Can someone help with my gym programme?

Hi, my name is Jasmine. I am 5 foot 5 and weight 74 kg. My aim is to get to 66 kg. I'm more interested in changing my body shape and toning, so if that comes before the 8 kg weight loss then I'm OK with that.

I go to the gym 4 times a week. I do the same programme made from a personal trainer, but I feel like I could do more cardio.

Training:
20 mins cross trainer- I start at a low level for one minute,go up 2 inclines for the second minute, another 2 inclines the 3rd minute and another 2 inclines for the 4th minute. I repeat this five times for the 20 minutes? all the time I keep going faster on the incline and relax and build up again. I do feel this works as before I used to spend an hour on this machine going the same speed,and not sweat as much or get tired as much as this way. Do you think this is enough?

After this I do 3 sets of biceps curls that I lift over my head and back down like a reverse curl. I lift 4 kg and do 12 reps.

I do 3 sets of lunges, 12 each time.

I do 3 sets of sit ups, 20 each time.

I do 3 sets of side to side crunches with a medicine ball, 20 each time.

Finally I finish with the pull up bar, but use the leg rest to support me, I keep the weight at 50kg.

Can anyone suggest if I should be doing more, or keep up the same.


I dont eat a lot of sweets or anything like that.
Breakfast would usually be a protein shake or an egg with a slice of toast.

lunch is usually sushi, or homemade salad with tuna.

Dinner would be mixed frozen veg with either mince burgers(fat drained on george foreman), or a chicken breast.

I drink water instead of soda's, but I have at least 3 coffees in the morning, and about 3 teas at night. I think I will change the tea to green tea.

Iv read a lot about eating more frequent to lose weight, I find it hard to eat that much, so iv started protein shakes, these do fill me up, and I'd usually have one between breakfast and lunch, and one before the gym and dinner.

The shake is low carb, low fat, high protein. It says it aids as a snack between meals and helps with muscle define and toning alone with weight loss. Its called Vital Strength Define. It does fill me up but I don't know if that is me being wishful thinking that it works or if I'm being conned!

I would appreciate any advise, I feel like I'm at a paltau at the moment!

Thank you in advance .

Hi Jazz

How long have you been doing the same routine?? If you feel like you've hit the plateau you probably need to change up your diet, your training program or both.

If you keep doing the same thing you'll keep getting the same results so I'd suggest hitting up your PT again and getting some variety!!!

Have you tried other cardio exercises or have you tried lifting bigger weights?

Hey Jazz... Your post caught my eye. In my experience when it comes to body composition the key is diet -(Basically 80% is diet and 20% is training).
For your stated goals weight should be immaterial - Your focus should be on the reduction of your body fat and an increase in muscle.
Four times a week training is good - However doing the same programme each work out will get you no where (Which is where you are now)
No offense but that is a crap programme for a myrid of reasons I haven't got time to explain.
It's not a matter of doing more sets and reps you just need a better constructed programme and be lifting weights that really challenge you.
So...get rid of your personal trainer - and find someone that has a few runs on the board and takes a genuine intrest in you that makes your goals his goals.
As I said diet is everything when it comes to body composition - at a basic level it appears pretty clean - However i'd be looking more towards steak and nuts for breakfast and no carbs after 2pm - the blender is a good way to get more of the good foods in to you.
A good personal trainer should be all over your diet and asking what you eat, how & when you eat, establish any vitamin and mineral defficency's, hormone imbalances etc..
Your blood type can also play a roll on the efficent use of what you are digesting...
The green tea will work as diretic and is good for blood pressure.
Here's an article I wrote a few years back on womens fat loss..
Women, Fat Loss & The Cardio Myth | Muscle Pit Website

Here is another I pened on programming - the principals your questions to ask your self are the same...
?So…..What?s the best training program for strength?? | Muscle Pit Website

Biggest advice I can give you is to educate your self on this topic and go fully loaded with a heap of questions when selecting a new personal trainer...

Also you must be 100% committed to achieving the out come - (that means its your no1 priority - nothing gets in your way of training and eating).

All the best....

Work out bmr then count cals and eat below maintenance. Guarantee you will lose weight.

The cardio side of your workout looks ok but honestly the lifting side sucks...

Try looking into doing some compound lifts and supporting work, this will help build some much and increase your lean body mass, therefore, increasing the cals you re able to burn plus assisting you in your body transformation.

As stated your diet is one to the most important parts of weight loss and body transformation so make sure your getting ththee right amount of cals and in the right quantitis for your goals.

Noble said:

Hey Jazz... Your post caught my eye. In my experience when it comes to body composition the key is diet -(Basically 80% is diet and 20% is training).
For your stated goals weight should be immaterial - Your focus should be on the reduction of your body fat and an increase in muscle.
Four times a week training is good - However doing the same programme each work out will get you no where (Which is where you are now)
No offense but that is a crap programme for a myrid of reasons I haven't got time to explain.
It's not a matter of doing more sets and reps you just need a better constructed programme and be lifting weights that really challenge you.
So...get rid of your personal trainer - and find someone that has a few runs on the board and takes a genuine intrest in you that makes your goals his goals.
As I said diet is everything when it comes to body composition - at a basic level it appears pretty clean - However i'd be looking more towards steak and nuts for breakfast and no carbs after 2pm - the blender is a good way to get more of the good foods in to you.
A good personal trainer should be all over your diet and asking what you eat, how & when you eat, establish any vitamin and mineral defficency's, hormone imbalances etc..
Your blood type can also play a roll on the efficent use of what you are digesting...
The green tea will work as diretic and is good for blood pressure.
Here's an article I wrote a few years back on womens fat loss..
Women, Fat Loss & The Cardio Myth | Muscle Pit Website

Here is another I pened on programming - the principals your questions to ask your self are the same...
?So…..What?s the best training program for strength?? | Muscle Pit Website

Biggest advice I can give you is to educate your self on this topic and go fully loaded with a heap of questions when selecting a new personal trainer...

Also you must be 100% committed to achieving the out come - (that means its your no1 priority - nothing gets in your way of training and eating).

All the best....

Click to expand...

Those two links are excellent advice imo.... And the post as a whole was right on the money...

And then you put a derp comment stating not to eat any carbs after 2pm???? Why you do this for????

Jazz said:

Can anyone suggest if I should be doing more, or keep up the same.

It says it aids as a snack between meals and helps with muscle define and toning alone with weight loss.

Click to expand...

Your body needs a certain amount of calories every day. If you exercise more (do more) this amount will rise. If you eat less than this amount you will lose weight.

E.g. I'm a 100kg guy I've found I need 3000 calories per day when I work out 5 days a week to stay at the weight I am. So I eat 2800 to lose weight.

If I dropped to 90kg I might only need 2900 to maintain weight, then I'd have to eat 2800 to lose weight. You have to continually adjust your diet if you are losing large amounts of weight to keep losing weight.

If you're not losing weight anymore you need to eat less total calories (below what you need) or do more exercise while eating the same amount. The first thing I'd cut would be sweets or that protein shake (yes it is a con).

Thanks for all the advise lads.

To be honest, iv been doing this programme for the last 2 months,but the diet side of things were not helping me. I'm not a bad eater, but I do drink at the weekends, wine being the major factor!so I'm semi-good for the week, and sat night comes and it goes out the window. I still want to make a change but I want my social life too, I'm not over the hill yet! Saying that, the diet has drastically changed, I'm aware of calories, carb intake and how important protein is, hence the shakes.

My personal trainer is actually my house mate,that does not get a fee from me,so maybe that's why its half-assed! I really like weight training, and am willing to try new routines, I'm just afraid if I go up in the dumbbells to maybe a five, would I have bulging muscles? I actually prefer weight training than cardio, but I feel if I don't do cardio at a gym session, then I'm not doing enough. should I do one day cardio, one day weights??

I'm not looking to be skinny mini, size zero. Id rather reduce by body fat % and be lean and toned. I'm 26 now and want to finally be strong and healthy instead of fad diets and yo-yo dieting. My main reason for the overhaul is a holiday in six months time to Thailand for a month, and I just dont want to stress every day if I look fat or whatever, I want to be body confident and happy.

A brief history of me, I was overweight until I was about 16. At that point, weight just fell off me and I went to 63.5kg, my hip bones were sticking out and my collar bones. I wasn't unhealthy and didn't diet I just ended up that way, maybe just puppy fat!. Since about 4 years ago Iv been up and down weight, highest being 79 kg. For the last year iv been 74 kg and cant budge. I just want to go down to 66 kg and maintain.

Sorry for all the words, but hopefully this will give you an insight.
Thank you.

really? i thought the protein shakes would substitute instead of a snack? Its 93 cals a shake. Im aware of a calorie deficit. 1lb loss=3500 cal reduction. Its hard!

I struggled badly with diet till I discovered IIFYM. Google it, basically you eat anything you want within the confines of your calorie allowance and macro nitrient breakdown.

Do yourself a favour and start counting your cals, use something like my fitness pal if writing it all down is a chore. Hardest part is weighing portions you prepare yourself.

