crace_lunker

Hey everybody, I'm looking for advice about what kind of workout I can do in my apartment when I first wake up, just for the purpose of shaking off the cobwebs and hopefully having energy. So that means: something short and probably not very difficult something I can do in my small apartment, meaning no special equipment required and not a lot of space required something that doesn't NEED to do anything else. Losing fat and gaining muscle are always nice bonuses, but those can wait until a "real" workout. This has come up for me in part because I started working from home, which is MOSTLY a good thing, but it turns out my frantic commute helped shake me awake in a way that rolling out of bed and stumbling over to my desk unsurprisingly doesn't. I've also been in a phase where I haven't made it to the gym much for various personal reasons, so I'm not getting the benefits of working out regularly-- a temporary situation, but one that's bound to happen again from time to time. I know the answer might just be "pretty much anything!", but frankly, I don't trust my own knowledge/judgment regarding fitness and don't have a great sense of, say, what's likely to make me feel energized versus worn out, or what's most likely to give me sustained energy throughout the day. I appreciate any advice anyone has!

Thanks!!! Totally agree about that last bit. Truthfully, what I REALLY want is to simply be told what to do so I can just go do it-- but since I can't afford to work with a trainer consistently, I'm left to cobble together my own workout with the help of internet advice. Rather than let the perfect be the enemy of the good, I'm just doing what seems to make sense for now and hoping I can tweak it over time as I learn more and as my goals change-- but I do hope to gradually learn more and eventually know what I'm doing

Thanks! This is helpful and I plan to take your suggestions, although not all of them immediately. (Still gonna stick with machines in the short-term.) What are the benefits of doing cable rows instead of bicep curls and of not doing pec flys and tricep extensions? (I've found that workout advice sticks better when I understand the reasons for it, and I'd like to eventually be knowledgeable enough to make adjustments on my own.) These are approximately what I meant by various machines, not necessarily the exact same machine: Pulldown: https://www.fitnessrepairparts.com/equipment_files/145299-lat-pulldown.jpg (with adjustable bar-- I tend to use a horizontal one) Lat Pulldown: https://cdn10.bigcommerce.com/s-qtce6r5p/products/4214/images/12571/S9LATP__51609.1492177648.500.500.jpg?c=2 Rear Delt/Pec Fly (same machine, facing a different direction): https://www.precor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/S-Line_Rear_Delt_%26_PecFly_rev B.png?itok=TGH5om_k Vertical Chest: https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/5b8fed12-bdda-40cc-8521-a894dd239412_1.b85d1ee4407e630046bff963ebed7d67.jpeg?odnHeight=450&odnWidth=450&odnBg=FFFFFF Glutes: https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-n88j1q/images/stencil/1024x1024/products/10086/29458/909ab-kick-glute-plate-load-tko__55776.1523013602.jpg?c=2

Hi! I'm a relative beginner and I've been trying to work out smarter instead of just harder-- cutting out unnecessary stuff, making sure I'm taking care of everything that IS necessary, etc. With the help of Steve's post about building a workout plan, I think I know what I'm gonna do. BUT: I don't trust my own judgment. If anyone could tell me what's bad, wrong, or stupid about my tentative plan, I'd really appreciate that! Here it is: At least 10 minutes of cardio (probably on an elliptical) as a warmup. Five exercises, as described in Steve's post, for a full-body workout. For each exercise: a warmup set at about 30% of the weight I want to do, then a warmup set at about 60%, then three normal sets. For each muscle group, I'll rotate between various exercises. (I had been doing the opposite: combining different exercises for the same muscle group all into one day.) For now, those exercises will be on machines. I know the arguments against that, but this is what I'm most comfortable with for the time being, and I'll swap in different, better exercises down the line. Based on which machines I've been using at my gym, here's what's in the rotation for starters: QUADS: leg extension; seated leg press BUTT/HAMSTRINGS: seated leg curl; glute machine CHEST/SHOULDERS/TRICEPS: overhead press; vertical chest; tricep extension; pec fly BACK/BICEPS: bicep curl; pulldown; lat pulldown; rear delt CORE: lower back machine; ab machine Aaaaaaand... that's it! What did I get wrong? Am I missing anything important, or doing anything redundant? Are there exercises I should be doing more often, or could stand to do less often? Also, is this too short of a workout? It sounds short to me, maybe just because I'm used to spending an hour on the elliptical, which I now gather has been a waste of my time. But I'm still a little self-conscious that I'm gonna feel like I'm walking in, briefly working out, and leaving. Thanks SO MUCH for any advice!

