dazed and confused at the gym...

KaydeeMehl

Hey everyone!!

I need some advise as to what and how to work out!! I got a gym membership, and I want to go 4x a week for maybe a hour annd a half???

what is some tips to keep in mind at the gym? What kind of work outs are good and easy for a beginner, but will help me lose weight?...

60lbs to go 5 months to lose it

havingitall

First of all...do not set yourself a target weight at a target date. You may want that, but your body might not work along with your desires.

That being said, congrats on your gym membership. There are a lot of different things you can do.
1) invest in a trainer for a couple of sessions. That way , you get oriented to the machines and learn a basic workout.
2) there are a ton of books available on weight training
3) Bodybuilding.com has a ton of great information as well

If you are brand new to working out, an hour and a half may be killer at first but you can definitely work up to it. You may feel fine while doing the workout but the next day or two after you may feel it.

sebbysmommy

I personally love the elliptical and the bike for a good calorie burn. Then I do a workout dvd for the strength portion of my workout, that way I don't have to think about what to do or how many to do

LorinaLynn

Don't have any particular routines to suggest, but make sure you take advantage of the weights and strength train. Cardio is a great way to burn calories, but weights will transform your body.

nightsrainfall

Generally if you are trying to burn calories, cardio is great, but you should mix in strength days to help increase muscle (which will then burn more calories during the day and help with, well, being stronger).

If it was me, my cardio days would be 15 minutes stretching, 45-60 minutes high/low intensity cardio intervals, 15 minutes stretching. If the gym has a track that's easily accessible (or treadmills) you could do something similar to a couch-to-5k routine for the hour where you alternate between walking and running. This is something I greatly enjoy because I cannot run for an hour, but if I mix it up I can. Or I'll row for 10 minutes, walk 10, and repeat. (Same with stairs, jump-rope, bike, etc). Or treadmills and elliptical, you can change pace every 10-15 minutes or try going backwards (on the elliptical). This also helps me reach an hour time frame, because otherwise I get bored or tired, but 10-15minutes is do-able and then with music or tvs I can reach the hour.

For strength it would be the same 15 / 45 / 15 of stretching, exercising, stretching. For strength sometimes you don't need a lot of time depending what you are doing. I don't use very heavy weights unless I'm going for a goal (ie, a full pull up of my body weight). I also try to make sure I'm not focusing too much on one group of muscles without making sure I strengthen the opposite muscle group. For every muscle movement, like a situp there's an opposite movement to work it's "partnered" muscle like a superman. The back muscles generally support the ab muscles so it's generally good if they are of similar strength. Many exercises have a opposite motion to work the other set, like Knee lift (bringing the knee up to hip level) vs Kick back (where you bend your knee to bring your foot towards your butt). Generally I work arms one day (with core & back mixed in) and legs another (with core and back mixed in).

It's just a lot of googling and finding what you can do and what you like to do. I originally joined free fitness classes that were at my gym (to also help keep me motivated) and then branched off of those movements. Stretching is always important for before & after, so I always try to include it even if it means I exercised a bit less in terms of my cardio or strength time.