. . . I quit running because it made me too exhausted to follow up with a good weight workout. So I switched to 45 minutes walking on the treadmill followed by 40 minutes heavier weights.
. . . I alternate between 30 min. cardio (treadmill, rower, bicycle or walking) and 45 min. weights (Bowflex, dumbells) each day 6 days a week - 1 day off. . .
I'll be changing my exercise regimen to more outdoors stuff -- hiking and biking -- now the weather is starting to warm up, but I have several different indoor workouts that I rotate through. I try to get some sort of exercise seven days a week, though it often works out to five or so days.
I have three fitness center type workouts, call them 1, 2, & 3.
- My "low level" workout:
- 20 minutes cardio (on a cyclic jogger) with a 5-min warm down.
- 20-30 minutes of weights, enough for one set of each exercise when done with medium weight in quick succession:
- 10 minutes of cardio with a 5-minute warm down.
- About an hour and ten minutes workout time.
- My "All Cardio" workout:
- 25 minutes on the cyclic jogger + 5 minutes warm down
- 15 minutes or 200 calories (whichever comes first) on the rowing machine.
- 10 minutes on the cyclic jogger + 5 minutes warm down
- About an hour and ten minutes workout time.
- My "strength" workout:
- 15 minutes on the cyclic jogger + 5-minute warm down.
- 60 minutes on weights, enough for two sets of each exercise, one low-weights set and one high-weight set.
- 10 minutes on the cyclic jogger + a 5-minute warm down.
- Takes about two hours.
There are also a fair number of long, one-hour, three mile evening walks that I do each week with my wife and our dog.
Most of my indoor workouts are #1-types; I only do the other two workouts once a week. This works for me because I'm already fairly muscular (I can comfortably bench press my own weight ten times, and really don't need more strength or to stress my joints with more weight), but someone who is trying to get into shape might make every other workout a #3 with #1s and #2s in-between.
Also worth noting is that I do my weights routine in quick succession, with weights that move from top to bottom several times. In other words, I do a couple upper body exercises (bench press, curls) followed by a torso exercise (sit-ups or crunches), then a leg exercise (leg extension), then do another group of exercises that work my upper, mid, and lower body, then another round. Working out this way prevents me from getting over-tired in any one section of my body, so I can keep my workout moving, keep my heart rate up, and keep my workout times from getting too long.
Now the weather outside is improving my wife and I will get out on more multi-hour bike rides and nature hikes, activities we both enjoy a great deal that happen to be good for fitness as well. As these cardio-intensive outdoor activities take up more time, I won't go to the gym as often, once a week to get in one #3 and a second time for a #1 workout, if I have time.