some help with splits & cardio

[stimulant3x]

If anyone can give me some advice on training... I am concerned that I am overtraining my body by working out 6 out of 7 days a week for usually at least 2 hrs a day. I vary the cardio with boxing, basketball, elliptical trainer, treadmill, and stationary bike. I am on an average day doing a lot of cardio and I am feeling really sore lately as well as lacking energy. Today i had a carb up day consuming over 200 gm carbs hoepfully giving my body a boost over the next few days. But my qeustion is should i just go 20 minutes of basketball, boxing, and then regular cardio or is it ok to play basketball for an hour and then do my regular cardio after taht or should i wait or maybe have carbs or soemthing like that in between? And also, can someone give me a 5 day weight training split where i use mostly cable exercises or machines b/c i don't like doing free weights outside of curls? Thanks in advance for your responses =)

some info- diet: low carb, low fat and higher protein 1500 calories a day
supps: glutamine and hyrdroxycut

[MiloMan]

1500 calories a day? That seems mighty low, especially for all that aerobic activity. 1500 is (if I remember correctly) about what it takes for a 100-pound "couch potato" girl (and I mean really sedentary) to maintain weight. At first glance, overtraining wouldn't seem to be as much of a problem as not shoveling in enough calories.

What is your body weight?

Are you trying to drop weight in an extreme hurry?

[stimulant3x]

i weigh 162 5'9"... i wouldn't say i'm trying to drop in a hurry. I guess 3 lbs of fat per week until i reach my goal. I thought to maintain weight you multiply your body weight x 12 and to drop you went to 10x ...so 10x would be 1600- bumped that to 1500 or so. I mean i vary the amount of calories so my body doesn't get usedto 1500.

[LIL-ONE]

YOU DEFINATELY NEED SOME WEIGHT LIFTING IN YOUR ROUTINE...WHY DO YOU ONLY USE CABLE MACHINES? I DONT WANT TO SAY THESE ARE BAD BUT IF YOU WANT TO GET A FULL RANGE OF MOTION YOU SHOULD TRY USING FREE WEIGHTS. CABLE MACHINES ALSO LIMIT WHAT KIND OFF EXERCISES YOU CAN DO...
-AS FOR YOUR DIET..YOU CANT JUST LOOK AT YOUR CALORIE INTAKE BUT WHAT IS YOUR PROTEIN/CARB/FAT RATIO?
-YOUR ALSO TAKING HYDROXYCUT? SUCH LOW CALORIES AND WEIGHT LOSS SUPPS...YOU'LL TURN INTO NOTHING BECAUSE YOUR BODY WILL START TO TAKE NUTRIENTS IT NEEDS FROM YOUR MUSCLES
-TRY A WEIGHT CHANGING PROGRAM..INSTEAD OF CONCENTRATING SO MUCH ON WEIGHT LOSS..HOW ABOUT CHANGING SOME OF THAT WEIGHT OVER TO MUSCLE?
HOW MANY DAYS A WEEK ARE YOU WILLING TO WEIGHT LIFT? THEN I'LL HELP YOU OUT WITH A ROUTINE..
-ALSO WHAT DO YOU EAT BEFORE AND AFTER ALL THIS CARDIO YOU DO?

[stimulant3x]

question 1:

I do the cable machines, and the regular machines b/c i people say they give good definition as opposed to bulk b/c you don't need the extra muscles aroudn the target muslce for balance as much. I mean that is what i'm going for- just a lot of definition. I do free weights for some workouts such as bench press, bicep curl, lat raise, and reverse curls... I also feel like the machines make me have good form whereas the free weights can possibly hurt my back ( which is alreayd injured) so i guess that scares me a bit.

question 2: i take in as much protein as possible (usually over 150 gms) about 50 gm carb and i use flax seed oil for my fats but some food that i have has unsaturated fat in it, so i guess i get enough fat. I try to keep the carbs as low as possible and i have 1 carb up day per week where i have 250 gm carbs or so stretched out over 6 meals

#3- I'm trying to add muscle right now as well as cut the fat from my body. Once i get to the point i want to be I will have proved to myslef that i can cut when i wnat and therefore won't be afraid to bulk. Thus bulking will commence =) ...

#4- I'm willing to lift weights 5-6 days a week. I really love going to the gym and lifting weights. I do really need help with a routine that i can stick to for 8 weeks or so. I need to know that I'm gonna get good results and i'm up for it.

#5- well the cardio is ususally packed before, in between, and after the weight lifting so i usually try to get 2:1 ratio of carbs to protein after the gym on heavy cardio days. I like those mountain dew amp drinks or gatorade powder. Also, i may have fruit or something with those type of carbs in it. Either way, I'm trying to get like 50% of my carbs for the day during the post workout meal.

Hey, thanks a lot for your interest in my questions. As always, I appreciate it ...

[LIL-ONE]

1-IF CABLE MACHINES WORK FOR YOU THEN STICK WITH IT, ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE A PREVIOUS INJURY...MACHINES CAN BE A LITTLE SAFER..IF YOU HURT YOUR BACK ALREADY TRY USING A WEIGHT BELT DURING SOME EXERCISES TO PREVENT FUTURE INJURY. IF YOUR WORRIED ABOUT FREE WEIGHTS BULKING YOU UP TOO MUCH...DONT LET IT SCARE YOU AWAY...THE FACT THAT THERE ARE SO MANY MORE GOOD EXERCISES YOU ARE MISSING OUT ON W/MACHINES DEFINATELY OUT WEIGHS THE POSSIBLE BULKING UP PART...AND TRUST ME..AS SOMEONE WHO IS TRYING TO BULK UP..ITS NOT AS EASY AS IT SOUNDS SO YOU WONT TURN INTO A BIG MONSTER JUST FROM PICKING UP SOME FREE WEIGHTS! REMEMBER IF YOU GET BULKY FROM USING FREE WEIGHTS YOUR ONLY GAINING MUSCLE MASS! IF YOUR WORKING OUT AND THINKING OF BULKING IN THR FUTURE...THEN WHY WATE TO GAIN MUSCLE WHY YOUR CUTTING UP..GAINING MORE MUSCLE WILL EVEN HELP YOU HAVE MORE DEFINITION.

