? for Mandy (or any JV 'expert')

[Lucky Star]

Hmm, Fast Forward takes about 25 minutes per cycle for me.

LOL at Joyce's comments. I remember reading in her book Toning for Teens where she railed against plastic surgery and enhancements. Now look at her!

[imhere2dance]

Originally Posted by Lucky Star

Hmm, Fast Forward takes about 25 minutes per cycle for me.

I do the entire workout at once. If I remember correctly, it's over an hour: "Cycles I and II" and "Cycle III and Extra Abs."

[Bebop]

Inhere2dance:

Sissy's generic rotation is great.

As far as not wanting to workout over 60 minutes:

I still would incorporate Bottoms up gold but don't do the entire workout.
I often times leave out a superset or two so my workout will be under 60 minutes. It's too good a workout to leave out.

As far as rotations: Ofcourse Joyce is going to tell you that you need all the workouts. (LOL).

Cathe makes rotations each month with all of her workouts. However, Cathe once wrote somewhere that a rotation was just to give you an idea of what type of workouts to use. You can substitute and customize.

I mix and match all the time. I love Just Arms but sometimes I just do two of the sets. Sometimes I do the entire workout and do the full pyramid on two sets and modified on the other. I once made a cardio interval workout with that one - I would do the modified pyramid and rebound while she was doing the other rounds. With Joyce workouts you can do so much.

I personally like Fast Forward and I think you could have an awesome rotation by doing that workout - day 1 day 2 and day 3 and then to get in another total body workout, do a circuit workout or a Firm workout or a total body weight workout by Joyce or someone else. Maybe I'll try that next.

Cardio works well with Joyce. Since you could work upper or lower body within 15 minutes you can easily add on cardio.

[imhere2dance]

Here's what I don't understand about splits: Is it "better" to do upper/abs one day and lower/abs the next, so that strength work is being done every day? Does that usually give better or faster results than doing everything all at once every other day?

[Lucky Star]

It comes down to personal choice, because if you prefer total body workouts that's what you'll be motivated to stick with in the long run.
However, I've read time after time that splits are more conducive for gaining muscle... perhaps because one's concentration is focused on fewer muscle groups at a time and there's potentially more room for progression?

[MomOf2Gremlins]

Originally Posted by imhere2dance

Here's what I don't understand about splits: Is it "better" to do upper/abs one day and lower/abs the next, so that strength work is being done every day? Does that usually give better or faster results than doing everything all at once every other day?

Personally I always preferred split days for the main reason of having more time to focus on UB/LB within a certain time frame (I also don't like to work out longer than 60 min, preferably even 30 min for ST and ~20 min cardio is ideal for me).
When I lifted at the gym more serious a few years back, I only did splits (back/bis, chest/tris, etc.) and was in great shape! (And that while I didn't do much cardio at all! Usually 15 min for warm-up b4 lifting, that was it! My focus was to gain muscle though too! If you already have nice muscle mass and want to shed some body fat, then you'd have to increase the cardio, of course.)

[Bebop]

I think it all depends on your goals. Personally, if you are just exercising for health, it doesn't matter.

If you are looking for a specific goal, say body building, then I think splits or one body part per day work.

IMHO, just from experience, I find mixing it up for muscle confusion works best. Splits will enable you to build more strength because you are just concentrating one set of muscles. Splits usually have more exercises per body part.

Also, if you are short on time and need to "get it all in" a short split will allow you time for add ons.

There was a thread a while back which talked about how no matter what program or system was followed, and no matter how many years we worked out, our bodies pretty much stayed the same. That doesn't mean we didn't lose weight, or gain strength, or get toned, etc. It just meant that there is no magic answer.

As far as Joyce workouts, She includes back in the lower body. Yesterday I did the upper body workouf of Slow Duets. So today, I need aerobics and back so I'm doing Cathe CTX the Power circuit workout. That will be a 30 min. aerobic workout with leg work and the back work from CTX. I could do the slow duet lower body but I want aerobics.

I'm rambling. Don't obsess about working out. Just do something. Figure a minimum of strength training the body twice a week - three times if you are trying to build strength, get in a minimum of three aerobics - more is always better - stretch daily and work the abs as many times as you want. Add in rest days as the body requires and just have fun with your workouts.

[MsThistlebottom]

Originally Posted by Bebop

...

If you are looking for a specific goal, say body building, then I think splits or one body part per day work....

Don't obsess about working out. Just do something. Figure a minimum of strength training the body twice a week - three times if you are trying to build strength, get in a minimum of three aerobics - more is always better - stretch daily and work the abs as many times as you want. Add in rest days as the body requires and just have fun with your workouts.

Good advice, here and elsewhere. I tend to get too obsessive about covering all the bases or following exact rotations. Recently I started this generic rotation (Joyce and Margaret R. for strength). It's working out great so far, and I'm already seeing some fat loss. In the past I've preferred to do total body workouts, but splits are working out much better for me. It leaves me enough time to fit in extra cardio, and it yields better results.

Day 1: Stretching, cardio
Day 2: Upper body
Day 3: Lower body, cardio
Day 4: Upper body
Day 5: Lower body, cardio
Day 6: Upper body
Day 7: Lower body, cardio

[imhere2dance]

Originally Posted by MsThistlebottom

Recently I started this generic rotation (Joyce and Margaret R. for strength). It's working out great so far, and I'm already seeing some fat loss. In the past I've preferred to do total body workouts, but splits are working out much better for me. It leaves me enough time to fit in extra cardio, and it yields better results.

Day 1: Stretching, cardio
Day 2: Upper body
Day 3: Lower body, cardio
Day 4: Upper body
Day 5: Lower body, cardio
Day 6: Upper body
Day 7: Lower body, cardio

Hmm, I might need to play around a bit and try something similar. What days do you do abs?

[MsThistlebottom]

Originally Posted by imhere2dance

Hmm, I might need to play around a bit and try something similar. What days do you do abs?

Whenever I can fit it in. I need to take another look at Joyce's Vertical Abs. I don't do a lot of traditional crunches because I have bone loss in my spine, so I'm always looking for alternatives.