ORIGINAL: ILuv2Swim2
Start out on the eliptical
45minutes, every 5 minutes i go up to a higher level and a higher resistance..
according to the machine, my pulse is 160ish on the low levels, 180 on the high levels.
30 minutes on the treadmill walking 4.0mph OR
15 min walking/15 minutes biking
OK... when it comes to cardio, I'm a big fan of interval style training. One thing you might want to try is instead of 45 minutes on the elliptical (or bike, or treadmill, or rowing machine, or...), bumping up the intensity every five minutes, to four to five intervals, where you bump up the intensity every minute. You would do something like:
Short warmup
Interval 1 One minute at 60% "perceived maximum effort" (PME)
One minute at 70% PME
One minute at 80% PME
One minute at 90% PME
Interval 2-3 or 4 Same as Interval 1
Interval 4 or 5 One minute at 70% PME
One minute at 80% PME
One minute at 90% PME
One minute at 100% PME (i.e. sprint as hard as you can)
Cool down for a couple of minutes
You really don't want to go beyond 20-25 minutes of this, as by that time, you will have used up most of your muscle's glycogen supply, and your body will start breaking down your muscle to feed itself.
after that
Ill do free arm curls, 15lbs in each hand, 3 X10
I dont know what that lift is called, but i keep a 25 over my head, work the triceps
Then I go to machines..I do a lat pull at 3 X 10 of 100
Bench 3X 10 of 75
Ill do a pull-up machine with a 3X10 of 70lbs of resistance
tricep pull 60lbs 3X10
and then i do one machine for my back, i dont remember what its called, but i use 60lbs, and i pull back with my shoulders.
That is my upper body workout
OK, a couple of quick comments here (I'm going to assume you want to stay with a Upper/Lower body split, rather than something like Chest&Biceps / Back&Triceps / Legs&Abs / Shoulders&Calves kind of split... if you'd like to try something like that, let us know):
* You might want to add another biceps exercise in there; hammer curls should be good, or my favorite, sit on an incline bench (at about a 60 degree angle) holding a pair of dumbbells. Starting with your palms facing in, start curling (make sure to keep your upper arms more-or-less still), and as you curl, rotate your wrists so that at the top of the curl your palms are facing up (well, facing your body, really).
* You don't seem to be doing anything for your shoulders (though I'm sure they get a good workout from the swimming). You might want to add either dumbbell military presses, or lateral raises to the workout (or both if you have time).
* You could also add incline bench presses to your routine, this will benefit the chest as well as the shoulders and triceps. You should also consider using free weights for the benching if you can. Machines can force the body into some unnatural lifting paths and might lead to injury.
* You also don't seem to do anything for your lower back -- you could add hyperextensions, or even better deadlifts to your routine. (And if I might be permitted to slip into sexist pig mode for a second, there is precious little on this earth sexier than a woman doing deadlifts...)
Legs
I do forward lunges with 10's in myhand 3X5
leg extension 3 X 10 with 75
leg press usual reps with 112
then i use the leg press machine to work my calves, same weight
and then there is this machine that works abductors, adductors, butt, and that front muscle in the stomach (sorry, im a nerd) I use that for inner thigh at 180lbs, and then for butt at 200lbs (i tread water a lot, im a beast, i can stack that machine..hehe)
and then finally, abs
I usually start with 1 min of reg crunches, then i do each side for 30 seconds, with my hips turned on the side, but my head and back still on the ground.
I pull up my head and legs at the same time, sorry for not knowing names, i do that 25 times
ill do bicycle for about 30 seconds
I do the plank, front and side for 45 sec each
front crunches with legs up and down
reverse crunch
and then ill do a flutter kick on my back to work the lower abs.
OK, lets see...
* Lunges. There is much goodness to be found in lunges. Good to see them in your routine. Even better than lunges, however, are squats. If you can add them to your routine (or at least swap the leg press for them) you'd probably be better off... (as part of a new program I'm testing, I just did eight set of squats this morning, and after re-reading
this I'm ready to go crank out another couple of sets -- to bad my quads don't feel the same way).
* Your abs routine is pretty impressive, however, since you do it five times a week, you're probably overdoing it. You might want to try cutting it back to twice a week, and try introducing weights to the ab workout as well. Ttry holding a plate to your forehead as you do the crunches and oblique crunches, or doing weighted cable crunches (here's the best description I found of them:
Set up a double-rope at the cable machine. With your knees planted on the floor, grab the ropes with both hands, locking them into the sides of your head. Slowly bring your elbows – and the resistance - down to your knees, holding the contraction for a two-count. Slowly rise up to a position where your torso is parallel to the floor and repeat the motion. Try three sets of 25-30 reps at a moderate weight.)
* Also, you aren't doing anything for your hamstrings. Leg curls are good for this, as are straight-leg deadlifts.
So if you want to stay with a two day upper/lower body split, you might want to try a schedule like:
Day 1: Lower body -or- Cardio & Lower body
Day 2: Upper body -or- Upper body
Day 3: Cardio -or- Cardio (or rest)
Day 4: Cardio -or- Lower body
Day 5: Lower body -or- Cardio & Upper body
Day 6: Upper body -or- Cardio
Day 7: Cardio -or- Rest
Of course, I'm still thinking a bit slowly today, so it would be good if some of the other folk here look over my suggestions here to see if I made any egregious errors before you consider taking them up.