Gym routines

[DWx]

I'm determined to get back in the gym (and stay in it!) for at least an hour a week when I go back to uni. Problem is I get bored and can't really structure my sessions very well. I usually just wander in and do a bit of whatever I feel like and don't really get much out of the sessions.

Anyone know any websites I can get gym programs from? Stuff like how long to spend on the treadmill in each session and what reps to work with weights each week. (Or you all could be nice and help me figure out a programme myself ).

Specifically I want to work at my cardio mainly and on my core strength as there is a tournament I want to go to in May and I'm working on getting in shape for that. Its just a standard gym with your basic equipment.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[tallgeese]

check out crossfit.com for a great core program. take some time to read the faq's and look over the exercises. Then try it for a week or so, it's the only way to get a feel for it.

[Tiger1962]

I get bored too; that's why I always work out with someone. I gotta check out this Crossfit site too.

[bushido_man96]

If your main focus is cardio, I'd try to give it 30 to 40 minutes per session. Then, do some ab work.

There are so many ways of training out there that you can probably find one that fits your schedule. Its just a matter of sifting through it all.

[Ozpunker]

A few years ago when I joined up to a gym I got a free session with a personal trainer. I told him what I wanted and he made a program to suit me. Does your gym offer a similar service? Either way, the best advice I can give is that once you have worked out a program keep a record of your progress. I used to take a folder with me to keep track of how much time/distance I traveled on tredmills/bikes/rowing machines etc aswell was kept track of what weights and reps I lifted. You can easily make up an excel spreadsheet with columns for Name of exercise, difficultly setting, time, distance, date and how you felt afterwards.

Similarly, if you use weights show what exercise/machine used, what weight, date, reps and how you felt afterwards.

The last column lets you know whether you should stick with the same settings next time or go harder.

The best thing about this system is that you have an excellent record of your progress. I used to love looking at the current page and see what weights I was lifting and then flipping back to the first page and seeing how much I had improved. It really keeps you motivated when you see results.

[JohnC]

To help boredom make sure you've set measureable goals that require you to work with intensity and keep your head in the workout. If you're listening to music, watching tv, chatting with your friend, then you're not working hard enough.

For example, I just finished an aerobics run after being off for a few months due to injury and rehabilitation (broke a toe and jammed another one). I used two pieces of equipment (a versa climber and an eliptical trainer). I trained on these 2 times per week with 3 days rest between training sessions (I'm 55 and workout every day but do different objectives (e.g. aerobic, strength, technical, fighting, flexibility) each day to give myself recovery time).

My objective was to increase my aerobic capacity so that I could maintain sustained activity for 1 hour (i.e. 1 class period). I started with 10 minutes on the versa climber at a 8 inch step and 60 RPM immediately followed by 10 minutes on the elliptical at a level 3 (out of a possible 10). My training timeframe was 12 weeks or 24 sessions. I increased the intensity of the session each time by increasing some combination of time, resistance, RPM and monitored these effects via a heart monitor to make sure I stayed in my appropriate ranges.

Bottom line is that at the end of 24 sessions (12 weeks) I was doing 30 minutes on the versa climber baselining at 8 inch steps, 60 RPM for 3 minutes (aerobic heart rate) followed by 2 minutes at 14 inch steps at 55 RPM (performance heart rate (i.e. anaerobic training)) for 6 intervals. This was immediately followed by 30 minutes on the elliptical with baselining at a level 3, 60 RPM for 3 minutes (aerobic heart rate), followed by 2 minutes at a level 8, 60 rpm (performance heart rate), for 6 intervals.

This met my original goal of sustained effort for 1 hour. I found my limiter was that my legs weren't strong enough to push the higher rates for the sustained periods. My wind was ok but my strength endurance was not.

So, I'm currently doing a 12 week session where I'm working on the elliptical (I can't easily change resistance on the versa climber) to train that. I'm starting with 30 minutes broken into 5 minute sections where I increase the resistance in each section while maintaining heart rate. I've started at level 1 - 6 in my first session to begin baselining and found I was reducing RPM by 2 - 4 beats each section to maintain heart rate. I'll increase intensity each session. My goal is to be able to maintain a 60 RPM rate moving from a level 4 to a level 10 (i.e. increasing grade / resistance) while keeping my heart rate in the high aerobic / low endurance range. As I'm also working strength in this 12 weeks, I think I'll actually better my goal, but we'll see.

