A couple of years ago I added weight training to my Monday thru Friday workout. After a 30 minute warm-up on an elliptical machine I have a routine of 7 upper body excercises (bench, incline bench, etc.). I do three sets of ten on each. I’ve increased the weight as I can manage. I do this Monday through Friday, week in and week out. W/regard to the weight training, is this the right thing to do or should I skip a day between the work-outs. Maybe adopt another routine for the in between days? If it matters, I’m 63. Thanks.
It generally thought that one should give a day of rest between training sessions on a specific body part. I do upper body on M/W/F and legs on Tu/Th.
In addition to this; 30 minutes is far more than a “warm up”. That is an entire cardiovascular workout session, as far as I’m concerned. With that much energy sapped up with your “warm up”, by the time you begin to lift weights you’ve already spent a large amount of your energy and stamina.
Cut the warm up down to 5 or 10 minutes, just enough to get your heart rate up and get a nice sweat going. If you want to do any extra cardio, do it after the weight training session.
If your looking to build muscle then you’re going to lift heavier weights, work the muscles to exhaustion, and take days off inbetween for them to recover.
If your just looking to stay in shape/tone then lifting weights daily is fine and a great way to stay fit.
And train your damn back so you don’t fuck up your shoulders.
Five days “on” for the same muscle groups is a lot. It would be better to throw a rest day in the middle - for instance work out Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday, have a rest day Thursday, work out Friday/Saturday and rest on Sunday.
With regard to the exercises you’re doing, you didn’t really go into detail, but it all sounds OK. Make sure you’re working all the relevant “pairs” of muscle groups - if you’re doing those bench exercises for the chest, make sure you’re doing back as well. If you’re doing quadricep exercises for the legs, you need to do hamstrings as well. If abdominal exercises, then lower back ones as well. Otherwise your body can get imbalanced and it can start to cause problems (back problems in people who only work on their chests is quite common for instance).
The 30 minutes of cardio is a good addition as well. A lot of people do their cardio after weight-training, because it’s harder to lift weights when you’re tired, but if you’re comfortable doing it that way round then there’s nothing wrong with it.
It really depends on what your goals and your preferences are. Short version is that you have a great program there.
If you are interested here’s the whole 2009 “American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Progression models in resistance training for healthy adults.”
Their take is
I don’t think that there is anything wrong with what you are doing at all. One can make a good argument for aerobic first or resistance training first of for doing circuits of weights, some higher intensity aerobic, and weights again, alternating. In general people put what is more important to them first.
What is most important is that you have a system that you are sticking with. You also are obviously aware that without resistance training as part of your mix you will, at 50 plus let alone 60 plus, lose muscle mass doing aerobic only; your progressive approach (adding weight as able, keeping lift reps in a moderate range, full body routine, three sets) is fantastic.
The only tweak is to consider adding some variation. The position statement cited above makes a big deal over the variation of loading leading to best results:
Maybe spend some days doing fewer reps with more weight and some back in your usual range, maybe giving up the usual weight program two of those five days and doing a high intensity calisthenics program or longer or different aerobics (higher intensity intervals perhaps) … but again, what matters most is that you keep a plan that you will keep. You have been keeping up with* a really good one *and there is no need to do that tweak.
Oh, rereading your op I note your weight training is upper body only. As per the position statement the experts do advise complete body weight training, and the emphasis should be on the large muscle compound moves. Yes, bench press is good, and dips, pull ups, and upright rows, but also squats, lunges, and the Olympic lifts (with very good form). Curls and triceps only work … less important.
Another thing to consider, especially as you are now getting into your 60s and beyond - you may want to throw in some balance work, such as doing lighter weights on one foot on a balance disc (I use this one) - single leg squats, alternate arm overhead press, alternate arm rows on alternate legs - helps with core, the smaller and longer muscles, and of course balance, which tends to degrade with advancing age without working it some. They are not the “show” muscles, but they perhaps matter even more.
I am not an expert but I have been doing weight training for about 25 years. Twenty-one sets sounds like a more-than-moderate workout to me. I would be interested in hearing what kind of weight you are using there. If you are doing 10 reps because you experience muscular failure and can’t do 11, then you probably don’t have sufficient recovery time before repeating the same exercise the next day. But if you’re using lighter weights then that probably isn’t an issue and it’s good for overall conditioning.
(I don’t have time to do more than 3 workouts a week so at each workout I pick 3 exercises to do 3 sets of each and then do one set each of heavier weights for 7-8 other exercises. I do a total of 16 sets per workout, almost every set to failure. That’s why I think 21 sounds like a lot.)
You say you use an elliptical, so you must have legs. Yet you don;t train them?
