[Gym at work] Limited equipment, looking for interval training.. what would you do?

Voidsinger
10-17-2009, 03:26 PM
I've found that having a gym at work and a fairly flexible job is doing wonders for being constant. However, it's fairly limited in terms of equipment. It does have a few benches, free weights, etc, but as far as cardio goes it has the following:

2 Ellipticals (one's broken and offers little resistance)
2 stationary bikes
2 "sitting/horizontal" stationary bikes (no idea what the proper name is)
1 stairmaster
2 treadmills with good incline range

My current routine needs to fit in an hour or so. I start off with 10 minutes of stairs (alternating resistance in 40 sec. intervals, trying to mimic the "sprint/rest" of interval training) and 10 minutes of elliptical (highest resistance possible, 1 minute sprint/1 minute slow). I then follow up with roughly 20 minutes of free weights, benchs, situps/crunches and squats in some sort of homemade circuit style (i.e. no rest between stations, 1 minute on a bike between circuits). Leaves me about 20 minutes to cool down and shower. I do this 4x a week.

I've lost a ton of weight (which was my initial goal about a year and a half ago) and my cardio is getting pretty damn decent. On a exertion scale of 1-10 I'd say I'm at 7-8 when I "sprint" during my cardio portion. That being said, I don't want to start plateauing. I feel like I still can lose quite a few pounds before I start looking seriously at my diet.

Questions:

1) Should I start with strenght training circuits first and then finish with cardio? Sandwich it between the two 10 minute segments? Should I simply do 1 day cardio/1 day strenght and not mix the two?

2) Out of the cardio machines I've listed, which ones would you go for?

3) Is Interval correct? I've started relatively recently (2-3 months) and I had been doing the same boring stable thing before that (i.e. no change in rhythm or exertion rate).

4) Is circuit-style the best for weight loss? I'm not looking to bulk up much, I'm already a pretty big guy muscle-wise (thank god for genetics), I'm looking for more muscle definition, etc.

Any other recommendations would be appreciated!

Sensi
10-18-2009, 01:40 AM
Can you not get a regular gym membership?

Voidsinger
10-18-2009, 05:19 PM
Like I said, I can fit my gym whenever I got a free hour at work. I know myself, and if I had to do it before or after work, I'd probably find any excuse to skip it. As it stands, I got my gym bag at my desk and whenever I want I can go train. It's just incredibly convenient.

Osurak
10-18-2009, 05:49 PM
if you're not dedicated enough to do it consistently, it doesn't matter what you do or don't do, so do whatever you want...it will all be equally ineffective

Reno
10-18-2009, 06:09 PM
Go outside and run. Best HIIT there is.

You can do cardi oand strength on the same day, just not during the same workout.

Rayn
10-19-2009, 09:22 AM
Well, in terms of which of those machines I'd prefer ... I think I'd go treadmill as soon as you can handle it and do sprint/jog intervals there. Your intervals look fine. If you're worried about plateauing, just decrease your rest intervals or lengthen your sprint intervals as necessary.

Glare
10-19-2009, 09:51 AM
Go outside and run. Best HIIT there is.

You can do cardi oand strength on the same day, just not during the same workout.

truth

you can do a form of interval training with any type of cardio but you'll get the most out of running. i do intervals on an elliptical at my work's gym and while it's a decent workout it isn't the same as real running