Fitness

Question
Dear Daniel,

I am a College student. I haven't practised any sports in years.
About a month ago I started going to the gym to get in shape. In the gym I go to there is no personal coaching or anything. So for the past month I have been just following some routines I found online, but I have the idea I'm not doing the right thing.

What I want to achieve:
-train cardio (I would like to take part in a run in the end of april = 16 km/10 miles)
-increase muscles (chest, arms, legs, shoulders, ...)

I will probably have to change my eating habits also, but i guess that depends from person to person. I am able to go to the gym 5 days a week (sun-thu) but I think it is best I go 3 times a week (sun tue thur).
I am 1m84/ +- 6ft and i weigh 69kilograms/ 10st 12.1 Ibs

Im looking forward to your reply!

Will

Answer
Hi William


Ok so lets dive right into it. You have been training for a month, the first month should be considered base training or general training, to get your muscles use to the exercises. You should focus between 12-20 repetitions on most exercises until your body gets accustomed to training. 2-3 days  per week of doing whole body exercises should accomplish this. 2-4 sets per muscle group is a great start. Try to get 8-10 exercises per work out, focus on the big muscle groups chest/back/shoulders/legs. Abdominal can be used during near the end of the work outs such as planks,stability ball crunches etc.. Focus on form and endurance for the abdominal when you train and go for 15-20 reps.

On off days you should include your cardio workouts. Try to do 2-3 times a week. Treadmill is good because it won't overload the muscles as much as if you were training outside. First day of cardio should be a 5 minute warm up, and then 30-45 minutes of moderate intensity. Day 2 cardio you can include interval training, such as 5 minute moderate warm up, then increase the speed for 2 minutes,then go back down. This is getting your body used to training at levels its never been before. So you are overloading your cardio system and then after the 2 minutes you will go back down for 5 minutes to recover, then repeat the process.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask