I have been exercising all my life but really with no idea what I'm doing. I've tried reading some of the advice on here but half the terms are beyond my comprehension. Could someone have a read of my routine and offer any advice you think necessary, if possible in simple terms.

I am about to turn 42 and my goal is to be more toned and lose some weight around my lower stomach. I've always exercied but only about 18 months ago started weight training. I'm 182 cm tall and about 79 kg. Only my lower stomach appears fat, the top half is actually toned.

I exercise at eight every morning and always do cardio first then weight training. I've tried to switch it up but mentally cardio is easier for me. Before I exercise I have a banana and a protein shake. Again probably for mental reasons I seem to have a better workout if I take protein pre-workout.

Here's my routine.

Sunday: I never do anything more than washing my car.

Monday: 1 hour run (10 to 12k). Chin ups (pyramid), push ups (3 sets of as many as I can do), chest & back (I use machines and do 3 sets increasing the weight each time but doing less repititions, something like 15, 8, 5).

Tuesday: run, chin ups, push ups as before. Stomach and lower back

Wednesday: run, chin ups, push ups as before. Biceps and Triceps. Usually about 8 sets with no rhyme or reason. Recently my forearm has been really painful on the thumb side especially at the start. Though if I build up with lower weights I can eventually manage a workout. But I'm going to have to give dumbell curls a rest soon.

Thursday: I rest

Friday: In the scenario above I would do Monday's routine. The following Monday would then become the above Tuesday's routine and so on.

Saturday: I play tennis from April to November. From December to March I go to the gym.


My right shoulder tends to get sore easily to I tent to avoid some of the machines that cause my shoulder any pain.


Any thoughts?

Hi Morton

well as far as the lower stomach area is concerned, that (for me) is one of the last places I lose fat. If you want to see more muscle and get rid of that, then it is your diet that you need to focus on.

Of course the cardio and the weights will help make it happen faster. However you don't seem to be working out your entire body. You are going to want to have a well balanced routine.

So you are doing 4 days fixed, 2 days of rest, one "flexible"?

You might want to break it up into areas of the body instead of exercises, then find the exercises for that area of the body you are working out. So you have:

Chest
Back
Legs
Abs
Shoulders
Triceps
Biceps

Create a split routine like:

Day 1 Chest and Abs
Day 2 Back and shoulders
Day 3 Legs, biceps and triceps

You can fit the cardio in wherever (It is time consuming to do weights and cardio together all the time) Since you work out 5 days, you could do cardio on the other two days.

But I will mention again, Diet is critical. All the cardio and weights won't help if you don't have a clean diet.....

Hope this helps