Newbie needing some advice....!

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pommychic

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Hi there~!

I have just started taking weights seriously in the gym. Normally I just muck around on the cardio machines but I have been doing some research and decided that I dont just want to be a smaller shape to what I am at the moment- I actually want to sculpt and tone my body.

I am confused by the conflicting information that lurks in magazines and on the internet!

Please can you give me your opinion on what I am doing at the moment... (by the way I am a 39 year old lady and currently weigh 147 pounds and am 5"5 inches.) I am about ten pounds heavier than I would like to be through kicking a smoking habit to touch :) and I would like to get into my jeans again. I would like to feel good about my body on the outside as I do from the inside. I would love to look great in a bikini and also see some muscle definition.

So I am getting up at dawn every morning and hitting the gym alternating from upper body/ lower body and cardio. I must say it is getting addictive!

I am generally doing 5 sets of 5 exercises 12/10/8/6 reps and then another exercise for the same muscle with 12 reps. I am trying to increase the weight on the last set. I found this weight training programme on the internet.

Is it okay to do a bit of cardio before I start on the weights on non-cardio days? And is it true that doing cardio AFTER weight training is bad for your muscles as it is burning away what you are trying to build up?

Also should you try and do a bit of cardio in between your weights workout? Like Jillian Michaels says ts good to keep your heart racing whilst lifting weights?

Eating - I am not dieting but trying to eat healthily. I am drinking protein shakes after working out.

One thing I have noticed since starting out is a few kilos of weight gain! Is this normal? I know muscle weighs more than fat but is this likely to be the case so early on or am I kidding myself??

Thanks in advance for any advice given!
 
I'm a bit confused about what you're doing with the weights. Could you write up an example weight-training day with every exercise, set and rep listed?

I wouldn't do much cardio before weights, other than a light warm up, because it's more likely to reduce the quality of your weight training. Technically speaking, cardio after weights can also be bad for body composition purposes because it can interfere with protein synthesis (or something along those lines), but I wouldn't get too paranoid about it. Do cardio afterwards if you want to, or don't, either's probably fine in reality. So long as you have decent pre and post-workout nutrition, it shouldn't make much difference.

I wouldn't put cardio in the middle of a strength training session. Jillian Michaels isn't a reliable resource for fitness information.

In the first few weeks of strength training, people tend to get a lot of swelling and inflammation along with water retention (or they go the other way and rrapidly drop water weight), which then dissipates about 3-6 weeks in. I wouldn't get too alarmed about any weight gain you've experienced since starting weight training, if your eating habits have been consistent with what you were doing prior to the training adjustment. However, if you haven't been consistent with the types and amount of food that you're eating, then you may need to keep a closer tab on your eating habits to make sure that you're eating appropriately for your body composition goals.
 
Hi there

Thanks for your reply..

I am following the Body for Life weight training programme. No doubt you will be familiar with it? If not, splitting the days into upper body/cardio/lower body. There are five exercises to do for each workout and for each muscle group I choose one exercise from a selection and then do four sets of the following reps 12/10/8/6 trying to increase the weight as the reps decrease. Then I choose one other move and do 12 reps of a manageable weight.
 
I would think that is NOT a very good set/rep arrangement for a beginner. I would recommend a three sets of 12 reps per exercise to start. First set a warm up with about 20% less than the other 2 sets. The weight for the other 2 sets (working sets) should be such that you can just do 12 reps in good form. Add a small increment of weight each week or two to keep progressing. After 6-8 weeks switch to a different routine, maybe the same 12 rep warm up set and 3 working sets of 8-10 reps.
 
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