Tell me about your workout

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I just thought it might be fun to share our workout regimens with each other and maybe be inspired by each other. I’m currently working out for five days a week for about an hour a day. I don’t have specific workouts assigned to specific days of the week, because it’ll change around a little depending on what else I have in my schedule each week.

One day during the week I work out my lower body, arms, and abs. I have two different workouts that I alternate (Workout A and Workout B) to keep things interesting. It’s usually either squats or deadlifts plus some assistance exercises. Then I do two bicep exercises (typically three sets each), two triceps exercises, and two abs exercises. (Unless I’m feeling ambitious, then I do a 15 minute abs DVD instead.)

One day during the week I work out my back, chest, and shoulders. Again, I have a Workout A and a Workout B. In one workout, I’ll start out by maxing out on pull-ups, and the next week by maxing out on push-ups. Then I go ahead and do two additional exercises for each body part (a combination of flyes, chest presses, rows, shoulder press, and shoulder raises).

One day I go to a High Intensity Interval Training class at my gym.

One day I run to work and back (4 miles each way).

And I take one day off during the week to go get my weekly allergy shots before work.

On the weekends, I go running one day (typically between 4 and 7 miles, depending on how ambitious I’m feeling), and take the other day off.

FWIW I’m a female, 25 years old.

2

I’m just getting back in to it after a knee injury in February, but still can’t run, so I’ve been biking a lot. I ride my road bike to and from work most days (about three or four days a week), which takes about 60 minutes total. I hate doing weights type exercises on my own, so rely on classes for that - right now I’m doing a twice a week bootcamp class. If I feel up to it, I’ll do the TRX class at the gym at my work, but I’m usually pretty sore, so don’t do that regularly.

On the weekend I usually go for one long ride (60 - 100 km). I generally take one day off a week.

ETA: Female, 31

3

Monday: 20 mins walk the dog, 10 mins walk on track, ~50min abs/back/chest/triceps, 30 min single-level elliptical

Tuesday: 20 mins walk the dog, 10 mins walk on track, 30 mins variable level elliptical (“cross country” program)

Wednesday: 20 mins walk the dog, 10 mins walk on track, ~50 mins legs/biceps/shoulders, 30 min single-level elliptical

Thursday: 20 mins walk the dog, 10 mins walk on track, 30 mins variable level elliptical (“cross country” program)

Friday: 20 mins walk the dog, 15 mins walk in pool, 30 mins swim in pool, 15 mins walk in pool

Saturday: 20 mins walk the dog

Sunday: 20 mins walk the dog

That’s a perfect week, of course :slight_smile: My workouts take precedent over a lot of stuff but I do have room to shuffle them around or sometimes just skip.

Female, 33, 100# overweight

4

At the gym:

M/Th chest/back
Tu/F shoulders/arms
W/Sa hips/legs
Core every day, change up set/reps every couple of months

Handcycle:

Every day 5 miles round trip to gym, 17 miles round trip to coaching job(M-F), off season 10-20 miles/day
Sunday-long ride 25-30 miles
extra miles running errands as needed(no car)

5

Male, 56.

Walk the dog seven days a week, 60-75 mins.

Weights, 3 days a week, usually Tues-Thurs-Sat.

Tuesday -
[ul][li]Warm up, various core exercises on the rubber ball.[/li][li]Crunches, 100 on the floor, 50 seated.[/li][li]Back extensions to parallel on the Roman chair - 70.[/li][li]Cybex lower back machine - one set of 8 with 75, one set of 10-12 with 140.[/li][li]Bench press - 6x135, 10x185, 10x205, 3-4 sets of 4-6x225.[/li][li]Close grip bench press - 2 sets of 8x165.[/li][li]One arm rows - 10x140, 10x150, 10x160, each arm.[/li][li]Straight arm pullovers - 12x75, 15x85.[/li][li]Hack squats - 10x180, 10x220, 15x240.[/li][li]Dumbbell shoulder press, seated - 8x30s, 10x35s.[/li][li]Cable biceps curls - 10x35s, alternating arms, non-stop.[/ul][/li]Thursday
[ul][li]Same warm up, crunches, and lower back work.[/li][li]Incline barbell press - 10x115, 10x135, 10x155 (or dumbbell incline presses, 10x50s, 10x60s, 10x70s).[/li][li]Lat pulldowns - 10x175, 10x185, 10x195.[/li][li]Dumbbell upright rows - 2 sets of 10x40s.[/li][li]Dips - bodyweight only, one set of 17 and one set to failure (usually 20).[/li][li]One leg press - 3x15x155, each leg, supersetted with[/li][li]One leg calf press, 3 sets of 15x155. I do these non-stop.[/li][li]Triceps pushdowns - 3 sets of 10x120.[/li][li]Laterals - 10x25s, 10x30s.[/li][li]Dumbbell hammer curls, 3 sets of 10x40s.[/ul][/li]Saturday -
[ul][li]Same warmup, core, crunches, lower back work.[/li][li]Dumbbell bench press - 10x55s, 10x65s, 10x75s, 10x80-90s.[/li][li]Dumbbell front raises - 2 sets of 10x25s.[/li][li]Cable rows - 1 set of 12x145, 2 sets of 12x155.[/li][li]Decline dumbbell pullovers - 2 sets of 15x75.[/li][li]Regular leg press - 3 sets of 15x320.[/li][li]Calf press - 3 sets of 15x320.[/li][li]Standing dumbbell curls - 1 set of 10x35s, 2 sets. of 10x40s.[/li][li]Triceps pushdowns - palm up, 3 sets of 10x60, each arm.[/li][/ul]Lots of stretching at home.

