Gym newbie - quick question regarding workouts

[pollythecat]

I have joined a gym. Realistically I am not going to be able to go more than twice a week. Three times at most but it will likely just be twice. I have friends with loads of spare time who go multiple times a week and have set leg / arm / booty / core days. This isn’t going to work for me if I’m not going that often.

So I asked chatGPT to do me a beginners full body workout which I have done twice this week. Comprised of warm up on treadmill or bike, leg press, chest press, shoulder press, ab crunching machine and I also did some weights. Then finished with 5 minutes on the cross trainer. This felt achievable to me. But will it really do any good if it’s a full body thing just twice a week rather than focusing on specific areas?

I am trying to make healthy changes with the very limited time and resources that I have available to me so I feel like something is better than nothing. But also I want to feel like it’ll actually be benefitting me and isn’t totally pointless. Anyone in the know have any advice?

It really depends on what your goals are. You say healthy changes- do you mean weight loss or more around developing muscular strength or endurance?

Weight loss, general fitness. Just very aware that I’m getting older and need to do a bit more in the way of future proofing my body. Other than daily dog walks I have not exercised (weights, gym etc) in years. So I thought signing up and just doing what I can would be a good first step. But I can’t help feeling it might be a bit pointless if I’m not able to go more often.

People over complicate gym stuff. That routine looks ok for general fitness. Ask the gym to give you a routine? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a full body workout.

twice a week is good! More than worth it.

Absolutely not pointless. Don't shy away from the weight either, it's really important to build and maintain muscle as we get older. 2 full body workouts if done consistently will absolutely make a difference.

If I were you I'd get a program by a PT and get it evaluated every 6 to 8 weeks.

I joined a gym for the first time last year and did a routine similar to what you said, 2-3 times per week. Lost weight and toned up. At my place you can have a short meeting with a pt who will give a little program to work through, yours sounds similar but maybe you could ask for this? Also helps make sure your form is good to reduce chance of injuries.

I do full body twice a week and it transformed my fitness. It wasn’t easy though - 45 minutes of really hard work, twice a week. I think with that routine you probably need to be repeating it 3-4 times per gym visit (so 8-10 reps per exercise, five to six exercises with the whole routine repeated 3-4 times). But if you keep that up you should definitely get results.

That’s a lot of presses and no hinge patterns (Deadlifts etc) or pulls but I’m being pernickety.
I believe you can certainly get results as long as you find progressive overload, don’t stay at the same weight week after week! The main thing is to find an exercise that you enjoy, you are more likely to want to go back. Whether that’s a class twice a week or headphones on and lift weights.
I bet the gym floor staff can give you a basic plan too.

I do full body workouts as standard because I don't like the single body part focus type workouts.

Since I'm not going for hypertrophy (muscle building/bulking), it's fine.

It does wonders for strength, bone density, general fitness and endurance, mental health etc. Twice a week is perfectly reasonable - I often can only do one with work, and it still makes a noticeable difference, so don't be discouraged. Two per week regularly will get you in a good place, no issues.

Weight loss is more diet based though, with cardio giving a slight hand. The weights will only help in that muscle burns more than fat.

Over time you'll want to learn a repertoire of weights exercises that cover all possible muscles, and change them up so over a month or two, everything gets a workout. But for now, just building the habit of going to the gym is great.
I'd also recommend getting the rowing machine in on your cardio - it hits more muscles than any of the other machines, including core, so it's very helpful.

Which weights did you do on top of all of that?

Three key exercises are squats, deadlifts and bench presses. They each exercise various parts of the legs, back and arms. If you only do two days, skip squats and do a day where either the deadlifts (a BIG muscle group is exercised with deads) and bench presses are your main lift. Then on the day you do the deadlift, exercise the upper body with various secondary exercises and on days you do the bench press, exercise the lower body with various secondary exercises.

When you pick the secondaries, I’d choose three of them and I’d go for a range of push / pull / hinge / squat / carry. Just make sure the push exercise isn’t on bench day and the hinge exercise isn’t on deadlift day.

So: two days, one different primary lift on each day followed by three different secondaries = 8 exercises in total.

This will give you two days of all over exercise without overtraining the same muscles on the same day.

Download a workout app. I’ve been using Jefit last 4 months and it’s kept me so motivated. It plans you workouts ie same 2/3 workouts a week for as long as you want. You’ll see progress this way and want to keep going trust me

As much as the workout itself definitely IS important, it’s the consistency of it that will give you the most success. You may want to change it up in a few months if things feel too easy, but chat gpt is great for that. Just get yourself into good habits and the routine/ consistency first and foremost. Also, make sure you enjoy it or you won’t stick to it so keep tweaking to keep it interesting. Good luck!

Completely agree with this, you need to find exercise you enjoy so you will want to go back.

I'd speak to gym staff for guidance on weights and try as many classes as you can to find what you love doing.

A nice easy progression to the dog walks you are doing already is to add a weighted vest or ankle weights.

