Is my workout ok?

[happynatsu]

Hello guys!
I am new here and especially I am new with exercise.
I joined a gym 5 weeks ago but I am not pretty much sure of what I'm doing.

I weight 77.7 kg now, am 165cm tall and I hit the gym 5 times a week. In 20 days I skipped 3. I do not do any exercise on saturdays and sundays.

At the moment my workout is as follows:

Strength: pectoral machine 10 kg 3sets 20reps
INNER/OUTER THIGH 30kg 3 sets 20reps ( too much? but my muscles don t get sore much...)
LAT PULLDOWN 20 kg 3 sets 15 reps
GLUTEUS (? the one for your butt) 20 kg 3 sets 15 reps
Upper Abs (no machine) 3 sets 20 reps
Lower Abs (no machine) 3 sets 20 reps ( this REALLY hurts)
Lateral abs 3minutes with 3kg dumbells
Squats ( I hold myself to a rack that is there) 3 sets 15 reps

The whole things isn t too exhausting except for abs and squats. It takes me 30 minutes to get it all done.

Cardio : 30 minutes walking ( on the treadmill)
20 minutes stepper
10 minutes stationary bike

My week goes like this:

Mon : Cardio & Strength
Tue: Cardio
Wed: Cardio & Strenght
Thur: Cardio
Fri: Cardio & Strenght

Since I have no experience whatsoever ( besides 1 month of gym 2 years ago) I am wondering whether I am doing too much or too little or not often enough. Also, is my strength training missing something? After one month I haven t noticed significant change in shape or proportion or volume...cm also stay the same.

Enlighten me!

[liv]

Re: Is my workout ok?

I think it is good if you like it. What you want to do once in a while is mix it up. You do not want to do the same routing week after week.
Does your gym offer an hour with a trainer? Often they will have very valuable tips of what to do.
Here are my thoughts.
You may want to exercise your major big muscles more - that means leg muscles. I would do some lunges - forward and backward ones. I don't think those inner and outer tigh machines with weights are great for ladies (you are a lady? I don't know) Better would be to do some simple leg raises from a laying position.
You should do something for chest - so chest presses may be good and of course push ups - few exercises beat push ups.
I would add some tricep dips and some bicep curls. If this is too much for one day. Just do some one day and others the next day

Step your cardio a bit when you are ready - walk very fast or run a bit

[happynatsu]

Re: Is my workout ok?

Hi Liv, thanks for your reply!
Indeed my routine IS quite boring...
I was thinking I should add a sport or yoga to mix it up. I could run for about 10 minutes at a slow pace, but I prefer walking, don t like running, so probably I ll stick with it.
There is a trainer at my gym, but I dont trust him much, honestly, he gives all the fatty ladies ( regardless of age ) the same workout, and I immediately found it was too light for me, it barely got me sweaty. I'll definitely follow your advice and add lunges,pushups tricep dips and bicep curls ( ugh XD )
Thank you!

[chinadoll]

Re: Is my workout ok?

I prefer free weights to machines- if you know what you are doing. Your workout should be tough enough that you can do 2-3 sets of 15 and are sore the next day. Not killer can't move kind of sore, but yeah, the muscles know they worked kind of sore. I agree with liv that pushups, chest presses and large muscle work on the upper body is important. And if you work the chest, work the back too so you stay balanced. Always start with the muscles closest to the trunk and work outward as you warm up. For example, do chest, back, chest, back, shoulder, then arms. For lower body, squats, abs, then lunges, then calves. Pullovers, seated row, bent over rows, lat pulldowns are all possibilities there. You should only work a muscle group every other day so you may want to do a harder upper body on day one and then a harder lower body with more squats, lunges, step ups, etc. on Day 2. Then keep alternating. If you finish with upper on Friday, start with Lower on Monday.

Another way to work for weight loss is to do upper monday, lower tuesday, a good long cardio on wednesday, upper thurs, lower friday, and a long slow cardio on Sat or Sunday (long hike or walk or bike ride).

Do talk to the trainer and tell him you want a program adapted to your goals and tell him what you thought of the first workout he gave you. Sometimes trainers don't you like a serious client because thay have a lot of clients who aren't serious about their goals. If he doesn't come through, then get yourself a good book on women's weight training and read it well to make sure you use proper form and don't injure yourself.