anderson02

I use to walk on my treadmill M-F at 3.2 MPH (my treadmill wigs out at 3.5) with wrist weights and an incline of 6.

I thought I should try and mix it up for better results.

Saturday and Sunday – Walk Away The Pounds, 3 mile walk with wrist weights (when called for during the workout)

M, W, F morning – Tighter Assets Weight Loss. This is a 30 minute DVD by Tamilee Webb with probably 20 minutes of lower body with a step. Maybe 8 minutes upper body with 3 # weights. The upper body is more of a break from the lower and then a couple minutes of abs. Abs is not long but still pretty good.
M, W, F evening – 15 minute upper body tape with 3# weights. I keep the weight down because everything I do includes some upper body. Then 15 minute Abs tape.

Tues. and Thurs. – 40 minutes on the at 3.2 MPH with wrist weights and an incline of 6.

I thought this all seemed pretty balanced but wanted to see what everyone else said. The weekends are tough but I have managed so far.

SailorDoom

My short answer would be that it really depends on what your goals are. Do you just want to drop weight? Drop body fat/maintain lean muscle? Build up some lean muscle? Improve cardiovascular health? The effectiveness of your program should be judged by how likely it is to help you reach those goals. If you share your goals along with your current fitness level, it'll be easier to respond.

My immediate/gut reaction is that your workout is "balanced" in terms of attention to different muscle groups and consideration of both cardio and resistance training. However, in order to build and/or maintain muscle mass, which is all important in determining your metabolism, you'll likely need to increase the weights during your resistance training. Also, it is likely that you'll want to change up your cardio routine as well (again, this depends on your goals). Your body will quickly get used to all that walking and will start burning fewer calories as it becomes more energy-efficient at doing the same activity over and over.

Hopefully that’s a start. Like I mentioned above, post back with your goals and fitness level and I’m sure there will be plenty of people who can help you more specifically!

Good Luck!

anderson02

Thanks. I am looking to lose some weight (10-15 pounds) and firm up. Although if I lose the weight, I will be more firm and less flabby anyway. Then just looking for something to do to maintain that loss. When I walked before I could pretty much eat whatever I wanted, within reason of course, and not gain weight. Then there were just a few too many BBQs (beer) and camp trips (beer again ) and I gained some weight that my normal work out just won't take off. I am watching what I eat more now but it's not perfect.

SailorDoom

I hear ya on the beer! Don't even get me started...

Well, I think your workout sounds all right as a jumping off point. I would really encourage you to increase the weights for the "strength" portion of your routine (not necessarily the walking), and then possibly transition from the videos to a plan of your own. Tandoorichicken has an awesome work out that you can do at home in about the same amount of time as those videos. I think this http://www.fitday.com/fitness/forums...p-routine.html will link you to the thread where it was born. Maintaining (and hopefully increasing) your body's lean muscle mass is a key way to avoid gaining weight when there's a few extra beers to be enjoyed. This is directly related to the common experience of dieters losing weight and then gaining back more than what they started with -- its all about keeping your metabolism running in its highest gear. There are a lot of posts about this throughout threads in the Exercise forum, and I'm sure others will chime in with more specific advice. I doubt that the walking is doing a ton for your weight loss efforts directly, but it is certainly good for cardiovascular health and may remind you to eat right, be active and get into an all around healthier frame of mind.

I would say, too, that no workout will override a bad diet. Your workout should be complimentary to your eating habits, not an attempt to compensate for them. I know you said you're watching what you eat, but you'll definitely see results faster when you really tighten up your diet. That means eating right *most* of the time. Focus on whole foods, track your macros, and plan for those Friday nights when a fun time will be had by all.

Cheers!

almeeker

I guess my first question is do you build up a good sweat with that workout, are you breathing hard at all and do you get sore? If the answer is "no" then you need to up it, if the answer is "yes" then it's doing something for you. Personally I've ditched the whole "workout is always the same" philosophy, when you work out every day a routine gets old FAST. So you might want to get some new DVD's and plan to buy more at a regular interval. I treat myself to a new workout "thing" once a month, be it new hand weights, outfit or DVD. Also if the dreadmill gets wonky at 3.5mph, you need to get it fixed or replace it. I'm 40-something have short legs and 3.2 mph wouldn't give me anymore of a workout than grocery shopping, even with the incline.

anderson02

Thanks for your feedback SailorDoom. I have only done this workout since the first of the year. No, its not a New Years resolution. Its just time to change things up. I think I will give it a few more weeks before I change it up too much. I do plan to increase the weights gradually.