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Are you familiar with the term muscle memory? It means that after doing a particular exercise for a while, your body figures out the most efficient way to do it. As a result, your muscles get less of a workout. If you have been doing the same exact 7 exercises for the last 3 years, it’s time to switch it up.
Should you be taking a day off? No, there’s no need to do that, but it would be a good idea to do different routines on back-to-back days. The best split I’ve found is a three-way split: legs on one day, chest and triceps one day, back and shoulders and biceps one day. Abs thrown in at the end every day.
Also, Ambivalid mentioned upthread that 30 minutes is too much cardio for a warm-up. I have a personal trainer who has me do 30 minutes of cardio for a warm-up, and he has enough success stories that I can assure you he knows what he’s doing.
In summation, don’t do the same exercises on back-to-back days and switch up your routine. If you provide more specific details I can give more specific advice (regarding what exercises to do).
Oh! Almost forgot! Shame on you for not working your lower body. That might actually be just the thing to do to switch things up: upper body workout MWF and lower body TTh.
Thanks for the input. responding to a few questions…
“I am not an expert but I have been doing weight training for about 25 years. Twenty-one sets sounds like a more-than-moderate workout to me. I would be interested in hearing what kind of weight you are using there.”
I very gradually increase the weight to the point where I would have difficulty getting beyond 3 sets of 10.
“You say you use an elliptical, so you must have legs. Yet you don;t train them?”
“Oh! Almost forgot! Shame on you for not working your lower body. That might actually be just the thing to do to switch things up: upper body workout MWF and lower body TTh.”
W/regard to not working lower body/legs, I play softball 4-5 times a week so I don’t feel the need. Am I wrong on this?
Again, thanks. At the very least, it appears logical that I should build a little more variety into the workouts.
Well, opinions on how to do weight training are a dime for two dozen. But here’s mine anyway.
I think that if you are lifting weights for purposes of gaining strength (i.e., not because you want to sculpt specific body parts), doing compound full-body lifts is the way to go, and doing isolation exercises (i.e., using machines or doing lifts that only work very specific muscles) is nearly worthless.
For more reading on this, check out www.stronglifts.com (there’s some hype here because the guy is selling something, but I think the info in the free report and blog is accurate and worthwhile reading).
Yes, it IMO it is pretty wrong. Sure, it won;t kill you, so if you are intent on doing so, stick with it. But if you want to workout your full body, you need to make your legs strong as well. I do not know what you are lifting now, but I will assume your lower body would be lagging.
Squats, deadlifts and power cleans should be the core of your lower body workout. If you have really been doing the same workout for years on end, it is time to switch it up. And sometimes less can be more.
I personally don;t do more than 16 sets per workout, currently 3 days a week.
But I also just saw that you are 63. If you have time to do 21 sets + 30min of cardo monday through friday, and play softball 4 or 5 times a week, I will go out on a limb and say you might be retired? If working out is your thing and you want to spend lots of time on it, than good for you. But I do think you can workout smarter and most likely get better results.
Wish you luck with your fitness quest.
PS. As I already said, http://forums.menshealth.com is a great general fitness board. You could copy and past your OP from here over there and see what help they can offer if you want.
What is your fitness goal?
If your goal in using weights is overall health (cardiorespiratory and metabolic), and preserving (let alone increasing) muscle strength as you get through the 60’s and into the 70’s and 80’s, then yes, you are wrong about this.
No intent to dis softball as part of a healthy active lifestyle, but no, that does not work the big muscles of your lower body enough on its own.
Softball doesn’t provide that much strength training for the legs unless you play a very interesting game of softball. So yeah, I’d suggest doing upper body workouts on MWF and lower body TTh. And the basis of your leg workout should definitely be the squat.
It depends what your goals are. If it’s just general health and tone, and you’re not actually bulking up your upper body, then I’d say just working the legs on the elliptical and while playing sports is fine. Why wouldn’t it be? If you are bulking up your upper body then I’d recommend doing legs as well to avoid them getting imbalanced and possibly contributing to things like knee or hip problems from supporting the extra weight.
If your goal is all-round strength, then the legs are very important. If your goal is gaining muscle mass then they’re important as well - partly because it looks a bit silly if you bulk up your upper body but leave your legs unchanged, partly because it’s not very healthy to imbalance your upper and lower body, but also because working the legs actually contributes to building muscle mass throughout your body (it stimulates the relevant hormone production, etc).
All comments considered, I think I will alter my weight routine to upper body MWF with T and TH set aside for legs.
As to my goal, I just want to preserve lifestyle for as long as possible. At 63 one realizes that the ability to actively participate in an active lifestyle is not infinite. Whatever I choose to do, I want to do it as well as possible. I love softball and the weights have helped out a lot. Hiking is also somethin I enjoy. Looking at a Grand Canyon “Rim to Rim” trip in May.
Thanks again for the good input.