Planet Fitness Equipment Use Recommendations?

FitnessBarbie99

I recently joined Planet Fitness and they have a pretty darned great set of equipment.
I'd like some recommendations on a strength training rotation.
The trainer gave a list of the machines and recommended ranges, but there are too many machines for me to do them all during my lunchtime workouts.
I do most of my cardio at home either in the morning or at night and only have time for a 10 to 15 mins. warm up at the gym and then about 20 mins. to work out with the machines. I like to work short sets with med. to heavy weights.
Would you recommend an upper body/ lower body rotation or another set?
There are a lot of ab machines there as well. How do I mix those in?

Ideally, I'd like to do the 30-min. circuit training loop there once a week and then a rotation on the equipment 3 to 4 days.
I think 3 sets of different combinations on the equipment would be ideal. Probably no more than 7 different pieces of equipment at a time.

I am 6 feet tall, 51, female, out of shape, but a former athlete and ready to work hard! I need to work my arms, shoulders and back especially hard.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

UponThisRock

The lunk alarm

dmpizza

I belonged there for a few months.
They had a machine that you would sit down and pull into yourself.
I loved it, but after some time, I hurt my wrist using it.

hbrittingham

When I finish my cardio at PF, I choose to either work my upper body, lower body or core and select machines from there. Tonight will be upper body, so I will do 4-6 different machines after I finish my cardio. I did start off in the circuit training part of the gym at the beginning because I was intimidated by all the machines they had, but once I got into better shape, I started branching out.

ninjapixie87

I recently joined PF as well. I would recommend setting up an appointment with the trainer there to discuss your goals and set up a routine that you can fit in your schedule.

Here's what he told me to do:
Warm up with 10-15 minutes of cardio (my favorite is the Arc Trainer)
Do a circuit of the gym, alternating each machine with 45-60 seconds of cardio to boost my heart rate
Repeat as much as I have time for, and end with cardio cool down

It takes me about an hour to do 1 circuit with longer cardio, or 2 circuits if I power through it quickly. The 30-minute circuit training area is basically a simplified version of this. It's great if I'm short on time, but I still like to warm up with more cardio first.

He also recommended the ab rocker thing (if used correctly), the machine where you are standing and push your leg out behind you (don't know what it's called), planking, and scissor kicks for working core muscles. I can do these as an extra workout after a shorter circuit, or on days where I just do cardio.

I would recommend doing a cardio warmup, followed by either the 30-minute circuit or focusing on a specific body area (arms, legs, abs/core) and rotate the days you work on specific areas. You probably can't fit in a full body workout if you're short on time.

FitnessBarbie99

Thanks, I've seen people working on those ab rockers. I am hoping to be in better shape in another month or so and get rocking on them!

I do love Planet Fitness though!