Last comment is, when working with intensity be sure you give yourself appropriate recovery time. You grow stronger during recovery NOT exercise. Most people skimp on the recovery time and wind up over-training and getting injured. At my age (even as an experienced athlete), I find I need roughly 48 to 72 hours to recover from a specific type of workout. Younger folks (or better athletes) can usually get by with 24 - 48 hours.

Back to the original statement, if you work with intensity to reach specific measureable goals, you won't have time to be bored and you'll achieve results, not just spend time in the gym. The focus is to IMPROVE performance and if you don't see significant improvement over reasonable timeframes (measured in weeks not months) then your training plan needs to be changed. (For example, and no offense meant to anyone, go onto the "training log" thread, take a few people posting actual data (e.g. weights, reps, sets) and look at improvement over time.)

Hope this helps.

[Tiger1962]

To help boredom make sure you've set measureable goals that require you to work with intensity and keep your head in the workout. If you're listening to music, watching tv, chatting with your friend, then you're not working hard enough.

For example, I just finished an aerobics run after being off for a few months due to injury and rehabilitation (broke a toe and jammed another one). I used two pieces of equipment (a versa climber and an eliptical trainer). I trained on these 2 times per week with 3 days rest between training sessions (I'm 55 and workout every day but do different objectives (e.g. aerobic, strength, technical, fighting, flexibility) each day to give myself recovery time).

My objective was to increase my aerobic capacity so that I could maintain sustained activity for 1 hour (i.e. 1 class period). I started with 10 minutes on the versa climber at a 8 inch step and 60 RPM immediately followed by 10 minutes on the elliptical at a level 3 (out of a possible 10). My training timeframe was 12 weeks or 24 sessions. I increased the intensity of the session each time by increasing some combination of time, resistance, RPM and monitored these effects via a heart monitor to make sure I stayed in my appropriate ranges.

Bottom line is that at the end of 24 sessions (12 weeks) I was doing 30 minutes on the versa climber baselining at 8 inch steps, 60 RPM for 3 minutes (aerobic heart rate) followed by 2 minutes at 14 inch steps at 55 RPM (performance heart rate (i.e. anaerobic training)) for 6 intervals. This was immediately followed by 30 minutes on the elliptical with baselining at a level 3, 60 RPM for 3 minutes (aerobic heart rate), followed by 2 minutes at a level 8, 60 rpm (performance heart rate), for 6 intervals.

This met my original goal of sustained effort for 1 hour. I found my limiter was that my legs weren't strong enough to push the higher rates for the sustained periods. My wind was ok but my strength endurance was not.

So, I'm currently doing a 12 week session where I'm working on the elliptical (I can't easily change resistance on the versa climber) to train that. I'm starting with 30 minutes broken into 5 minute sections where I increase the resistance in each section while maintaining heart rate. I've started at level 1 - 6 in my first session to begin baselining and found I was reducing RPM by 2 - 4 beats each section to maintain heart rate. I'll increase intensity each session. My goal is to be able to maintain a 60 RPM rate moving from a level 4 to a level 10 (i.e. increasing grade / resistance) while keeping my heart rate in the high aerobic / low endurance range. As I'm also working strength in this 12 weeks, I think I'll actually better my goal, but we'll see.

Last comment is, when working with intensity be sure you give yourself appropriate recovery time. You grow stronger during recovery NOT exercise. Most people skimp on the recovery time and wind up over-training and getting injured. At my age (even as an experienced athlete), I find I need roughly 48 to 72 hours to recover from a specific type of workout. Younger folks (or better athletes) can usually get by with 24 - 48 hours.

Back to the original statement, if you work with intensity to reach specific measureable goals, you won't have time to be bored and you'll achieve results, not just spend time in the gym. The focus is to IMPROVE performance and if you don't see significant improvement over reasonable timeframes (measured in weeks not months) then your training plan needs to be changed. (For example, and no offense meant to anyone, go onto the "training log" thread, take a few people posting actual data (e.g. weights, reps, sets) and look at improvement over time.)

Hope this helps.

This is helpful information. My ortho doc gave me some tips on exercise rehabbing from an injury but it doesn't seem to be good for me.