2-SINCE YOU SAID YOU WANT TO BULK UP IN THE FUTURE...WAY TOO MANY PEOPLE GET SCARED OFF BY THIS TERM..BULKING UP DOESNT MEAN PUTTING ON FAT LIKE CRAZY...IT MEANS PUTTING ON CLEAN CARBS...WHICH SHOULD BULK UP YOUR MUSCLE MORE THEN ANYTHING ELSE. FOR SOMEONE SCARED TO BULK UP BECAUSE THEY ARE UNSURE OF IF THEY CAN CUT UP OR NOT...TRY CHANGING YOUR CURRENT BODYWEIGHT...CHANGE FAT WIEGHT OVER TO MUSCLE WEIGHT..THIS IS A BIT OF A SLOWER PROCESS BUT IT BENIFITS BECAUSE YOU DONT HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE 2 EXTREMES OF BULKING AND CUTTING..AND YOU DONT HAVE TO LIMIT YOUR DIET AS MUCH..IF YOU ARE NOT IN A RUSH I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMEND YOU TRY THIS. WITH ALL THE CARDIO YOU DO...I WOULDNT BE WORRIED TOO MUCH ABOUT GAINING FAT WHILE YOU ARE GAINING MUSCLE...SO DONT NEGLECT YOUR CARBS BECAUSE THESE ARE IMPORTANT FOR GAINING MUSCLE AS WELL AS IMPORTANT FOR KEEPING MUSCLE YOU HAVE ALREADY...I THINK YOUR EATING TOO LITTLE FOR WHAT YOU WANT..A LOT OF PEOPLE GET STUCK WHEN THEY ARE TRYING TO LOSE FAT AND GAIN MUSCLE...WELL ITS HARD TO DO WHEN EVERYTHING FACTORS IN BECAUSE SOME THINGS CONFLICT EACHOTHER..SO TRY CHANGING YOUR WEIGHT. WHICH WOULD MEAN YOU EAT THE NORMAL CALORIE INTAKE FOR YOU BODYWEIGHT(BW X 12-14) WITH A RATIO OF ABOUT 40/40/20(PROTEIN/CARB/FAT)

A VERY SIMPLE WEIGHT LIFTING ROUTINE-

DAY1-CHEST/TRIS
DAY2-SHOULDERS
DAY3-OFF
DAY4-QUADS/HAMS/CALVES
DAY5-BACK/BIS
DAY6-OFF
DAY7-ABS/OBLIQUES
DONT FOLLOW THIS EXACTLY...FIT IT BETTER TO YOUR SCHEDULE HOWEVER..MAKE SURE YOU GIVE YOUR MUSCLES PROPER TIME TO REST AND RECOVER BEFORE YOU HIT THEM AGAIN...EXAMPLE-IF YOU ARE GOING TO SEPERATE YOUR CHEST/TRIS INTO DIFFERENT DAYS..MAKE SURE YOU SPREAD THEM OUT ACCORDINGLY...BECAUSE WHEN YOU DO SOME CHEST EXERCISES..YOUR TRIS GET WORKS..SAME WITH YOUR BACK/BIS

-THATS A LOT OF CARDIO..BEFORE AND AFTER WIEGHT LIFTING..I WOULD SUGGEST DOING CARDIO AFTER WEIGHT LIFTING FOR IT TO BE MORE EFFECTIVE IN FAT LOSS...SOME CARDIO BEFORE AS A WARM UP IS FINE BUT THATS ALL I WOULD DO IF ANY BEFORE WEIGHT LIFTING. TRY SOME PROTEIN SHAKES THAT ARE ALSO HIGH IN CARBS...THESE SHAKES OFTEN HELP KEEP RATIOS GOOD BECAUSE THEY ARE LOW IF NOT FAT FREE. THOSE DRINKS YOU MENTIONED ARE GOOD FOR POST WORKOUTS..BECAUSE SOME SUGAR AFTER A WORKOUT IS GOOD..BUT OTHERWISE..THEY ARE JUST SUGAR AND WATER WHICH ISNT GOOD TO HAVE ANY OTHER TIME DURING THE DAY..STICK TO LOTS OF WATER...PROTEIN SHAKES...DONT BE FOOLED BY THE GATORADE ADDS THAT MAKE PEOPLE THINK THAT YOU'LL DO GREAT IN SPORTS IF YOU DRINK THEM..DONT GET ME WRONG THEY ARE NOT THATTTT BAD FOR YOU...BUT WHAT NUTRITIONAL VALUE DO THEY HAVE BESIDES SUGAR? THINK ABOUT THAT

[HUZBETTA]

Originally posted by LIL-ONE


A VERY SIMPLE WEIGHT LIFTING ROUTINE-

DAY1-CHEST/TRIS
DAY2-SHOULDERS
DAY3-OFF
DAY4-QUADS/HAMS/CALVES
DAY5-BACK/BIS
DAY6-OFF
DAY7-ABS/OBLIQUES

-

THIS IS VERY GOOD ADVICE...VERY WELL THOUGHT UP...