Weekly Workout Plan? Help!

[hcomeau]

I have been a member at my gym for a few years and I go often. I can't afford a personal trainer and I don't want to keep a gym log either. It's bad enough that I write down everything I put in my mouth!

Anyway, I do A LOT of cardio and I'm thinking that maybe I'm doing too much. The gym starts to get really crowded by the time I'm done my cardio and the weight machines are all taken. So it's impossible for me to do a combination workout in one day.

Last week, I took a butts and gutts lower body toning class and didn't do cardio that day. I enjoyed it and boy was I sore! I don't want to bulk up by toning or using weights but I want to look healthy small and toned. Long lean muscle!

So my question is out of 5 days a week what should my workout schedule look like?

When I do cardio I usually do anywhere from 45-60 minutes on the elliptical machine. My choices for toning are the butts and gutts class and a toning class using only the ball.

I would like to incorporate a lot more toning because if I build muscle won't it speed up my metabolism?

I was thinking of doing a workout schedule like this:

Tues: butts and gutts toning
Wed: Cardio
Thurs: butts and gutts toning
Friday: Cardio
Saturday: Cardio
Sunday: optional day
Monday: off day

Can anybody help me out here?

Also should I be doing ab and arm work everyday at home? Should I use a video for this? I don't want working out to consume my life but I want to look great!

[mle_ii]

Unless you are taking "suplements" I wouldn't worrie about bulking up. Women don't produce enough testosterone without "supplements" to bulk up and get huge.

Yes, muscle toning will speed up your metabolism, even when you aren't doing anything.

I would recommend cutting back on the time for cardio to say 30 minutes and only do it twice a week. And on MWF do a weight work out.

When you are just beginning I would do 1 set of 8 reps doing an exercise for each body part. This will help build/strengthen the connective tissue before you start to tone the muscle.

By each body part I mean something like 1 exercise for each of the following(I list an example for each, though you can change it around to what suits your needs):
1 for your chest (bench press)
1 for your triceps (dumbell kick back)
1 for your legs (squat)
1 for your shoulders (shoulder press)
1 for back (cable pull)
1 for your biceps (curl)
And finally one for your stomach.

Don't increase your weight lifted too much each week.

Once you've done this for about a month and feel comfortable I would start doing the following (3 sets of 8 and 2 or 3 different excercises per body part):
Mon do Chest and Triceps + stomach
Tue off or cardio
Wed do Legs and Shoulders + stomach
Thur off or cardio
Fri do Back and Biceps + stomach
Sat and Sun off or maybe 1 day of cardio

Increase your weight lifted each week. With maybe a change in the routine (the exercises) once every month or so.

This routine allows your body to recover for each body part and doesn't make you take up a lot of time, which excercising each body part every other day would do when doing 3 sets of 8 reps.