	AllExperts > Weightlifting & Exercise
	Search

About Karen Sullivan
Expertise
Karen can help with lifting technique, muscle recovery, weight loss, body building and powerlifting. She has been certified by AFPA for the last 10 years as a Personal Trainer and has recently acquired a certification from the same agency as a Post Rehabilitative Exercise Specialist. Any recommendations or advice rendered are based on fitness information as specified by the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Fitness Professionals and Associates.

Experience

Past/Present clients
Clients include athletes training for marathons, mountain climbing and general weight loss. In addition I have clients troubled with COPD, Fibromyalgia, and Parkinsons as well as stroke rehab. She was the Strength and Conditioning coach for Williamsburg Aquatic Club, a USA Swim Team, in Williamsburg, Virginia for 3 years. Karen is presently working at Main Street Gym in Historic St. Charles, Missouri where she teaches Pilates and continues her work with clients. Her training reaches across the country with her long distance Body Restoration eTraining. Her dedication to fitness reaches into the nutritional supplementation with Shaklee products. She only works with clients who add nutritional supplementation to their training. Read more of her story on www.shaklee.net/BodyRestoration

You are here: Experts > Recreation/Outdoors > Bodybuilding > Weightlifting & Exercise > fitness

Weightlifting & Exercise - fitness

Expert: Karen Sullivan - 11/2/2009

Question
Hello Karen I am a 45 year old man. I have been very active my whole life. I work out usually 6 days a week. 3 days I do strength training with dumbbells and machines along with core strengthening. The other 3 days I do cardio which is 1 hour on the treadmill at 4.5 to 4.7 mph (usually about 4.5 miles). When I do weight training my goal is overall fitness (not bulk). By this, I mean I want to keep tone and also be able to have the ability to do other things-like golf. I have never had a problem motivating myself to workout-I do enjoy it. Now my question- I have noticed in the last several months that I am beginning to need a little more rest than before. For example this past weekend on Saturday I woke up a little tired and thought maybe my body was trying to tell me to slow down a little so I did not work out over the weekend. I did resume today (Mon) and had a very good workout(strengthening). So I am curious about a few things. First, how many days should I work out? Second, how long should I workout to get the maximum results(is 1 hour on the treadmill too much)? am I going too fast?(4.5mph)Third am I doing too much strengthening (3 days a week at pretty good intensity)? Do you have any recommendations for a training routine? As I said earlier I am 45 yrs old. I am 6'5" tall weighing 215 pounds. I am in excellent shape according to my doctor(Thank God). I take glutamine as a supplement and I try to eat right(fruits and veggies). Sorry if this a long -winded question but I wanted to be specific.Also I want to know how best to get the most out of my workouts even if I were to cut back on how much I do or how often I do it. Any recommendations you can give would be appreciated(even on nutrition). Thanks Ken

Answer
Ken,
You have several questions there. That's great and your information is super.
You are probably experiencing a little exhaustion from overtraining. Your body cannot keep up with what you have always done all your life. Not that you are older but you are certainly busier with life and work etc. So, I would think you can switch it up a little bit.

I would suggest lifting 3x a week with cardio 2x a week.

Now, cardio up to an hour is ok ... after an hour the benefit is less because the risk of injury increases after 60 minutes. What you can try is several things. You will need to play with it. In the first place I think you can back off and give yourself the weekend off. Train Monday through Friday. Weekends are for yard work, long bike rides and fun.

So,I am not certain what your workout is like but I would limit it to an hour of lifting. Start with 10 minutes on lifting days of cardio to get warmed up. On each bodypart you make sure you do a lighter weight and do the lift more slowly. For Example: If you are doing chest press start with the 45lb bar and do chest press slowly and enjoy the stretch at the bottom and push your arms into the lift to extend in the back a little for a stretch too. Does that make sense??? You only need to do about 10 reps. Then go on with your workout. You don't need to do anything else slow and light for the chest. Just proceed with your chest workout.

The same goes for all body parts. Now, lifting for more than an your is unnecessary. Same deal as with the cardio...longer than an hour and you risk injury.

I hesitate to give you more information because I realized I don't know the details of your lifting routine. How many exercises do you do for each body part. Are you training each muscle 1x a week or 2x or 3x??? How many sets and reps. If you need help scaling your workout down please write back and let me know the details as I have presented them here.

Food.....You know the standards....lean meats and fresh veggies and grains. Never Ever packaged foods if you can avoid it. That includes salad dressings (home made are awesome). No fast food even if they say it is healthy. It usually isn't. More importantly listen to your body. You know you shouldn't have sugar...and that excess caffeine isn't great for us either. Otherwise, pay attention to how foods make you feel after you have eaten them. Then decide if you want to feel that way and cut the food out for good.

I had a client who discovered that when she ate breads, even whole grain breads she had an incredible problem with her eliminations. She went to a bread with high fiber in it...still had issues. Then she decided to STOP eating bread completely and things cleared up for her. It was months later she found out from her mother that as a child she had a gluten allergy. See allergies don't have to be rashes. When the body doesn't function right it is probably telling you the food in there isn't the best choice for you. Keeping a journal is the best way to chart how you respond to foods.

Well, let me know if I can help you more. Thanks, Karen

Ken -- try again with your next question. There is no reason why I cannot take yours.

Ask a Question