This will be a long one. I am keeping track in excel, and printing yesterdays page to take to the gym. I make sure I do at least as much as yesterday. Any advice would be appreciated. Keep in mind, I recently went from exercise-is-evil to I-actually-like-this. So, my knowledge base is minimal but growing fast. For weights, I am currently trying a pyramid approach I read about ay Bally's. I lower the weights for each set. Here is what I am currently doing.

Cardio: 30 minutes on elliptical with the arms keeping heart rate at or above 150. I had been up to 37 minutes when I was using the treadmill at an incline, but the elliptical seems to tire me faster.

Stretches:
arm circles
triceps
upper back and chest (handcuffs)
spine twist
hamstring
groin
quads
calf


Loose Weights/Rope reps
pounds left / rt / together
LOOSE - overhead 10 10 /10 /10
LOOSE - kickback thing 10 15 /15 / 0
ROPE - bicep 30 15 /15 /10
ROPE - angle pulldown 30 0 /0 /15
ROPE - rope pulldown 30 0 /0 /20


weight/rep weight/rep weight/rep
ROTARY TORSO 60/12 50/12 40/12 30/12
LATERAL RAISE 30/15 15/15
VERTICAL ROW BACK 30/25 15/15
INCLINE CHEST PRESS 30/10 20/12 15/12
PULLDOWN BACK 60/10 50/10 40/10

GLUTS on MUTLI-HIP 280/10 270/10 260/10
HIP ADDUCTOR 90/15 80/15 70/15 60/15
HIP ABDUCTOR 85/10 75/10 65/10 55/12
LEG EXTENSION 90/10 75/10 60/12
SEATED LEG CURL 105/10 90/10 75/10 60/12
CALF MACHINE 160/10 150/10 let calves stretch
LEG SLED 100/10 80/10 60/10 40/12


I read a book that says you sould warm up, stretch, main workout, then cooldown. I have been doing cardio then weights then stretch. I think I might try 5 minutes on the treadmill, stretch, weights, then cardio, then 5 minutes of slow walk.

I strarted a few months ago. Some have changed dramatically. The hip exercises used to be 60 pounds now they are 90. Others like legs haven't changed. My arms are obviously weak. Only recently added arms.

Ok, I tried doing weights before cardio. Did not work! My legs were tired 7 minutes into it. They have never gotten tired before. I could only do 20 of my 30 minutes. Maybe if I had an arm weight training day only, then it might be OK.

Hey Susan,
Thanks for the visit to my gym log. The reason I put my smallest weight first is: if I am doing 3 sets of 10, and I do the 1st set, I may realize that that weight is too easy so I increase it for the next two sets.....or......I may do 3 sets of an exercise but I lower the reps after each one. For e.g., I do curls and I do one set of 10 reps, then one set of 8 reps, then one set of 6 reps. I would keep increasing the weight each set... so if I can curl 20lbs for 10 reps, maybe I can do 25lbs for 8 reps, and 30lbs for 6 reps..... That is why my weight goes from less to more during my reps.

Was that helpful? I hope I explained that well so it makes sense.

I had a really good workout yesterday. After my last workout, I dropped three pounds that night. I know the weight was coming off eventually, because I'd been really good, in ketosis, and no weight loss. But, now I'm like the athlete who wears the same socks after winning a game.

I moved the leg weights to the beginning of my workout. So that my legs would have a little chance to recover. I work my legs out pretty hard. It all worked pretty well. My legs did get tired during cardio, but only in a good way. I made the full 30 minutes.

I had a really good workout yesterday. I think I am going to stick with the broad plan of:
5 minute warmup on the treadmill at flat incline
stretch - I love that
Weight Train
Cardio
Try to include a cool-down, but that's usually a walk to the car because I shower at home.

I added the stairmaster to my workout yesterday. I could only handle 8 minutes. Even then my arms were leaning heavily on the machine. It said I did 32 floors. That can't be right. Me? 32 floors? That's 16 stories? That doesn't seem possible. Afterward I did 28 minutes on the treadmill at an incline. I would have done 30, but I really, really had to pee.

I think I am going to try to add 1 minute every workout to the stairs. I bet it will give me a really good butt.

My workout yesterday was the same as before except I cut out the glut exercise at the beginning of weight training. I figure the stair master does that. I did about 9.5 minutes. About half of that I was leaning on the arm holds, and the other half I was standing basically tall. I don't understand how that things counts floors. It said I did 40-something floors. There is no way I did that many.

Workout was the same as yesterday, except I made it to 10 minutes on the stairmaster. It keeps telling me I'm going to fast, 8 floors per minute. I don't understand. It wants 4 floors per minute. I feel like I'm crawling at that pace. So, I ignore the machine and watch my heart rate. I love those little chest bands that measure heart rate.

My workout was the same except I made it 11 minutes on the stairmaster, and 90 floors. I figured out the too fast thing. I entered a higher effort level. It did not increase the resistance, but it did increase the goal speed. I had been ignoring the goal speed and watching my heart rate, but that way it stopped beeping at me telling me I was going too fast.

I had been confused about something. On the Hip adductor machine, I have gone from a starting weight of 60, to 105 in just a couple of months. But on the Leg extension machine, I am still at 90 pounds. And that 90 pounds is still really hard on the last few rep's. My boyfriend explained it to me. The quad's being such a big muscle, that we use all the time, you have to really work it out for a long time to see progress on the weights you lift.