Hello,

I have been trying to excerise for over a year now and I just think I have been doing it all wrong so I'm trying to do my homework.

I am a working mother of 3 who also attends school....so my time is extremely pressed. Most weeks I can fors ure work out on Wed, Thurs and Sundays. But I try to on the other days too but kids activities get in the way sometimes. So three days for sure and sometimes more if I'm lucky.

Now with that, I read that I should do weights 3 x's a week so for those 3 days should I do cardio and lift for sure? Then if I get the opportunity to work out on other days just do cardio?

With Cardio how many min should I warm up and cool down? If I am on a treadmill and doing 30min, is 5min walking 20min jog 5min walking good? Or should I walk less? I am going to try to do HIIT too. How many times a week should I do this and should I do it on the same days I lift? with HIIT I am going to walk 5min, run 1, walk 1 etc to 20min then walk 5min. Can this also be done with a jump rope? Like treadmill walk 5min 1 jump rope fast, then 1 min slow, 1min fast to 20 min then walk on the treadmill for 5 again?

I lifted heaver weights last night. 15lbs for biceps/chest/back and 8lbs for shoulders/triceps but I wasn't sore today...may just a very little bit. Normally I use 5lbs and 8lbs. AM I supposed to be sore? I'm going to buy 10lbs today and stick with 15lbs and 10lbs. I'm only 5ft 114lbs so I'm thinking that should be enough weight for me and I do have a hard time getting to 10 reps.

Thanks in advance for any replies!

You need to constantly increase the intensity of your weight workout or your body gets used to it the beneficial effect decreases. There are few simple ways to do this:
1. increase the reps
2. decrease the rest periods
3. increase the weight
4. Increase the volume or number of sets
The simplest scheme most people use is to do as many reps as they can with a given weight and if it exceeds a target number increase the weight on the next set and if the number of reps is less than a target then decrease the weight on the next set. For example, say you set 10-15 reps as your target range. If you can do more than 15 reps increase the weight. If you can not do at least 10 reps decrease the weight. Over time you should get stronger and soon should be using 25 pounds for some exercises.

You mentioned the body parts that you lift weights for, but did not mention anything for lower body. You need to do at least these one of each of these 6 movements:
1. quads: squats, lunges...
2. rear chain: deadlifts, good mornings...
3. horizontal pull: bent rows...
4. vertical pull: chins, pulldowns...
5. horzontal push: bench press, pushups...
6. vertical push: overhead press...

Ha I can just feel your excitement! Let me try and keep things really simple for you as to not confuse.

If you have 3 days you know you can get in a solid workout then here is what you should think of doing...

Mix Push/Pull with Full Body workout, compound movements, followed up with HIIT of 10-15 mins.

The other days try to get in general activity in where you can.

DIET< DIET<DIET is going to be key.

If any of that is confusing just read around the forums a little for the answer or post a question back in here.

If I can try to HIIT and lift on different days should I?

I do leg exercises sorry forgot to mention, squats with weights on my shoulders, out and inner leg lifts standing (going to buy 5lbs ankle weights for that tonight or is a resistance band better?), lunges holding weights, leg lifts while on hand and knees - basically I try to altername and do 3 sets of about 8-12reps and do about 3 different legs exercises to work my butt, and inner/outer thighs.

What is push pull?

Also don't you have to eventually stop adding weight? Or don't you eventually get to a point where you just are so fit?
I mean I dont want to lift 25lbs that seems a bit high for my size?? My goal is purely to be lean and tone not at all bulky or too mucular. I can see increasing reps of a heavy weight for me like 15lbs. is this wrong?

Thanks for the replies!

As i said in the other thread you made. Do NOT use them.

A resistance band is much better nad much more likely not to cause injury

Agreed Silent.

Ankle weights are not safe to use and gives you the problems silent has listed. Not to mention in just a fat loss/training sense...what is 5lb ankle weights going to do even if they weren't dangerous...nothing dear.

In general you are needing a lot more education so if you really want to bump up your body and knowledge then read the following, then if you have any more questions we will be more than happy to answer.

This is going to explain why you wont get bulky...
http://training.fitness.com/womens-w...uth-21918.html

This is going to explain general weight training
http://training.fitness.com/weight-t...1-a-17439.html

This is going to explain how to up your weights and judge overall intensity
The Fat Loss Troubleshooter: No Pain, No gain (updated)