Thanks! This is helpful and appreciated. So I guess my new plan is: at least 10 minutes on the elliptical followed by all of the exercises I would've done anyway, except each of those will be preceded by a set of 10 at about 30% and a set of 10 at about 60%. If that satisfies all the goals of warming up, then I'm good to go, and if not, I hope somebody will let me know what I'd be missing

Thanks! This was a helpful post. So if I do at least ten minutes on the elliptical followed by a couple of 10-rep sets of each exercise I'm going to do but at a lower weight, that should do the trick, right? Questions: 1) Does it matter much whether I do all of my warmup sets followed by all of my real sets vs. doing warmup sets for one exercise followed by real sets for that exercise? (For convenience, I'd definitely prefer to do the latter, because it would allow me to integrate my warmups into my workout and should prevent things from taking forever.) 2) Any guidelines for how to determine what the lower weight should be for each exercise? I know you said it doesn't matter much, but that still leaves me making a semi-arbitrary choice.

Or to put it another way: If not warming up might have undesirable effects, what is the bare minimum I should do to prevent those undesirable effects? That's what I'm having a hard time finding out. I apologize if I sound a little snippy! I'm just frustrated, and I truly appreciate all attempts to help me out. At this point, it seems like my best option is to simply not warm up, because any warmup I do might be a waste of time anyway.

Thanks! That's about what I expected. I'm reluctant to do the NF warmup because it seems longer and more intense than I'd expect a warmup to be-- more like a workout than a warmup (even broken into different muscle groups). I know the article acknowledges this and says it's okay to do less, but I don't feel like I have a good enough understanding to judge what to keep and what to ditch. That makes the article unhelpful and leaves me at square one, not knowing what to do. Just to be clear: I have NO IDEA what a good warmup is! I know I'm supposed to warm up because everybody says so, but I do NOT know how to judge what's a good warmup and what's not, I do NOT feel noticeably different one way or another, etc. Even knowing I should do something that activates the muscles I'm going to use doesn't help me, because I don't know what that would be or how many to do. (Pushups before bench, got it-- but how many?) Can somebody more knowledgeable than me please, please, please, please tell me EXACTLY what my warmup should be? Just "do 20 of X, 10 of Y, and 20 of Z"? I can DO it, but I can't figure out WHAT to do, and I'd give anything to just know what my warmups should be so I can go do them instead of worrying about it. I've been shocked and frustrated by how much trouble I've had with this, and I desperately hope the NF community can help me out

I'd like to rephrase my question: Of the reasons why a person should warm up before working out, are there any that would NOT be taken care of by spending at least half an hour on an elliptical?

Thanks for the reply! I feel fine when I work out, regardless of warming up. My reason for wanting to warm up is that I know you're supposed to for various reasons, but the way I feel hasn't been a factor. Frankly, I'm not sure how I'm SUPPOSED to feel. I wouldn't know how to tell whether or not my body needs to "get going" (aside from just being tired). As far as warmups are concerned, I just want to do whatever will satisfy the reasons that you're supposed to warm up. Any suggestions about what that might be?

I feel like this shouldn't be hard to figure out, but I've googled and googled and I'm still not quite sure what's appropriate for me. And I've read the Nerd Fitness article about warmups, but the warmup routine described in there seems more intense and time-consuming than I would think is necessary (although maybe I'm wrong, who knows). Please help me out! I'm hoping for something that's as quick and as simple as possible-- the bare minimum necessary to check off the "yes I have warmed up" box. I currently have my workout routine split into three days: pull muscles, push muscles, and lower body. (I'm looking to add more core stuff in there, but that's another post for another time.) I work out in a gym and usually spend about an hour (which is probably too much) on an elliptical before I work out. Does that satisfy my warmup requirements, or should I be doing something more specific to the muscles I'm working out? I know there's no one objective "right" answer, but I wish I had a better idea, and I hope someone can help me. Thanks!!!