No, you won't have bulging muscles. You will when you are curling 20kg+ dumbells for 10+ reps, pick it up sometime and try, you will not reach that stage easily

We don't need insight to help you, it doesn't matter who you are if you eat less than what your body needs to maintain itself you will continue to lose weight. Don't take this the wrong way, it just really is this simple. If you've plateau'd at a certain weight, to continue losing weight Eat Less.

If you ingest more calories over the weekend (drinking or whatever) you'll have to compensate by eating less during the week. I would suggest also picking your 'cheat' foods more carefully - I like white rum + diet coke when I can't avoid drinking, there are other 'damage minimisation' options so you don't blow your calorie budget too.

What is the real concern here, diet or exercise?

There's no need to make things difficult with a program by thinking you have to work ever muscle. You do have to work every muscle group.
My first program involved Legs: squats, lunges, deadlifts, upper body: assisted pull up, overhead press, dips and cable rows. Then ABS whenever I found floor space (everyday) That was it! 2 x per week. Not the best plan but for a newb it was all I needed.
Half hour of cardio a day.
Dropped 30kgs.
Things obviously changed when weightloss stalled or slowed.
For a start, think muscle groups, not muscles.

Lifting bigger weights does not mean bulging muscles... you don't have enough testosterone to build muscle mass like men do, unless you have an imbalance or are taking steroids. Try 5kg, but I think you could do better than that even.

Jazz said:

I go to the gym 4 times a week. I do the same programme made from a personal trainer, but I feel like I could do more cardio.

Training:
20 mins cross trainer- I start at a low level for one minute,go up 2 inclines for the second minute, another 2 inclines the 3rd minute and another 2 inclines for the 4th minute. I repeat this five times for the 20 minutes? all the time I keep going faster on the incline and relax and build up again. I do feel this works as before I used to spend an hour on this machine going the same speed,and not sweat as much or get tired as much as this way. Do you think this is enough?
A cross trainer is sufficient for burning fat, but keep changing it up as you are currently doing it, make a change and use a treadmill or bike and persist with the easy/hard/harder program you're doing. If you have done a spin class, they don't sit there for 60mins just riding a bike, they come off drenched

After this I do 3 sets of biceps curls that I lift over my head and back down like a reverse curl. I lift 4 kg and do 12 reps.

I do 3 sets of lunges, 12 each time.

I do 3 sets of sit ups, 20 each time.

I do 3 sets of side to side crunches with a medicine ball, 20 each time.

Finally I finish with the pull up bar, but use the leg rest to support me, I keep the weight at 50kg.

Can anyone suggest if I should be doing more, or keep up the same.
Not a great program at all. Curls do nothing for girls unless isolating them for bikini/figure comp, see my post further up

I dont eat a lot of sweets or anything like that.
Breakfast would usually be a protein shake or an egg with a slice of toast.

lunch is usually sushi, or homemade salad with tuna.

Dinner would be mixed frozen veg with either mince burgers(fat drained on george foreman), or a chicken breast.

Click to expand...

See bolded notes above.

How many calories are you eating daily?
How are you tracking them?
The foods you are eating don't seem to bad, I stick to: if it come from the ground or used to cluck....it's dinner!!

Fluffy said:

Work out bmr then count cals and eat below maintenance. Guarantee you will lose weight.

Click to expand...

working well for me, down 9kg since christmas

log everything you eat and drink and work out the cals, carbs,protein and fat.
Can be surprising just how much cals you are actually eating.

an app/website like myfitnesspal or one of the many others for logging food and exercise

I really could lift six to seven dumbbell, and stuggle at the last few reps, which is what is needed i suppose. Obviously the aim is to push myself rather than get in an easy going routine. I have downloaded my fitness app for calorie counter. Iv just been judging on food thinking, this isnt too bad or iv had a bad day yesterday need to be extra careful today. I think with the app I can judge what are the triggers and when Im eating more calories for whatever reason. Yeah drink is my downfall,but I have substituted wine for vodka n soda. Id love to take some supplements to push myself more and make the gym like my hobby as opposed to a chore!i feel great afterwards but its the going there thats the problem! Has anyone seen Jodie Marsh body transformation? I admire her training and its something I want to mimic, but not be so big as her?just toned and strong.Id love a buddy on this that we could encourage each other---friends welcome!

Jazz said:

I Id love a buddy on this that we could encourage each other---friends welcome!

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Fluffy is here for you buddy.

Exiting thread permanently

kaz said:

Exiting thread permanently

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My intentions are honourable I swear, I just want someone to share my journey with.

Thank you fluffy, any advise will be appreciated honestly. I really want to do something life changing and be proud of my body that iv built, know what I mean?