New to using the gym

[Fidgety31]

I joined early December after just swimming for years .
I am currently going 3 times a week and spending about 45 -50 mins doing -
10 mins bicycle
30 mins using various weight machines. I do 3 sets of 15 on each one .
10 mins fast walking (can’t run ) on treadmill

Then once a week I do a pump class

I have put on a stone in the last year so watching what I eat but want to tone up again .
Is this enough ? Or what should I change

10 mins bicycle

This is your warm up. It's not long enough (unless you're doing a series of HIIT cycles) to do more than warm you up.

30 mins using various weight machines. I do 3 sets of 15 on each one

This won't get you anywhere without a plan. Are you systematically training to failure ie muscle exhaustion? And then going 2.5 k or even 5 kg higher each week (or even each session)?

10 mins fast walking (can’t run ) on treadmill

That's your cool down.

You can't out train the wrong diet/eating for your body. And training to control weight needs to be much more intense than it sounds like you're doing. However, you can tone what muscle you have, and build muscle - but only by systematically stressing your body to the point of failure.

I have had to learn this - I thought failure was "wrong" - but my trainer pointed out that it's showing you the point to which your body can go, and that you aim in your training to get past next time, or the time after ...

Dolorabelle's analysis is correct. The 10 mins warm up and cool down sessions are fine. I would suggest upping your session to an hour and ending with 10 mins of stretching.

The weight machines are what will make the difference, but probably aren't. For a start, why did you pick 15 reps? And having done 15 could you do more? It is safe to use machines to failure (as opposed to free weights where you may need a spotter to do it safely). The number of reps depend on your goals. Higher reps (15 plus) focus on endurance (don't take much rest between sets). Lower reps (1-6) focus on pure brute strength (take a good 2-3 mins rest between sets so each set can use maximal exertion). Mid range reps (8-12) focus on muscle building (rest 1-2 mins between sets). Although building muscle size is not usually a female aim, it quite possibly should be. Muscle is a good thing to have. My own rep range tends to be in the 8-12 area and I am no Schwarzenegger even after 3 years of training.

I'm curious why you picked sets of 15 also? I use eight as the mid point for strength and endurance. By the third set you should feel you literally couldn't do another one.

So I guess why fifteen? Are you lifting as heavy as you could?

Sorry I'd also say bulking up is very difficult for women. You need to go some. Weights, and lifting heavy usually makes us leaner, and wirh defintion. I'm assuming your female but could be wrong.

Yup, agree with Bluntness and Spodge about reps. I think you'll need to start to distinguish between what you do in a Pump class (I do one or two a week just for the fun & total sweat mess of them) and what you do in an effective strength/weights/resistance programme.

Pump works on light weights, & high fast reps. Weight training (and why I lurve it) is about picking up heavy shit, not many times, and resting in between. What's not to love?

And yes, at least 10 mins stretching at the end after a cool down. Hip flexors, ham strings, glutes, back, arms & foam roller out your quads & calves. In fact after a tough PT session I usually do around 20-30 mins of stretching & mobility work.

I am feeling the lack of a proper stretching & mobility work out today after doing a PB on a sled pull - 350kg a couple of days ago - I had to dash to a meeting and didn't stretch properly after an hour of being tortured by my PT, and my calves are really telling me I was wrong, wrong, wrong today. 2 days' later, as usual.

Thanks for the replies . Yes I’m female too.

The arm machines where you pull in or push up etc )sorry don’t know their names ) I can only manage 15kg at moment .
Leg machines same apart from one where you slide up and down and I can do 40kg on that .
So I do each one 15 times in a row , for three times . Then move onto the next machine .

It’s just what I was advised in my induction .

This is all new to me as I’ve not used a gym before and by the sounds of the replies I’m doing it all wrong !

15kg is pretty respectable for an arm machine! Your 40kg sounds like the leg press - ultimately a good aim for that is to be able to push your bodyweight.

You're not doing it wrong and the levels suggested are typical for an induction, but (as is also typical for an induction) they don't seem to have given you any advice on progression and without an eye to progression you will do fine initially but end up spinning your wheels. That's why most people quit - it stops working because they haven't really had (or taken) proper advice on how to keep things working for them.

Essentially you want to feel the exertion. If after three sets of 15 your muscles are burning and you couldn't do another repetition if someone paid you, then that is the feeling you are aiming for. Get used to it! It feels quite horrid at first but after a while it is possible to grow to welcome it, if not exactly to like it.

If your gym is like most gyms then after about 6 weeks they will review your programme. That time is about up for you so I would book in with an instructor for a review. Before you have the review think specifically about what your goals are, and maybe show them a copy of this thread so they can see the advice you've been getting. That will ensure a productive review and some good tweaks going forward.

Leg machines same apart from one where you slide up and down and I can do 40kg on that

I'm 60 yo, weigh 70kg, and can leg press around 120kg, with a personal best (PB) of 160kg (for 8 reps, and then I stopped). That's after 2 years' consistent training. My PB for back squat is 60kg, and deadlift 85kg.

So these are the kinds of figures you can aim for over a year or 18 months. I tend to do the heavy lifting only in my weekly sessions with a personal trainer, and maybe once every 3 weeks or so in a session on my own. I do a lot of other physical stuff, including at least 1 Pump class a week, so sometimes it's hard to fit in consistent resistance & strength training more than once a week.

Have a read of some of the threads in The Weights Room, which is a great place to pick up tips from other women doing resistance & strength training - you just have ignore all the posts from people who can't read & don't understand it's not a weight loss forum.

Op, up your weights and do less reps. You'll build strength better. At the fifteen you're building endurance, which means you can go on for longer. Both are important, but the mid ground is best.

Lots of good advice here, I agree with everyone else. I would add that you'll get more out of free weights than being on the machines but it would be good to have a session with a pt to show you good form and watch you when you first do them. I used to do machines but found them more boring than free weights where you can do more compound exercises that build muscle over a lot of different areas of your body at the same time.

I tend to go with higher weight, less reps and am very particular about my form. I do a home routine of weights and resistance that I made up myself which takes about 15-20mins but im sweating by the end of it!

I also prefer free weights, you can do a lot more. I used the Chloe Madeley app when I started, but you can easily ask the personal trainer to give you advice.

I'm just surprised they recommended 15 reps.

15 is a lot, I have a plan from a personal trainer and most sets are between 8-12. The JSA James Smith academy app also has loads of videos of using free weights to learn good form.

Thanks for the Info.
I’d it bad for me to do 15 reps ? I mean will it damage me ?

No of course it won't damage you. Just it's more efficient to do less reps with a heavier weight. I think we are all guessing you're doing this to get leaner, with muscle defintion and fitter?

If it's just about fitness and endurance and you're not bothered about anything else, keep going as you are.

I agree with others BUT think high volume low weights can help if you are new to weights, rehabbing an injury, want to reset and focus on form, build confidence generally. I've done it, then switched to four sets ten, then five by five going heavy..which is much more fun!. I mainly do bodyweight exercises at the moment though.