Thanks. I do track my weight (which varies based on what I eat, which is not consistent). But I don't have any way of knowing how different my weight would be if I had skipped the cardio. (If I did, I'd have an easy answer to this question!) I want to make sure I'm working out efficiently, not just spending an hour running in place without getting much for it.

Thank you. I understand all of that, but what I don't quite understand is how much of an effect my cardio is having. Is it a waste of time that doesn't make that much of a difference, or does it probably contribute significantly to my weight loss?

Thanks for the replies. I'd like to rephrase my question: IN GENERAL, if someone wants to lose weight and build muscle, and their routine consists of an hour of cardio on an elliptical followed by weight training followed by eating a lot of protein, would you recommend that they stop cardio, reduce it, or keep up what they're doing? The only thing I want to know is whether the cardio I'm doing makes a big difference toward accomplishing my goals or is largely a waste of time. Factors like nutrition, my own preferences about how to spend my time, etc., are obviously very important, but I understand them and don't need advice about them.

Thanks! Here are my answers. (Please keep in mind that although there are several things I could stand to be better about, right now I'm just interested in whether or not to stop/reduce cardio and in what warmups to do.) I can't really say how long I've been doing my current program, because I've tweaked it many times and don't know what would count as "my current program". Some of the stuff I described, I've been doing for over a year; other bits, I've been doing for a couple of weeks. My weight has varied, due in large part to diet (which is a whole other issue but one I'm more knowledgeable about and don't feel I need advice about). I don't quite know how to say whether or not I'm seeing progress, because again, variations in my diet make a difference. I have my nutrition goals in hand, and don't always stick to the plan; again, that's something where I feel like I don't need guidance, and I just want to make sure I'm doing the right stuff at the gym. I have been increasing the weights I've been doing. For a while, I wasn't increasing them as much as I could and was content to go slow-and-steady, but I recently decided to lower the number of reps I do and increase the weight more quickly. So I've been doing that over the last few sessions. I don't quite know the amount of protein I have post-workout. Also, I suspect I could get it through better methods. That's something I'd like to revisit at a later date. I probably have about 25 pounds to lose. I don't quite know my daily caloric deficit; I haven't kept track that closely. I keep track of how many calories I consume on most days, but not how many I burn. (As far as cardio, though: if the screen on the elliptical is to be believed, I tend to burn around 700-750 calories each time I do that.) I'm not concerned about meal timing, and I intend to eat protein after my workouts; I just brought that up because it seems like a potential factor in whether or not I'm wasting my time with cardio. I wouldn't say I enjoy doing cardio (and I definitely don't enjoy that it eats up over an hour of my time and makes going to the gym take forever). I don't mind it and will happily keep doing it if it seems like a good idea, but I just want to do what's useful.

Hi! Longtime Nerd Fitness reader, first time poster. My workout routine started off cobbled together from guesses and assumptions, and I've tweaked it as I've learned more (often from NF), but I think I could still stand to be a lot smarter about it. And I'd like some advice. (And thanks in advance-- I'm really appreciative for any help. Also, apologies in advance if I'm posting in the wrong forum; I'm a newb and I know it.) My main goal right now is fat loss, with the secondary goal of building muscle. Once I'm no longer overweight, my main goal will be generally looking good and being healthy; having big muscles is great, but I'm not trying to be a bodybuilder here. Currently, I spend about an hour on an elliptical, followed by about half an hour using various weight training machines. (I know, I know-- free weights are better than machines. For the moment, I'm sticking with what I know.) I do either push muscles, pull muscles, or lower body. And when I'm done, I have some protein. Based on some reading, I wonder if I should skip the cardio. Am I burning muscle mass in addition to fat? Am I wasting time creating a calorie loss that I partially undo by eating afterwards? (I've told myself that it's fine if I lose calories burning fat and then add calories eating protein, but am I wrong?) Should I maybe just reduce the amount of time I spend doing cardio? I'm also interested in what kinds of warmups I should do. I've told myself that so long as I'm doing an hour on the elliptical, that's effectively filling the warmup role-- but I don't quite know that that's the case even if I DO continue with cardio. I've been reluctant to add anything else into the mix since my workouts are already so long, but if I ditch or reduce cardio, that's not an issue. Should I kill two birds with one stone by doing warmups that consist in large part of cardio, but just more specific than wasting an hour on an elliptical? Thanks again so much for any advice!!!