My workouts and question for experts

[TR740]

I am Tracy and I have been lurking and reading for a bit now. I thought I would go ahead and post.

I workout 6 days a week. 5 to 6 days of cardio and 3 days of lifting. Cardio consists of bike, treadmill (tho I have shin splints so have to be careful) Plyometrics, Eliptical and before shin splints came back I was doing wind sprints once a week. I do have to watch the cardio as a lot of time it completely stops my weight loss. My lifting consists of the following:

MONDAY CHEST & TRICEPS

SEATED CHEST PRESS MACHINE OR FLAT BENCH PRESS
2 WARM-UP SETS OF 15-20 REPS
3 X 12-15

INCLINE DUMBBELL PRESS
3 X 12-15

DIPS
3 X 12-15 USE THE ASSISTED DIP MACHINE IF THEY HAVE ONE. IF NOT PUT A CHAIR UNDER YOU AND USE IT LIKE WE DID WHEN I WOULD ASSIST YOU ON CHIN UPS.


FLAT BENCH DUMBBELL FLYES
3 X 12-15

PUSH-UPS
3 X MUSCLE FAILURE

TRICEP CABLE PRESSDOWNS W/ STRAIT BAR - ONLY 3 SETS BECAUSE YOU GET TRICEPS ON ALL OF THE OTHER SETS
3 X 12-15




WEDNESDAY BACK & BICEPS

WIDE GRIP PULL DOWNS (Over hand)
2 WARM-UP SETS OF 15-20 REPS
3 X 12-15

CLOSE GRIP PULL DOWNS (Under hand)
3 X 12-15

CLOSE GRIP SEATED CABLE ROWS (Under hand)
3 X 12-15

DUMBBELL PULLOVERS
3 X 12-15

BICEP CURLS WITH BARBELL OR CABLE MACHINE
3 X 12-15


FRIDAY LEGS & SHOULDERS

SMITH MACHINE SQUATS
2 WARM-UP SETS OF 15-20 REPS
3 X 12-15

SISSY SQUATS
3 X 12-15

WEIGHTED REAR LEG ELEVATED LUNGES (ONE LEG AT A TIME)
3 X 12-15

LEG EXTENSION MACHINE
3 X 12-15

LEG CURL MACHINE
3 X 12-15

DUMBBELL UPRIGHT ROWS
2 X 12-15

DUMBBELL SIDE LATERALS
12-15


I am getting very good results upper body and that upper body seems to get my core muscles as well. Also calf muscles look great and I can see upper leg muscles quite clearly now when exercising but not when just sitting. I do lift heavier and push so I am failing by the 3rd set at 12 (sometimes sooner).

I have quite a bit to lose as far as weight goes and have found for me weight lifting is the way to do that. I dropped 15 pounds in 4 weeks after almost a year of NOTHING. I weigh 229 right now at 5' 8" I just turned 42.

Here is the question. Butt Gutt and Hips I am round in the middle upper body looks pretty good, lower body especially the shape of my lower leg good.

Diet is clean, has to be as I can not eat gluten, processed foods, dairy. Diet consists of fresh fruits veggies, oatmeal, chicken, fish, every once in a while pork and beef. I take whole food vitamins and calcium. I gave up all supplements other then those mentioned.

How can I tweek my workout to help burn more goo off my ass and gutt?

Thanks Tracy

(lifting workout from a trainer that I used but we both moved)

[Paichka]

Personally, I prefer to focus on compound lifts. I rarely do single-joint movements like extensions and curls. I think I'd probably drop the number of reps, also...maybe something like 6-8 instead, and lift as heavy as you can.

The only thing I'd really change here (besides the rep scheme) is to do your squats in a rack instead of on the smith machine (engages your core and encourages a more natural movement), and add some deadlifts into the mix. Squats, deads, and pull-ups are the three best exercises for total-body strength (IMHO). Otherwise, as long as you are busting your rump in the gym, you don't appear to be missing anything here.

You are probably doing too much cardio, though. I don't think you need more than 3 or 4 sessions -- maybe two interval sessions and two longer sessions (30-40 minutes, say). Even that is more than a lot of people would advocate, but I like cardio. Interval training is best for stripping fat while maintaining muscle, so I'd focus on that. It's also shorter, so it gets you out of the gym faster.

The most important thing is to make sure that your diet is dialed in. You're eating some good foods there, so just make sure that you're eating within your deficit, and getting plenty of protein. Are you tracking your foods carefully? That's where the "goo burning" is going to come from -- diet is #1. Exercise is great, but it comes in a distant second.

Good luck!

[imperfectly_lou]

Paichka gave some great advice. Stick to doing your compounds properly with good form (no smith) and drop your rep scheme to really push yourself.

You might want to check out the sticky in the Female Nutrition section on Calculating calories - it doesn't matter how 'clean' your diet is (there really is no such thing), its all about calories in vs calories out