RIO Fitness Chicago® Exercise & Nutrition Blog

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

Isolating muscle groups like Day 1 (chest/biceps), Day 2 (legs/triceps), etc, is a body building schedule and NOT to be lean & toned which is what most women want.

To be lean & tone quickly your weekly exercise schedule should look like this:

Day 1: 60mins of Lower body (quads/glutes/hamstrings/calves) & Upper Body (shoulders/triceps/chest/biceps/back)
Day 2: 30mins core (side/lower/upper abdominals & lower back) then 30mins cardio
Day 3: 30mins cardio as soon as you wake up before having any calories & 30mins of cardio in the evening.
Day 4: 60mins of Lower body (quads/glutes/hamstrings/calves) & Upper Body (shoulders/triceps/chest/biceps/back)
Day 5: 30mins core (side/lower/upper abdominals & lower back) then 30mins cardio
Day 6: 30mins cardio as soon as you wake up before having any calories & 30mins of cardio in the evening.
Day 7: Rest

There should be 72hrs rest in between each muscle group. Also, in case you're not doing it already, weight training for lean & toned is not doing one set then resting. For your goal, you need to weight training using High Intensity Interval Training. HIIT means doing one set of an exercise then following it up with a completely different exercise no rest in between, then resting 30-60sec and repeating for 3sets.

For example, doing one set of 15 lunges, followed by pushups for 30sec no rest in between, then resting 30-60sec and repeating for 3sets. Or one set of 15 bicep curls followed by 30sec of jumping jacks no rest in between, then resting 30-60sec and repeating for 3sets. Google/YouTube HIIT to see more.