Regards,
Shodan

6

I used to upper body exclusively. Bench, incline bench, butterfly, curls, triceps. Since I had ACL surgery almost 8 months ago I’ve been rehabbing that, so lots of leg press and hamstring curls. Up until a couple weeks ago I was capping off workouts with 30-45 min. eliptical but now I can actually jog, so do a mile after the lifting. Thank goodness for that because I never feel like I’m getting good enough cardio on the elliptical.

Typically what happens during a workout at the gym is the basketball court tempts me and I end up ditching the workout to play ball, although since the knee injury it’s just a shoot around by myself.

7

I’d love to tell you all about it, but people here and on some snarkier boards got all over my shit for talking about it all the time. It got really ugly and I vowed to never mention it again, lest I be saddled with either the “one trick pony” label or the “attention whore” label. I’m neither, I just happen to be really, really into this one form of fitness and am stunned and amazed at the results. And really proud of how it made me look. But every time I use the words, I can hear the eyes rolling all across the internets, which sucks, but maybe marathon runners get the same thing when they start beating their drum, I dunno.

All I can tell you is I go 1-2 hours a night, 4-5 nights a week and it’s the perfect combination of resistance and cardio. It works legs, core, abs, back, shoulders, arms, pretty much everything.

Oh, and there’s also a 20-30 minute dog walk every day to add to my cardio.

8

I run five days a week, thirty minutes a day. Sometimes longer on weekends, time and how I’m feeling permitting. Oh, and sometimes one of the runs is with the Hash House Harriers, which means that a) it’s a bit longer, b) I tend to run harder and c) any calories burned are completely outweighed by the copious amounts of beer consumed after.

9

I’m newly unemployed and it’s early summer, so I’ve been taking full advantage of local parks. I hike up on the bluffs over the river in one of the nearby state parks about 3 times a week. My favorite hike is a very hilly 2-hour hike along the cliffs, then down at the river, then through the woods.

If I don’t hike there, I usually take a walk around the lake at my second favorite park. I really need to hie myself to the gym and lift weights, but I’m stressed out because I don’t have a job and being outside helps me distract myself.

When I go to the gym (I try for 2 times a week, but it usually winds up being 1), I usually use the elliptical for 30 minutes, then lift for 30.

10

I have three different workouts and I do each one for 2 or 3 months, then move to one of the other ones, just to keep from stagnating. One is the Tough Mudderworkout, one is a bunch of suspension training exercises using TRX straps, and this is my current one:

Mon/Wed/Fri- at gym, generally upper body & cardio:
-10 pushups and then 10 burpees; that’s 1 set, I do 6 (at the moment- adding a set each week)
-incline bench, dumbbell supersets: using 3 sets of dumbbells (25, 30 & 35 lb, low to high), do 3 sets of presses (14, 12, 10 reps); then for the 2nd set, reduce reps by 2 (12, 10 & 8), then reduce them again for the 3rd set (10, 8 & 6). So I do the higher number of presses with the lower weight, then work up in weight but down in reps.
-incline bench, deltoid flys- 20 lb dumbbells, sit facing the seatback, do 3 sets of 12-15 reps.
-flat bench, dumbbell flys- 30 lbs, 3 sets of 12-15 reps.
-seated dumbbell curls- 25 lbs, 3 sets, 15 reps.
-standing barbell curls- 50 lbs, 3 sets, palm down curls, 12-15 reps.
-standing barbell raises- 50 lbs, 3 sets, pull bar straight up to my chin, elbows out, 12-15 reps.
-cooldown.

Tues/Thur- run around neighborhood before work, 3.1 miles.

Sat or Sun- run, 5-8 miles.

11

Honestly, I think being outside in the fresh air trumps any weight lifting in the gym. If I had the time to take hikes like you do, that’s all I’d do too!

12

I’ve been fine-tuning my workout over several years and I like where it is now. Until just about two months ago I did cardio separately, but because it was just getting to be too much to do it separate, I ended up just tacking it onto the end of my workouts. I do a 4-day split and each one takes a little over 2 hours total including 25-30 minutes of intense cardio at the end. Most of what I do is either pyramid sets or super sets and I change around the orders a little bit from week to week to get a little bit of difference in emphasis. I also tend to break down my routine into major movements first, followed by machines or cables or secondary movements.

Chest day:

5-6 pyramid sets Flat Dumbell Benchpress
4-5 pyramid sets Inclined Dumbell Benchpress
4 pyramid sets Declined Dumbell Benchpress

4 sets Intercostal Cable Twists
4 sets Declined Cable Flies
4 sets Inclined Cable Flies
4 sets Cable Pull overs

3 sets Flat Dumbell Flies
3 sets Kickbacks
3 sets Wirst flexes in 4 directions

Leg Day:

6 pyramid sets Squats or Leg Press (typically alternate, last set is moderate weight to burnout at about 45-50 reps)
6 pyramid sets Standing Calf Raises
6 pyramid sets of Seated Calf Raises

5 sets Leg Curls
5 sets Leg Extensions
5 sets Thigh Adductions
5 sets Thigh Abductions

~350 Weighted Crunches

Shoulder Day:

6 pyramid sets Dumbell Shoulder Press
5 pyramid sets Rear Deltoid Flies
5 pyramid sets Lateral Deltoid Raises
5 pyramid sets of Shrugs

4 Sets of Hyper Extensions
4 sets of Oblique Bends to each side
Various other Abwork (crunches, jacknives, etc)

Back Day:

6 pyramid sets Lat Pulldowns
6 pyramid sets Dumbell Rows
4 sets Reverse Grip Isolateral Pulldowns
4 sets Isolateral High Rows

5 sets Lower Ab leg lifts
10 sets Various Bicep work (Curl Bar, Dumbell,Preacher, Strive, Run the Rack, etc.)

13

I have been doing CrossFit workouts 4 or 5 times a week before work each morning. I have ice hockey league on Mondays and Thursday nights, do an endurance workout on Saturdays (either a long run of 15 to 50 miles or a mountain bike ride in the 30 to 70 mile range), and do tempo runs for speed one day a week a lunchtime.

14

Male, 42

Dropped about 70 to 80 pounds over the past couple years; 20 to 30 to go (volume/clothes-fitting dependant, not scale).

Depending on scheduling, four to six times a week cardio consists of time on a Norditrack elliptical:
Ten minute warm-up to get heart into high zone 2 (on a Polar HRM).
Seventy minutes primarily in zone 3, occasionally dipping into zone 2.
At the forty minute mark I change the elliptical’s ‘incline’ from 0 to maximum (scare quotes because its incline is not like a treadmill’s).
Ten minute cool-down to gradually lower heart-rate.

Heavy object time two to three times a week. Trainer comes to the house and I do what she tells me to. Mostly free weights, though there are long spans of working with the TRX strappy-thing (or balancing on a squooshy semicircle while flailing, etc.). Oh, and squats. Lots and lots of squats. And bodyweight ab things. Again, what she tells me to do.

I grew up pudgy and miles from being called athletic. No interest in bulking up so I can kick sand in that guy’s face (70s comic book readers know who), but the frame is amazingly different. Still a ways to go, but it will be interesting to see what I look like when I finish shedding most of my fat jacket.

15

Am I reading this right? You basically run a marathon every weekend (unless you’re biking a double marathon)?

16

Got a pretty high-tech exercise bike, and try to be on it for 25 minutes or 500 calories (according to the built-in calorie counter which may or may not be accurate) a day. Pump a 10 pound dumbbell while I’m at it.

