Hey guys,

I just spoke to my brother and told him about my whole program. He has done his own research and is knowledgable in this whole thing as he's done it before and had great results. He thinks I could be over training and says it may end up slowing me down rather then speeden up my fat loss/muscle gain as I'm trying to do. I am just looking for other opinions and there's no place better then here.

I do 30 min cardio 7 days a week on the elliptical.
Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays - early evening after work
Tuesdays, Thursdays - either in between work and school (12pm) or after work (5pm)
Saturdays - early afternoon
Sundays - early afternoon

I just began lifting last week, 3 times a week, and will continue to intensify my training as I become stronger but the days should remain the same.
Tuesdays, Thursdays - either in between work and school (12pm) or after work (5pm).
Saturdays - evening, before dinner

I have been following this program: http://ast-ss.com/training/getting_started/getting_started.asp?part=1&page=4
but since I only have dumbbells, a lot of times I double up what I do. Ie: I do biceps two training days; I do crunches every training day instead of the excersizes I can't do because I don't have the equipment.

Anyway in short, 7 days cardio - 30 min. 3 days lifting. My brother suggested I must take one day off, Sunday, which I plan on doing. He also suggested I stick to one or the other for the week; MWF cardo, TTS lifting... here's where I need your opinions/advice etc.

I specified what I do so someone can critique and I know it's sloppy so critique could do some good. Also if someone has any similar site like that it would be very helpful as I don't know many work outs. Gym is out of the question for now as the only free time I have is on the weekends with school and work taking up about 10-14 hours of my day and honestly I'm a little intimidated to go.

It depends on your current level of bodyfat and your goals.

When cutting for a competition i usually up the amount of cardio (especially to get below ~9%).

But if you are a beginner (and your bodyfat is much higher), I would say it is overkill. I would lower the cardio significantly and TRACK YOUR RESULTS! You will see that the fat will come off (as long as your calories are in check--assuming a good diet, and you weight train). Then when the fatloss slows, you can up the cardio.

Where will you go when your fatloss slows now? At 7 days a week you'd have to do cardio twice a day :eek: That is a recipe for serious burnout, not to mention a body which will become adapted to the cardio meaning you will need to do copious amounts just to maintain.

Up cardio only when necessary--track your results :claplow:

thanks for replying

Currently I'd guess I'm between 20-25% BF. I have tracked my weight, I suck at using the BF callapers so I stopped trying that, I lost 16 lbs in 5 weeks. Knowing this, do you think I should do cardio 3 days with 3 days of lifting instead of 7?

How much weight do you havo to lose? But if your goal is cutting and maintaining muscles, diet is the key. Heck, you can even drop bodyfat without cardio. Our daily activity, walking taking the steps, sports that's already considered cardio. Just keep on lifting heavy, reduce calories and you're cutting already... Too much cardio can lead to overtraining! Do some google about overtraining and you'll be surprised by the side effects!

I've been dieting very well. I am hoping to lose an additional 20-30 pounds. I think I will take my brothers advice on 3 days cardio, 3 days lifting, 1 day rest based on these responses. I did the google search and read it! Not a position I want to find myself in. I just want to lose fat as QUICK as possible. I have been very committed, so far only lack of education/information has slowed me down. Anyone else with comments?

thanks again for responding.

Just want to say, "Good luck!" :gl: And since you still have some amount of fat to lose, cardio may benefit you much. Use your motivation to continue until you reach your goal, if you feel lazy to lift or do cardio, use this motivation! Just keep your fat loss up to 2 lbs per week. Keep up and train hard, but don't overtrain :tucool: