Newbie help with cardio and weights please

[carrottopper]

I’m almost 46 and want to get back in shape. It will really help me mentally.

I have a cross trainer, walking treadmill and 3 kg weights at home. I can’t get to a gym due to kids and work.

I’ve been doing 10 mins on the cross trainer and 20 on the walking treadmill- mostly running 2 mins and walking for a minute. Feels good but no idea if I’m making a difference. I’ve been told to start Caroline Girvin by a friend but will her programme work with 3kg weights? And when do I do her programme and when do I do cardio? Any help greatly appreciated.

aim is to feel fitter, tone up and hopefully lose a stone or dress size. My BMI is almost 27

Start with the 3kgs. Work through her Iron programme. Then do it again with 5kgs.

Cardio is fine but I regard it as a supplement to strength training.

And up your protein intake.

Ha ha I regard strength as a supplement to cardio!

I’ve never done CG but 3kg weights are not light assuming you’re going lots of reps!

A mix of strength training and cardio is good , I do belong to a gym but also use YouTube workouts a lot. I mostly use lighter weights 3 and 5kgs as my preference is for a more toned look than muscly. Caroline Girvan is very popular , I also like fitbymik as I think her weight workouts are very well structured. It is also a very good idea to make sure you build in enough stretching and flexibility into the exercise you do

Do the Caroline Girvan Fuel programme. It has cardio days. 3kg is fine to start. She uses very heavy weights but she has been doing it for 20+ years.

Once you've gotten into a routine and feel ready, you could up your weights. You could possibly pick some up for cheap/free on your local Facebook market place/free ad pages.

Thanks everyone for your advice and replies. I need to order a mat. Is it just a yoga mat I need?

Be warned you will ache for the first week or so with Caroline girvan don't give up.

@carrottopper yoga mats are designed to give you really good grip but not much cushioning, so you might want something a bit softer depending on what you are doing , however having said that I use my yoga mat for Pilates and other floor work as well as yoga.

Following with interest!

a friend had some PT sessions after joining the gym recently and was surprised that her programme for weight loss and toning was mainly strength training rather than cardio. Seems like current thinking has changed since I was a gym bunny 15 odd years ago!

Put your post into ChatGPT and see what it suggests - it did a great gym programme for me!