just a bit confused!

wee bear

hi i have just finally joined a gym,, yeah:D!!! im such a newbie its not even funny!!
and was given a programme,which included,
10min warm up on bike
20mins treadmill
15mins cross trainer

then weights include
chest press
lat pull down
shoulder press
calf raising?
biceps and triceps (dumbells)
the pully for obliques (sorry i dont even know all the names yet, thats how new i am to fitness!! ;-( )
some squats at the end some with and without the bar
and some sit ups
think that about everything though have probably forgotten one or two
all roughly 2 x 12

i was just wondering am i supposed to do that whole workout everytime i go to the gym (thinking 2-3 times a week)
or should i just be doing the cardio stuff one day and the weights another??

help im completely clueless!!!! :rolleyes:

the_future

its a bleedin crappy workout to begin with. if youre gonna do it though, probably best you separate the days, although i would imagine your "trainer" meant to do it all on the one day.

wee bear

oh is it really that bad? how so??
ive never ever used a gym before so think they were jsut starting me off ligthly but should i be doing a lot more??

the_future

yeah, they could be starting you off lightly, but in IMO, there are alot of shabby personal trainers out there that dont care about what they do. were they enthused about what they were telling you, or were they in shape themselves?

i dont know what your goals are, whether to get bigger, or to lose body fat, but that workout alone will do neither IMO. if you're just doing this recreationally, then it's not as big an issue but you could still be doing better. what are your goals?

its not that you should be doing more, its just that i think you should be doing different things, like focussing on primary weights exercises like squats, deadlifts, bent over rows, bench press, dips, pull ups, etc. none of those in there( and the feeble squat attempt a the end doesnt count )

wee bear

well i am a girl about 5 4" and about 8 stone so dont want to lose weight but do want to get fit since all i do is the occasional swim and also tone my self up coz im a bit soft and seem to have zero muscle!!!
should i be doing more cardio on one of the days
and just sticking to the weights they gave me for the moment o n the other days, would that help at all or should i push a lot harder?
haven't a clue!!

the_future

to try to do what youre doing, diet is whats really important. you need to take in less calories, whether it be by burning them through exercise or eating less. this means eating smaller portions at meal time, but still eating very regularly(about 6 times a day). im not a believer in cardio at all myself. i just stick to weights and diet, but starting off, i would pay attention to diet and do the workout you were given, but to get the best results possible, i would advise doing the exercises i listed in the last post, and cardio if you want an extra edge. i would advise personally doing the cardio after you do the weights, for scientific reasons i couldnt be bothered going into.

wee bear

right i will try work out with more weights and alternate the days or as you said if im not dead do some cardio at the end, thanks for your help

aye

hang on, she is a total beginner. she doesnt know how to do a deadlift or bent over row! are you going to show her this the_future?

Malteaser!

aye wrote: »

hang on, she is a total beginner. she doesnt know how to do a deadlift or bent over row! are you going to show her this the_future?

I'm sure her trainer in the gym will...

the_future

yes, i know this. i was about to reply saying how important technique was, and to maybe ask a personal trainer. also, i doubt she is going to start deadlifting, when as you say, she may not know what one is. which is why i said to maybe stick to what the personal trainer gave her, originally. the fact still remains, she could be doing better.

littlefriend

the_future wrote: »

" diet is whats really important. you need to take in less calories, whether it be by burning them through exercise or eating less. this means eating smaller portions at meal time, but still eating very regularly(about 6 times a day).

At 5'4" and 8 stone does she really need to take in less calories? Surely that, with increased exercise, will result in weightloss?

the_future

possibly. i dont know what she looks like, but she said something like "soft". fat is fat, regardless of BMI, and there are techniques to follow to shed it. if diet remains the same, she will get in better shape with the addition of exercise, but not as much as with diet.

there are greater details associated with the diet i didnt go into, as i was only providing basics, but calories in diet should be lowered very slowly, to the best of my knowledge to ensure no muscle loss. hence, she can lower her food intake slowly until she sees the required results. i would never tell anyone to suddenly drop a 1000 calories from their diet and eat an orange a day. if you do it right, its all safe and efficient methods.

first actually, i should have said, would be TO drop any junk food from the diet, eat more vegetables, lean meats, nuts, fish etc. start off small and work your way up.

Beelzebub

I would definitely do less cardio on the days you weight train.
15 mins Bike/Treadmill - warm up
30 mins Weights
15 mins crosstrainer/elliptical.

You could even just walk for half an hour on the days that you don't go to the gym if you want to do some more cardio.

Transform

Your priority must be doing the weights when your goal is to increase tone and get your muscles firm.

Doing 45mins of cardio each session when you are training just 2-3 days per week is a waste of time. Spend 2-3 days doing weights for 40mins (do 3-4 sets on most exercises after your 2nd week) and any remaining time do some cardio e.g. 15mins at tough intensity, stretch for 10mins and session over.

Big question - why the feck cant trainers design programs properly? Frequently unbalanced and rarely actually thinking about what a client wants to achieve.

WHIP IT!

Malteaser! wrote: »

I'm sure her trainer in the gym will...

I'm not sure I'd trust alot of PTs I've come across to teach a discipline like the deadlift. I'd be more inclined to ask a serious lifter in the gym who looks like he/she knows what they're doing.

The deadlift, done wrong, could have repurcussions for a total beginner imo.

jojobrad

If you want to get fit you will need to do cardio more so than weights. Weights improve muscle tone but dont improve your cardiovascular fitness.

Colm_OReilly

WHIP IT! wrote: »

I'm not sure I'd trust alot of PTs I've come across to teach a discipline like the deadlift. I'd be more inclined to ask a serious lifter in the gym who looks like he/she knows what they're doing.