17

When on a break from uni (which I am now):

1 x Spin class per week (usually an arm/upper body session after, my legs are all done)
2 x arms/upper body (lat pulldown, military press, flys, bench press, pushups, rows, triceps, upper back work, and I’m working into pullups on an assisted pullup machine)
2 x lower back/core/legs (squats in a cage, deadlifts, split squats, good mornings, calf raises, incline situps [sort of, those are a work in progress], leg lifts, situps on a ball, planks, side planks)
4 x cardio, mixed between 5k runs, 30min on the rowing machine at full resistance (ouch), or if my hip is giving me fits, a brisk walk uphill on the treadmill at 13-15 incline

I do weights and cardio in the same sessions mostly, and one day just cardio, five days per week during the week. On weekends we do marathon walks with the dogs (7-10k) once a day, and we strive for active fun, like walking or stuff that needs to be done around the house - it’s up for sale so last weekend was mopping, vaccuming, moving furniture, moving boxes, etc. I also bike 2k to the farmer’s market, buy fresh fruit, veg and meat, and bike back. This sound like nothing, except the bike back is uphill the whole way and with a backpack and two panniers full of food/wine/meat, it’s a short, sharp bout of sweaty cardio.

When I’m at uni, cut most of the weekend stuff - although I get in my market trip, and I cut to 1x upper and 1 x lower body, with cardio on those nights. But I walk to uni three times a week, ending up to be about 5k round trip those nights, with a backpack full of law books (hey, get that daily life type workout when you can!)

During exam panic, I do nothing but sit in the library and try not to sob. The plus side is that I’m not eating much cause I can’t eat in there!

Female, 43, currently about 20-30lbs overweight, BMI of 27.6 currently, starting BMI of 43.2 on 27/09/09. (Or 09/27/09 if you prefer. :slight_smile: )

18

38, male, active duty military. I work out 6 days a week. My routine is pretty simple. 20-30 min cardio every workout day. Then I rotate back/biceps one day - front/triceps next day. Every few weeks I’ll throw in a 5 mile run or a 2 mile soft sand beach run. I do one day of rest. Sometimes I’m naughty/hungover/injured and miss a day or two.

I’ve been doing this for 13 years. I’m 5’11" 185.

19

I’m on my fourth day of 45 minutes on the elliptical machine. No results yet to speak of.

20

I’m on a 4-day on/3-day off split (well, not really a true three day split as I do 45-min of cardio on the UBE on fri) and this is what has been working for me well for the past few months.

I begin each workout with a 5-10 minute warm-up on the UBE (arm bike). All sets listed are working sets. Each workout is immediately followed by 20-30 minutes on the UBE.
MON-Shoulders: 4-5 Pyramid sets of overhead dumbbell presses or military presses or Arnold presses (just one pressing movement is needed for the already much-used front delts).

3-4 sets of dumbbell shrugs, superset with 180-degree lateral raises (this is a trapezius exercise, as opposed to lateral raises that just reach 90 degrees).

4 pyramid sets of rear-delt flyes (with a thumbs-in grip; this isolates the rear-delt). And 4 pyramid sets of lateral raises; sometimes done together, sometimes one arm at a time.

TUE-Back: 3-4 sets of weighted pullups, 10-12 reps each set or wide-grip pulldowns.

3-4 sets of close-grip pulldowns, 10-12 reps each set. 3 sets of reverse-grip pulldowns, 10-12 reps each set.

3 pyramid sets of machine rows; followed by 4 sets of incline dumbbell rows, all for 8-12 reps per set.

Finish off the back workout with 4 sets of lat-pulls; pyramiding the weight and going for 15 reps per set (going for the pump).

WED-Chest: I don’t really do flat or decline presses on my chest; it is exclusively incline exercises. This is due to my shoulder (rotator cuff) injuries.

5 pyramid sets of incline bench-press or incline dumbbell press; anywhere from 6-12 reps (depending on the workout).

3 sets of dumbbell-pullovers (with each rep finished with a chest press) for 8-12 reps.

4 sets of weighted chest-dips (elbows flaired) for 10-12 reps.

Finish chest with 2-3 sets of machine incline presses for 12-15 reps.

THUR-Arms: I like to do a lot of supersetting between bi’s and tri’s here.

3-4 sets of close-grip bench press; superset with 3-4 sets of incline dumbbell curls. Sets are for 8-12 reps

3-4 sets of decline skull-crushers; superset with 3-4 sets of preacher-bench curls. Sets are for 8-12 reps.

3 sets of weighted chin-ups; superset with 3 sets of cable tricep-kickbacks.

FRI-Cardio only: 45 minutes of moderately high-intensity cardio on the UBE. Sometimes I will skip this if my body needs the extra recovery time.

Weekends are strictly recovery.