My Training

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerful Women
1

Hi!

It’s been quite a while since I posted here. I am a 33 year old mum to a boy who will be 3 in June. I have been weight training for a year now. I had very flabby skin and lost a lot of muscle in the past due to incorrect diets and a lot of aerobic exercise. My husband introduced me to weight training and I loved it straight away. I love the way my body is changing with bodybuilding.

I would like to gain muscle and look good. I know it’s hard and it takes time but I am determined to do it. I am setting up my own gym, which includes incline/decline/flat bench, barbell, dumbells, free weights, pec deck, lat pulldown and stationary bike. It’s very bare yet but I am going to buy more equipment soon.

It’s very important for me to have my own equipment because with a toddler I don’t have time to go to a gym (which is about an hour away). It means that I save time too.

I train 2 days on and 1 day off. On the day off I usually do cardio. I use free weights mostly. This is how I work it out:
day 1: back & hamstings (with deadlifts)& abs
day 2: chest & triceps & abs
day 3: cardio
day 4: glutes ( deadlifts), quads, calves and abs
day 5: shoulders, biceps, forearms and abs
day 6: cardio
day 7: repeat day 1

I do my workout in the morning after breakfast. I do 4 exercises per bodypart and 4 sets per exercise. I take mulitvitamins in the morning and I scoop whey postworkout.

Lately, I am feeling very tired and can’t lift as much as I used to and can’t go through all the reps either. I feel frustrated.

Any comments please?

2

What are your goals? Fat loss? Getting stronger? Specific totals to shoot for?

3

Hi! Thanks for reply. My goals are fat loss and muscle gain. I currently do 12 - 6 reps per exercise and 4 different exercise per muscle. Am I right to assume that this should lead to muscle gain?

When it comes to diet, I am hopeless.

4

[quote]tolloxtollox wrote:
Hi! Thanks for reply. My goals are fat loss and muscle gain. I currently do 12 - 6 reps per exercise and 4 different exercise per muscle. Am I right to assume that this should lead to muscle gain?

When it comes to diet, I am hopeless.[/quote]

Without a good solid diet in place, your goals will be hard to reach. Fat loss and building muscle both depend on diet first, workout plan second. I’m sure that is why you are feeling exhausted.

I know it is hard to plan your training life around children. I have three, and two of them are twin boys. But it can be done, as long as you are willing to work hard, plan your meals and when you will grocery shop, and organize your time as best as you can. You must also be dynamic, as changes to any plan can happen with a little one. And the more children you have, well, you better learn how to juggle, because you will always have many balls in the air at once, and you can’t afford to drop one of them. And it’s not really as hard as it sounds, like anything else, it gets easier with practice.

So… your workout plan is already in place, and it looks good. I really don’t know what the ideal set/rep scheme is for building muscle, but I use the old 5x5 and lift as heavy as I can for strength training.

The first thing I would do is read up on all the nutritional information here, and find something you like. I like the principles of John Berardi, called Precision Nutrition. It’s NOT a “diet”. It’s a lifestyle, with foods that your whole family will eat, so you won’t have to make special food just for yourself. But there is a wealth of free information here that you can sift through, so find something that fits.

Your hard work will pay off. Sometimes you will take 2 steps forward, only to fall 1 step back. But this is still forward motion, and moving slowly in a positive direction is better than not moving forward at all.

5

You are doing too much and from the sound of it, overtrained.

4 exercises per bodypart and 4 sets per exercise? Drop down the volume and you won’t hit a wall so soon. Do main movement and a supplementary movement per body part. You can keep everything else the same and you’ll probably feel better.

Take a light, ease-back set of workouts every fourth week - 80% of intensity (of 1 rep max weight) or 60% volume (total weight lifted) and you’ll stay in the game longer.

6

Hi Yo Momma,

Thanks What you said is true and right now I am really busy keeping up with the housework, training and studying for a new part-time job at the same time. I read John Berardi’s articles and I read loads more and I am on my way to find a diet that suits me. I will post it here for comments.

7

Hi Skidmark!

Thanks for replying to my post.

Do main movement and a supplementary movement per body part. Can you explain what you mean when you say main and supplementary movement? How many reps & sets per excersise?

Take a light, ease-back set of workouts every fourth week - 80% of intensity (of 1 rep max weight) or 60% volume (total weight lifted) and you’ll stay in the game longer.

I never tested my 1 rep max but I will. My workouts are quite long I think. I start with a 10mins bike and stretch for 5 mins then I start with 1 or 2 lightweight sets and then I start my workout and stretch at the end. Usually it takes me about 90 to 120 mins to complete the workout. However, my son is always in his playpen next to me and at times he wants my attention too. So when he is being taken care of my workout is 90 mins long, which I have to take into consideration that I have a lot of free weight exercises with dumbells and barbell and I feel that adding and removing plates from bars is quite time-consuming.

I have to work a lot on my diet though and I will post it here.

8

Hate to be asking more questions, but what exercises are you doing?

9

Hi RenegadeRose,

Don’t worry, I tend to ask too many questions too. I do lots of exercises. As for aerobic I do walking and cycling but it depends on how busy I am because I prefer working out with weights. As for weights I do back: lat pulldown, rows & deads, chest: presses & pec deck, shoulders: press &raises, biceps & forearms: curls, triceps: kickbacks or extensions, legs: squats, lunges, deads, extension and curls. I vary the workouts and I don’t do the same exercises all the time. However, how many sets and reps am I to do to gain muscle?

10

This is how I plan diet:

Breakfast: All-Bran and skimmed milk

11

Sorry pressed a button by mistake. Here I go again:

Breakfast: All-Bran/Oatmeal & skimmed milk

Train

Postworkout: 1 scoop whey and rice krispies

Meal: chicken/ fish/ beef , 2 slices multigrain bread/ rice/quinoa/pasta + veggies

Snack: 1 light yogurt and 1 fruit

Snack: 1 light yogurt and 1 fruit

Meal: salad + whey ricotta + 1 slice multigrain bread

What do you think of this? Any comments please?