The deadlift, done wrong, could have repurcussions for a total beginner imo.

What's amazing about this is that it doesn't take that long to teach someone a deadlift. And you can start doing it with a length of pipe, or those "weighted" soft bars they use in gyms for the step & tone classes.

wee bear, if you'd like i could show you deadlift and squat technique so much. I HATE to see people enthusiastic about fitness given programs like this that will in all likelihood leave them discouraged.

Col

rubadub

Transform wrote: »

Big question - why the feck cant trainers design programs properly? Frequently unbalanced and rarely actually thinking about what a client wants to achieve.

I presume it is like any other profession these days. People don't know what they want to work at so go for something they "got the points for", of just do a course and pass a test and get a cert, without a fundamental understanding of what they are teaching. Then they just treat it as a 9 to 5 job, just for the money.

I have always messed around with PCs, and know a fair bit about them. I get a lot of people presuming I have had formal training. I did have some computer programming training in college which was utterly useless for what most people want.

There is more than one way to skin a cat, and I bet many PTs get instructed in one or 2 ways, it would suit a written exam better to be that way.

It is easier and quicker for them to trot out the same routine to all, the person is none the wiser. It is like ringing up Dell with a problem, the lad on the phone usually hasn't a clue about PCs, and it always ends up with them telling you to format the drive!

Same problem with some doctors these days. Why did you become a doctor "ehh I got 600 points"

jojobrad wrote: »

If you want to get fit you will need to do cardio more so than weights. Weights improve muscle tone but dont improve your cardiovascular fitness.

The OP has also speficically said they want to tone. In which case heavy weights is the way to go. They also said they want to "get fit" which is a very vague term. Weightlifting will also improve cardiovascular health. Have a read of this.

aye

the_future wrote: »

yes, i know this. i was about to reply saying how important technique was, and to maybe ask a personal trainer. also, i doubt she is going to start deadlifting, when as you say, she may not know what one is. which is why i said to maybe stick to what the personal trainer gave her, originally. the fact still remains, she could be doing better.

i agree the program could be better, i was just getting at the fact that she could get the techniques wrong on high risk exercises.

I think the program is quite a lot to do in one session, 45 mins of cardio and then weights for a beginner?
OP you could do them on different days. The weights will help with your toning, and the cardio with your fitness. as for calorie intake, we dont know what it is but if you're a size 8 i am having a guess its not too much. total guess tho!

Malteaser!

Transform wrote: »

Big question - why the feck cant trainers design programs properly? Frequently unbalanced and rarely actually thinking about what a client wants to achieve.

I actually read something about this recently on Elite.

The article went something along the lines of - some personal trainers don't actually know how hard their clients want to work or have really done up to now so when they're doing out a program for them they tend to opt for an easier one, one that the client won't feel too wrecked after and won't be dying with DOMS from for the next few days.The trainers will hand out these easy workouts and tell people they work because they know that if they make the program too hard the client will complain. And, if the client is complaining, there’s a good chance the trainer might lose them as a client (a client to a personal trainer at least, equals money).

Dunno how true that is tbh, it is also possible that a some of the trainers employed by the gym just don't have the foggiest what they're on about themselves half the time and genuinely think that these programs are going to work or they're just lazy and couldn't be arsed whether their clients are happy coz they're still getting paid by the gym at the end of the day!

wee bear

thanks for your replies.

firstly as for diet, yeah im not a huge girl so dont want to lose much weight just tone up the soft bits, i know i could improve some aspects of my diet like most poeple i suppose but generally i eat quite a healty diet, i dont really eat to much junk so im not sure how many calories i could afford to lose from my diet though i am a three meals a day girl so maybe i could try six smaller ones to see if that helps get rid of that softness.

yeah like i was saying yesterday i will try do cardio maybe one day and do a good bit of it and weights the other day, and try to increase that as well with a small bit of cardio to warm up.

it is really hard to know what to do and if the trainer is really taking your needs into account but i guess it makes sense as ye were all saying,to increase the weights if i want to get rid of that little bit of softness on my tummy and thighs and add some kind of muscle to my arms since i seem to have none at all.
thanks:)

the_future

jojobrad wrote: »

If you want to get fit you will need to do cardio more so than weights. Weights improve muscle tone but dont improve your cardiovascular fitness.

poppycock. have you ever done a squat/deadlift superset?

the_future

Malteaser! wrote: »

Dunno how true that is tbh, it is also possible that a some of the trainers employed by the gym just don't have the foggiest what they're on about themselves half the time and genuinely think that these programs are going to work or they're just lazy and couldn't be arsed whether their clients are happy coz they're still getting paid by the gym at the end of the day!

im sure there are cases out there of sneakiness leading to more money. i think for the most part the PTs ive encountered though, just dont seem to care about what theyre doing, and hence dont bother trying.

Transform

jojobrad wrote: »

If you want to get fit you will need to do cardio more so than weights. Weights improve muscle tone but dont improve your cardiovascular fitness.

That is the dumbest quote of the week!!!

Keep up the weights and do some cardio.

Now if trainers were training clients and got paid on the basis of the results the client got i think they would work harder to learn what, how and when to train those that are looking to get in shape.

I have just written up two programs for clients today -

one for a 46yr old Over weight guy with 5 kids and his own business and terrible felxibility

The second for a 24yr old female who is a professinal dancer (ballet/modern dance) in london with incredible flexibility

Are the programs different - yes!!

But the very basics of the program are the same i.e. cover all the major muscle groups with exercises that will give the best results quickly.

You want more 'tone' hit the weights you want to look like a smaller version of yourself do cardio and sort out your bleedin' diet