best way to spend my time

tinner777

hi,
i've found a way to fit in 2 x 45 mins sessions at a gym on my way home from work. I'm desperate to lose weight and get fit. What will give be the best benefit, i was looking at turbulence training but am a little confused by it.
Please don't tell me to find time for more sessions, 12 hour days and three kids under five leaves me with no real time.
Should I split my time between rowing and treadmill?
Any help gladly accepted.
Thanks

squod

tinner777 wrote: »

hi,
i've found a way to fit in 2 x 45 mins sessions at a gym on my way home from work. I'm desperate to lose weight and get fit. What will give be the best benefit, i was looking at turbulence training but am a little confused by it.
Please don't tell me to find time for more sessions, 12 hour days and three kids under five leaves me with no real time.
Should I split my time between rowing and treadmill?
Any help gladly accepted.
Thanks

Turbulence training? What with the flights and the little brown bag? There's some great resources on line like suzana's Bodyrock TV over on youtube for home workouts.

cmyk

tinner777 wrote: »

hi,
i've found a way to fit in 2 x 45 mins sessions at a gym on my way home from work. I'm desperate to lose weight and get fit. What will give be the best benefit, i was looking at turbulence training but am a little confused by it.
Please don't tell me to find time for more sessions, 12 hour days and three kids under five leaves me with no real time.
Should I split my time between rowing and treadmill?
Any help gladly accepted.
Thanks

Is it purely to lose fat/look better and get fitter ie no particular sport or other training involved? What do you enjoy doing with regard to exercising? and what is your diet like?

tinner777

cmyk wrote: »

Is it purely to lose fat/look better and get fitter ie no particular sport or other training involved? What do you enjoy doing with regard to exercising? and what is your diet like?

just to lose fat. Actually got there and did 20 mins on treadmill, 15 reclined bike, 10 on cross trainer.

tinner777

did 45 mins on cross trainer last night. Is that the best use of my time?

cmyk

tinner777 wrote: »

just to lose fat. Actually got there and did 20 mins on treadmill, 15 reclined bike, 10 on cross trainer.

Sorry, I never saw your reply. Personally, 45mins on a crosstrainer/indoor bike would bore me to shreds.

Seeing as though you've only got 2 X 45 sessions per week I'd go with something like a good 10min warmup, followed by 30 mins of good resistance training of some description. Whether that be lifting challenging weights or a 'metabolic conditioning type of workout' just something that will stimulate more of a response than 45mins of steady cardio.

Then if you can fit in a couple of decent walks at other times of the week with or without the kids, that's bonus time. Your nutrition is obviously important too.

Though I've no experience I'm sure you can burn your way through a few calories looking after 3 kids too

tinner777

cmyk wrote: »

Sorry, I never saw your reply. Personally, 45mins on a crosstrainer/indoor bike would bore me to shreds.

Seeing as though you've only got 2 X 45 sessions per week I'd go with something like a good 10min warmup, followed by 30 mins of good resistance training of some description. Whether that be lifting challenging weights or a 'metabolic conditioning type of workout' just something that will stimulate more of a response than 45mins of steady cardio.

Then if you can fit in a couple of decent walks at other times of the week with or without the kids, that's bonus time. Your nutrition is obviously important too.

Though I've no experience I'm sure you can burn your way through a few calories looking after 3 kids too

in the gym i go, macroom comm centre, there is treadmills, bikes normal and recessed, rowing machines, step machines and cross trainers. I'm on a diet suggested by my fitness pal(iphone app), basically calorie counting with a goal determined by weight etc.
At the moment its a real struggle to do anything with the kids here, they are three and crazy, trying to get the three of them out is madness.
I really don't mind being bored at the gym as i'm determined to sort myself out. Then this time next year, nursery and i can do as i please then in the mornings.
So given the above i'd take any advice.

bluefinger

If i only had two 45 minute sessions a week, and wanted to lose weight i'd do some weights, followed by about 20-25 mins of high intensity interval training.

there'll be plenty off advice from others on here but the theory behind HITT is that it keeps your body burning calories long after your session.

Diet is all important though for weight loss.

Frogdog

bluefinger wrote: »

If i only had two 45 minute sessions a week, and wanted to lose weight i'd do some weights, followed by about 20-25 mins of high intensity interval training.

there'll be plenty off advice from others on here but the theory behind HITT is that it keeps your body burning calories long after your session.

Diet is all important though for weight loss.

