Can you recomend a gym plan?

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sarahazelnut99
sarahazelnut99 Posts: 307 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I just joined a gym and I feel a little intimidated by it. My typical routine is getting on the treadmill for 20 minutes going 4.5 and then swimming from anywhere between 20 to 40 minutes.

At first my only goal was to quit smoking (which I'm failing miserably at) now I've noticed how happy I've been after going to the gym and I'm starting to become interested in losing weight. I weigh 170 and I'm about 5'2.

Are their any fitness routines that you could say are well rounded and maximize the experience at the gym? Thank you

Replies

  • psharma06
    psharma06 Posts: 93 Member
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    Hi! I was the same...I only liked doing the Treadmill. After awhile I got bored and stopped going. What I do enjoy is changing things up . I like doing cardio and strenght training as well as yoga.
    I think what you are doing is great. Going to the gym and doing positive things for yourself is the way to get healthy and lose weight. Slowly find what works for you.
    I like doing Spinning, Swimming, Yoga and Strength Training Classes. I now enjoy going to classes and I feel motivated and push myself more. But, in the beginning I had to do things on my own
  • Terryb99
    Terryb99 Posts: 23 Member
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    I would recommend a few sessions with a CPT to get you on the right path.
  • laura7380068
    laura7380068 Posts: 2 Member
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    Does your gym offer free assessments or programmes. Mine offers you an hour and half with an instructor where they can advise you on certain exercises and equipment to help you achieve your goals. Also try some classes. I know it's difficult finding the confidence but once you get into it you'll find people who are the same. I enjoy spinning. It's sounds intense but you can go at own pace. Also body pump for toning.
  • callisto1275
    callisto1275 Posts: 7 Member
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    Hi Sarah, I felt much the same so I booked a personal trainer for 2 sessions to show me a programme for home and one for the gym.

    My daughter and I had a routine very similar to yours but since the PT sessions we now do the following: We always do 1km in the pool ( 40 x25m pool lengths) We've got it down to just over 30 mins now.

    Then, in the gym, our warm up is
    5 mins on rower ( about 1km in the 5 mins)
    10mins on either elliptical trainer ( level 6+) or treadmill (4mph)
    15 lunges on each leg

    We then have arms days and leg days using different resistance machines 3 sets of 10 reps for each machine. We have a 30sec rest between each set of 10reps. We go to 2 different gyms so the machines have different names at each gym, I can send you the actual work out but the weights for each machine will be different for you. The PT explained how to work out the best weight to put on the machines ( 60% of the maximum weight you can lift)

    We have 2 rest days where we only swim and do the warm up and cool down, I think the rest days are supposed to be totally gym free but I enjoy the swimming so it seems a waste of a day if we don't do at least a swim.

    The cool down is either 5 mins + 5 mins on the cross trainer or treadmill depending on what we had in our warm up. The + 5 is 5 minutes where we reduce the level by 1 every minute.

    We were a bit worried that the warm up was what we used to do as our main gym activity but we do the machines depending on the time we have available each night/day. Its a good plan for us because we take it in turns during the sets and this gives us time for our 30 second rest. It's much better if you have a friend to exercise with.

    You can also have a sneaky peek at the exercises others are doing eg with free weights, just remember to calculate your 60% max.

    Keep up the good work, hope you will find this helpful.

    Sue

    (I also do aquaerobics twice a week, which is a fun way of improving flexibility and burning some calories)

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