By the way, what brand/kind of heart monitor did you use?

[JohnC]

I happen to have a Nike but pretty much any of the name brand combination chest strap / wrist watch units will probably do the job.

[DWx]

Thanks for the help guys. Will definately have to check out the crossfit website sometime.

To Ozpunker: I'm not sure if they have personal trainers there. The gym I was going to join is basically just a suite attached to this sports centre. There is a proper gym nearby with the full works like a sauna, pool and personal trainers, but its like 3x the price.

I was going to record the reps and amounts I was doing. I even bought a diary to write it in .

To JohnC: Thanks. I guess the reason I get bored most of the time is I go in and don't have a clue what sort of intensity I want to work at or what I want to get out of it. And the intensities I used to work at weren't enough (and I was working to what the trainer suggested).

Would you recommend getting a heart rate monitor then?

[JohnC]

You and most other folks that show up to the gym. Additionally, there's a lot of confusing information out there, sometimes done in good faith but due to objectives being different and/or legal considerations entering into it (for example, caveat: I am not a doctor so all information given is used at your own risk and should be validated by a licensed competent physician before being attempted ).

Be careful with "personal trainers", to state part of the definition given in "the American College of Sports Medicine's (ACSM) "Resources for the Personal Trainer" (2nd Edition) "A personal trainer is proficient in ..... leading and demonstrating safe and effective methods of exercise, and motivating individuals to begin and to continue with their healthy behaviors." or said another way personal trainers help enable clients to live a healthy lifestyle (upon which agreement in detail is very hard to come by ). The operative words are "safe" and "healthy lifestyle". However what happens many times operationally is that the above translates into "no risk and no possibility of injury" which essentiallly leads to ineffective workouts. In contrast a "coach's" objective is to make you excellent at your chosen sport. IMO, if you want to get good you need a coach not a personal trainer.

That said, physical training is driven from specific training objectives / goals not "need to work out". Thus, the first question is what do you want to get better at? and why? For example, in my example above I identified that my strength endurance wasn't good enough so I specifically designed something to address that weakness and then began training it. This is a very different mindset than "let's go pump some iron". So, you need to look at your entire ability to perform and (probably with discussion with your instructor) identify one or two things that will boost you to a 'whole 'nother level' of performance. Then train those things.

Knowledge is many times as hard won as skill. It usually means you have to work through a lot a chaff to get a few kernals of wheat. As a beginning, you might take a read through "Athletic Development, The Art & Science of Functional Sports Conditioning" by Vern Gambetta, published by Human Kinetics. It's a good all around primer. It's on Amazon for around $16 delivered. If you want to continue then start looking in the "health and nutrition" sections of most bookstores for books on "sports science".

Athletic Development will give you an understanding of WHY exercise is done and how each kind of exercise trains the body. To be effective the right kind of training must be matched to the objective. For example, using weights to increase aerobic capacity (something I've actually heard some personal trainers say) borders on being just plain silly.

Yes, I would recommend using a heart rate monitor. The reason a heart monitor is good is that it gives you actual feedback on how your body is performing during cardio exercise. Other measures (e.g. blood pressure, oxygen uptake) are also important but require expensive gear and are a pain to measure during exercise. For training purposes I use the following scale to measure intensity. Take 220 and subtract you age. This gives you your top training heart rate. Then:

90% - 100% = Anaerobic

80% - 90% = Aerobic

70% - 80% = Recovery

Below 70% = Cool Down

For me at 55, this leads to heartbeat ranges of:

148 - 165 Anaerobic

132 - 147 Aerobic

115 - 131 Recovery

Please realize that these are general rules of thumb and can change significantly for a particular individual based upon age, condition, weight, health, etc.

One last thought: true anaerobic intensity can't be sustained past about 2 minutes. Thus we do interval training. When working at these intensities, you risk hurting yourself if you don't pay attention (i.e. keep your head in the workout and disappear the distractions). Learn to listen to your body and if you feel something isn't right then STOP. There's a difference between discomfort and pain. Be gentle with yourself while still pushing to achieve your goals. Training is a life time habit and that means there's always tomorrow to come back and try again. If you're not up to it today, schedule a session for tomorrow. Just make sure you show up

Hope this helps.