query for justin...any advice muchly appreciated!

rhuba

i really don't know life
Hi Justin,

I’ve never posted, but have been lurking quite a bit and reading your posts with great interest. I’ve printed them all off and put them in my food and exercise folder!! Since I started trying to lose weight and re-shape my body, I have become increasingly interested in nutrition (I’m even thinking of starting a distance-learning course in it!) Exercise, which began as a bit of a chore, has become something that I now can’t live without!
I have recently re-jigged my workout after quite a bit of research (as I was spending 45mins-1 hour on a treadclimber, getting addicted to the number of calories it said I was burning-which obviously wasn’t right, as I barely even felt I was getting a work out any more!!)
Your posts have made a lot of sense to me and I guess I just need a bit of reassurance that I’m doing the right things.
If at all possible, I’d like to get a little feedback on what I’m doing at the moment, and if you have and comments or suggestions as to how I can improve it I’d be ever so grateful! My main aim is a combination of fat loss, lean mass gain and improving my overall fitness, although I don’t have a particular time constraint.
Here is an example of a typical week:

Monday: swimming (I generally do about 100 lengths of a 25m pool in 65mins)

Tuesday: 1hr 20mins of yogalates (usually incorporating resistance bands, so lots of core exercises, standing poses etc)

Wednesday: gym: I have started a new cardio regime where I do 5mins warm up on stepper, level 9 then onto the cross trainer, where I’ve been doing interval training at level 9 with 2mins around 7mph then 30 secs at around 13-14mph. I do this for half an hour then drop to level 6 for 10mins, at 6mph and then a warm down through levels 3,2,1 for 5mins. My overall warm down is 5 mins on the wave machine at level 6.

Thursday: A second yoglates session (although I make sure I vary the exercises)

Friday: gym: I have been doing a similar workout to the Wednesday one, although I’m thinking of taking a spinning class or body pump instead.

Saturday: swimming (same as Monday)

Sunday: rest day (although I do sometimes do an hour of yoga for the stretching and relaxingness of it!)

I guess my main question is: do you think I am getting enough resistance exercise in (ie TBT) I would have thought that the yoga would help with this, but I don’t know whether to incorporate some into my gym workouts as well and maybe reduce the cardio slightly?

Sorry to write such an epic message, I know you’re busy! Any comments at all would be fab!

Thanks, rhuba xxx
 
Don't worry about the lengh of the post, I'm happy to help. Its good for me to know your regime in such detail.


I think you're definately heading in the right direction, although I think the inclusion of Body Pump would on Friday would be more useful than spinning (since you're already doing a lot of endurance exercise but not as much resistance).

Don't forget though, that body Pump classes are still aerobic in nature as the intensity is moderate to low. you may get a good sweat, but thats because you've been working for the full hour.

If you could include a TBT resistance workout with Dummbells, barbells or kettlebells (such as the one outlined in my post) which gets you using weights at a higher intensity, your lean muscle will develop far faster, and of course the more lean tissue you develop, the fat burned by those muscles is multiplied.

Such a workout should consist of aound 4-5 TB exercises and take no more than 45 minutes (if you can work for longer than this, then you probably haven't pushed your muscles hard enough for them to grow stronger).



Let me know how you get on and feel free to post or PM me with further updates and enquiries anytime.


Justin


PS Im flattered that you print off my posts and keep them, I appreciate that and you've put a big grin on my face today haha.
 
thank you so much for replying so quickly!

just a quick one: would you replace one of the other workouts with a TBT one or add it onto the existing workout? i'm at the gym 4 times a week (twice for swimming, twice for gym workout) and would need to do the TBT at the gym. i love my swimming as i find it really relaxing, but could i do a TBT workout, then half an hour of swimming? or would you add, say, interval training after the TBT? or just leave it as a lone workout (if i've pushed myself enough, i shouldnt be able to do any intervals lol!)

thanks justin, you've been a great help :)
 
Try this:

Monday: TBT, followed by 30 mins of swimming
First workout of the week, so you'll have plenty of energy! Make a mental note of how many lengths you do in the 30 mins, time yourself strictly.

Tuesday: Yogalates

Wednesday: TBT, 30 mins Interval cardio
For the first week, the TBT may be more strain on your muscles than you are used to, so only add the intervals afterwards if you really feel you can do them with good effort!

Thursday: Yogalates

Friday: Bodypump

Sat: Swimming 1 hour
Again record how many lengths in an hour. (Roughly 100 as you said previously.)

Sun: Yoga / stretch / active recovery / whatever!


Each week, try to swim at least 2 more lengths within the 30 minute and 60 minute sessions.
 
that sounds like a plan, thanks justin.

i'm going to talk to one of the swimming coaches at the gym, as i only do breast stroke and want to improve my other strokes as well, so monday would be an ideal time to do that.

sounds like a great week! i have written down your TBT exercises from another post (where you mix and match the upper body, lower body and core exercises) to create my tbt workout, and have an appt with one of the trainers at the gym on friday who will show me how to do them properly, without risking injury (i'm a little paranoid about that sort of stuff, especially with deadlifts etc - i like my back in one piece!)

thanks again, i'll let you know how i get on with them - am roping the boyf into doing them with me, as he currently favours the bicep curl a little too much lol!

rhuba x
 
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