We are pleased to announce that on March 4, 2025, an updated Rich Text Editor will be introduced in the MyFitnessPal Community. To learn more about the upcoming changes, please click here. We look forward to sharing this new feature with you!

New to the gym!

ZoAnnAlexis
ZoAnnAlexis Posts: 34
edited October 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
I just recently bought a gym membership, and I have been doing pretty well at getting a nice burn using the treadmill and elliptical on my own. But I thought maybe some of the long time gym goers would be kind enough share their calorie crushing workouts with a newbie? I am a little intimidated by strength training still, I would rather just stick to my comfort zone in the cardio room for now (one step at a time, purchasing a membership was already a huge step). So I suppose what I am asking is if anyone has a super exciting workout that they love to do involving any type of cardio machine such as treadmill, elliptical, stationary bike, or even the stair stepper? What do you do when you go to the gym?

Just for the record, I am really starting to enjoy going to the gym. I love the feeling of getting a good sweat, and I am sort of addicted to the treadmill at the moment, but I am afraid that is going to wear off soon. I don't want to lose interest, so I think what I need the most is ways to mix things up. But I am also open to learning new techniques and taking advice on how to burn more calories!

Replies

  • AZKristi
    AZKristi Posts: 1,801 Member
    When I first joined the gym I used a great book called The Women's Health Big Book of Exercises. It has lots of strength training exercises and helps you set up a variety of different strength & Cardio routines.

    I mostly do group exercise classes now (Spin, Pilates, Yoga). Other than that, I do the fat burner and aerobic interval programs on the stairmill and HIIT on the treadmill and elliptical trainer.
  • davidpm
    davidpm Posts: 208 Member
    I do hill training/interval workouts on the bike. I'll go at a 13 out of 20 resistance for about 8 minutes, then crank it up to 20 out of 20 for 2 minutes and stand up and push until I can't push any more, then I crank it down to about a 5. After about a minute or two, I put it back to 13 and repeat.
  • KLLever
    KLLever Posts: 39
    Congrats on your awesome investment! My favorite gym cardio is from ellipticals, stationary bikes and rowing machines. Sometimes, I keep it simple and stick to one for an hour...sometimes I like to mix it up and do 20 minutes on each. The MOST helpful thing for me is MUSIC. I wouldn't survive without my iPhone, Bluetooth headphones and Pandora (or my gym mix). I also use my music to inspire interval training. For example, when the song changes, I speed up or increase the resistance. Sometimes I let the beat determine how fast I work. It helps a lot! I hope you find what works for you! :)
  • fittertanme
    fittertanme Posts: 259 Member
    hi there.
    well I find the treadmill and elliptical trainer will burn lots of cals but dont get into a routine as I did because you dont get the benifits or mixing up and trying new things I have started jogging for the last few months and seems to be working for me but see how you are start on the tread mill then if you feel brave start jogging short trips outside its fab and you dont overheat but the thing is try new workouts do the things you like and feel happy with then mix it and make your body work harder than ever so good luck and if you want to see how I did it have a look at my page and add me as one of your friends and again well done and good luck
  • Akahime
    Akahime Posts: 35 Member
    A lot of gyms have personnel there to help new people become familiar with the equipment. Talking to them you can learn a lot and sometimes you might get lucky and find someone who is willing to help train you. I have a co-worker who is studying to become a fitness trainer and she regularly trains people for free because it helps with her schooling. I did a session with her and she had me doing intervals on the elliptical. It was way better than what I would have done on my own. Don't neglect the strength training, especially for your core. The mistake of just doing cardio is you will lose muscle along with the fat. Working your muscles will continue to burn fat hours later while you are at rest.
  • madisonsteelex
    madisonsteelex Posts: 295
    We have almost the same SW and GW, I've lost 30 lbs already so I'll share my workouts with you:D

    So when I first started going to the gym, I basically did the elliptical every day for an hour burning around 700-800 calories. It depends what model of elliptical your gym has but the cybex ones automatically set you at level 15 and go up to level 100. On those I set my incline up to 10(optional. more calorie burn and works your glutes and quads for a nice butt and legs) and do intervals of 3 minutes at 55, 3 minutes at 80, and 3 minutes at 100, then back down. Then the last 10 minutes usually around level 30 cooling down. It's fun because there's something to concentrate on other than doing the same thing for an hour without changing the levels.
    I like to set the treadmill to "variety" or "hills" because it really gets your heart rate up, burns tons of calories and keeps you occupied. It increases and decreases the incline and is best for weight loss.
    I also do this thing where I run at 6.0 for 2 minutes, 7.0 for a minute, 6.0 for two, 8.0 for one, 6.0 for two minutes, then repeat. For half an hour. This one is really fun:D
    Also, if your gym has spinning or zumba classes, try those! I take each 3 times a week. SO MUCH FUN
This discussion has been closed.

Categories