To get the ubiquitous 'toned' look, what you are actually talking about is building a small amount of muscle. Think 'definition'. Push-ups of all varieties are great for building up your arms, and will firm up your abs too, as they engage your core. You can also do crunches for your abs too. If you choose weights (which I very much recommend) learn how to bench press - it will generally have a similar but greater effect in terms of building definition that push-ups. For your back, learn how to do the lat pull down and one-arm dumbbell rows.

Give the push-ups a go and feel the difference straight away. They can be challenging, which means they work!!

www.exrx.net is a great resource for learning how to weightlift.

aye

as said weights wont beef you up. your a girl, you dont have enough testosterone to beef up.
as said also in order to tone you must lift some weights.
you can build certain muscle, i.e the triceps(back of upper arms), but cant lose fat from specific part of your body.

if you do take up weights make sure to do a balanced lifting routine, so anything to do for your front, you do an exercise for your back.
so if you do a bench press, do a seated row.

as regards crunches. if you have fat over your stomach, crunches arent going to help tone that area, you are just building muscle under the fat.
they can in fact make you stomach look bigger from the side, if you build a good amount of stomach muscle without losing the fat.
my advise would be to do a plank (http://www.abs-exercise-advice.com/plank.html), with builds the transverse abdominals, which actually make your stomach look smaller.
and try to get a program where you do your weights on a fitball, for core stability.

the amount of cardio is good, depnding on how intense it is.
maybe you could do intervals so you wont have to be on the bike for 30 mins.

also for the toning you could do a body conditioning class in your gym.