OP, the above is solid advice. Weights are a better use of your time if you're looking to burn fat, not steady cardio.

rocky

When my weight session exceeds 40 minutes, I'm doing it wrong. For my current goal of losing fat, full body workouts 3 times a week are sufficient. keep the number of working sets low but intensity high (that is, weight on the bar).

Say if typically you trained while bulking with a 5x5 routine, you can switch to a 2x5 while cutting, keeping the same weights, and you'll maintain muscle.
If you trained with a 3x5 routine 3 times a week while gaining muscle, you can switch that to a 1x5 routine 1 times/week to keep the gains. I was reading this on Lyle's website, see my sig for link to the Body Recomposition site.

cmyk

tinner777 wrote: »

in the gym i go, macroom comm centre, there is treadmills, bikes normal and recessed, rowing machines, step machines and cross trainers.

Ok, no worries. As recommended, resistance training would be a better use of your time. Gym sounds limited but there must be room to do something like this...Transform posted this workout a long time ago, based around bodyweight exercises...all you need is a mat.

tinner777 wrote: »

I'm on a diet suggested by my fitness pal(iphone app), basically calorie counting with a goal determined by weight etc.

I've never used it, but creating a calorie deficit is a good start as long as it's reasonably accurate.

tinner777 wrote: »

At the moment its a real struggle to do anything with the kids here, they are three and crazy, trying to get the three of them out is madness.

Chasing them around all day will genuinely burn calories, arguably as much as you might expend on the gym crosstrainer, hence the circuits might be a better use of time in the gym.

tinner777 wrote: »

I really don't mind being bored at the gym as i'm determined to sort myself out. Then this time next year, nursery and i can do as i please then in the mornings.
So given the above i'd take any advice.

In saying all of that, if you're happy to be bored there is nothing wrong with the crosstrainer if that's what you like doing, just up the intensity now and again, work in some interval training every so often when/if you can.

tinner777

So started hiit. Just want to check that i'm doing the right stuff. So on cross trainer, 5 min warm up, 30 secs at my max, 60 secs rest, 6 reps then 5 mins cool down. Must admit i've not worked like that for years, bendy legs and a massive grin. Then weight machines, 5 x 5 at max weight on chest press, lat pull down, bicep. I'm nearly failing on the weights.
I can barely move today but feel good

bluefinger

tinner777 wrote: »

So started hiit. Just want to check that i'm doing the right stuff. So on cross trainer, 5 min warm up, 30 secs at my max, 60 secs rest, 6 reps then 5 mins cool down. Must admit i've not worked like that for years, bendy legs and a massive grin. Then weight machines, 5 x 5 at max weight on chest press, lat pull down, bicep. I'm nearly failing on the weights.
I can barely move today but feel good

Bendy legs? Good. Massive Grin? Good. (endorphins are cool!)
Just one or two minor pointers though.
1 I think i'd said to do your cardio after your weights. From what i've read this might be the optimum for burning calories/losing weight especially if you really want to get the best out of your time.
2 Also, I'm not a weights expert but you might be better doing bigger sets with lighter weights. So 3 sets of 12 reps on weights rather than 5 x 5. At least that is what i was told to do for toning/slimming.

I am open to being told differently on this.

Continue the good work though and keep us up to date on your progress.

TommyKnocker

bluefinger wrote: »

Bendy legs? Good. Massive Grin? Good. (endorphins are cool!)

Totally agree

bluefinger wrote: »

Just one or two minor pointers though.
1 I think i'd said to do your cardio after your weights. From what i've read this might be the optimum for burning calories/losing weight especially if you really want to get the best out of your time.

The main reason for doing your cardio after weights is that you don't want to tire yourself out before your lifting as this could effect your form, which could lead to injury, and also the tiredness might cause a decrease in the weight you can lift.

So IMHO you should do your HIIT after yoru lifting and if you really want to hit your fat stores, then take a 5 minute break after your HIIT session and then do a 20 minute steady cardio session

bluefinger wrote: »

2 Also, I'm not a weights expert but you might be better doing bigger sets with lighter weights. So 3 sets of 12 reps on weights rather than 5 x 5. At least that is what i was told to do for toning/slimming.

I am open to being told differently on this.

I don't agree with this tbh. 5x5 coupled with a good clean diet will aid in building muscle. Muscle is an active tissue which burns calories, even when at rest. So the more lean muscle you have easier it is to burn off body fat and the more "toned" you look.

bluefinger wrote: »

Continue the good work though and keep us up to date on your progress.

Agreed