Twice a week and an hour each time is great and will make a real impact

if you could fit in something at home such as yoga or a brisk walk , for half an hour you would be at the recommended exercise levels

Yes that’s fine and better to be realistic rather than trying to go all the time and giving up because you can’t fit it in. Just try to go as heavy weights as possible while still maintaining good form. Will take a little while to work that out and if you’re a total beginner it might be worth a session with one of their trainers to get an initial programme done that you can then adapt as you get stronger. Choose weights that you can maintain a good posture for but are a stretch for the last 2/3 reps

Personally I would switch ab crunches for a bigger functional muscle. With limited time I'd do
Lat pull downs
Leg press or squat with some weight (bar or kettle bell)
Chest
Back something like a seated row on the cables
For legs maybe a romanian dead lift.
If there is an incline shoulder press machine that is good for bicep and tricep too.

I am not qualified in anything I just enjoy the gym.

Yes that's really circuit training that you're describing, which is really effective. Of course it'll do you good. Go for it & best of luck!

Two times a week is better than zero times a week. If you’re new to it, I would recommend getting an induction to learn how to use the equipment. They won’t write you a plan but knowing how to use the things will make you more confident using the plan ChatGPT has put together.

The best exercise is the exercise you will do

I’m a PT and work with loads of women in a similar position to you. Your workout sounds pretty good for a beginner level. Warm up is great. Leg press/chest press/shoulder press are all good basic exercises. I would swap the ab crunch machine for planks and side planks, as they target your deeper core muscles and give you a better all round core workout, whereas the machine will just be working your upper abs. Don’t forget to stretch at the end!!!

It’s not completely optimal, but that’s ok because you’re just starting out and the most important thing is feeling confident in the gym, choosing a workout that you are comfortable with, and completing those moves with good form. The good thing about the machines is that they are generally pretty easy to do ‘right’, whereas free weight exercises tend to need more specific technique.

But that’s something that you can build in as you get used to your routine. If you want to add to what you are doing/change some exercises down the line, I would look at progressing from the leg press to a barbell squat. I would also look at adding in Romanian Deadlifts, as they are a big compound hinge movement. However these are trickier to master with good form, so go on YouTube and search up reputable form videos (I like the men’s health magazine ones, and they are usually spot on), to help you get the technique. There’s also a guy on Instagram called grantlofty who posts some excellent videos refining technique with great tips and cues.

Just remember to always be working to increase the weight you are lifting. Your last set should be really, really hard. Your last rep shouldn’t look as nice as your first rep. If it does, you can go heavier. Every time you go, try and add a little bit more weight, even it’s just for a few reps at the end. Then next time, do that weight again. Before you know it you’ll be bossing it!

It’s great that you’ve made the first step, and two times a week is very good for general fitness and strength. I think most of us are training for the same thing, and it’s not to be a powerlifter or an athlete, it’s to strengthen our normal bodies and age as well as we possibly can, so don’t get too sucked in to over complicating things! Good luck 💪💪💪

Like you, I'm very time limited. I joined the gym in 2018, lost 1.5 stone really toned up, and got pretty fit doing full body 3 times a week. Since covid, going back to work full time, and now in my 40's I've fallen off the wagon a bit with consistency, but I'm determined to change that this year.

My go to workout is a 2k row, then a mixture of strength excercises. 4 different excercises leg/arm/leg/arm and then repeat 3 times - 36 sets total. Leg press/pull down/sumo squat/overhead tricep extenstion as an example. Then I finish with 10 mins on the cross trainer. Takes about an hour and 15. Sometimes I'll do a 5k row or run, or just the strength if I'm pushed for time. Worked for me, but consistency and not expecting immediate results is key.

Good luck

All the gyms I’ve belonged to (4 in total) have had a free session to set you up on a bespoke routine and every 6-12 weeks you can have a review with gym staff to see if the routine needs changing (adding, taking away, more, less). They’ve all had various apps that they enter your routine and then you track your progress - ok not all, one was pre apps and your routine was on a card! Smart phones were just starting to appear but a blackberry was the height of sophistication!!! Yes I’m that old

I’d see if your gym offers this as that would give you a decent workout, designed around your goals and fitness. If not, I’d just pay for a single pt session to get set up on an appropriate routine. They can discuss everything with you and help you not injure yourself.

I ended up creating a long list of weights exercises - everything from weighted squats to leg press to assisted pull ups to material pull downs to bent over rows etc etc. I write down what weight I'm at for 3*10 reps.

Then when I go to the gym to do weights I just pick between 5 and 7 off the list in such a way that I cover off most areas of my body.

It's not very conventional but it has worked well for me and I'm a lot stronger than I was before.

I do full body twice a week (I also walk a lot and practice yoga). I have a PT I visit once a month to check my progress and switch up my routine. Definitely worth having at least one session with a PT and making sure your work outs are beneficial for what you want to achieve. Good luck!

Twice a week full body is fine for getting started but as pp have said that's a bit of an odd workout plan with all those presses and no pulls, which can lead to imbalances (not surprising for chatGPT!). As well as cardio for warm up you should aim to mobilise the joints you're going to work and then do.cooldown stretches afterwards. If you can get a session with a PT that would be great, or lots of online.trainers do introductory workouts that you can learn from.

I did think this. Could you give me an idea of pull exercises please? I do the lat pull down.