need some advice

I love zumba and body pump so I am a little biased. but I would think that if you are going through all that to do bootcamp, then going to the gym should be a piece of cake. Give yourself some credit. :flowerforyou: What you are doing now is obviously more stressful than what you would be doing by going to the gym, and you are already disciplined to go to bootcamp that is out of your way so why wouldn't you be disciplined enough to go to the gym? Also, you wouldn't have to skip breakfast which is a dieter's pitfall, and you would save money. Just my 2 cents.

The classes are great and you're right, it's good to mix up your cardio. Plus, I've found that I've made friends in the class which keeps me coming back.

The gym will give you the option of classes, machines, and free weights. I would also bet it's cheaper than $100 a month and you'll have more options for when to work out since there are classes goiing at different times and most gyms have pretty flexible hours.

As for discipline.....I have a rule that I'm not allowed to go home until I hit the gym. I'm lucky that the gym is right next to my job so I head over every evening.

Home fitness and an endless support community is the best. It's most cost affective and in the end the results are bigger and quicker. Of course I am very biased here but that's only because it works a thousand times better than any other method.

Hey nola !!
I love bootcamps as well...but I recently starting going to the gym instead. The reason is because they have such a variety of things that I can kind of "trick" my muscles and not get too bored with my workouts. I can go running at night if I need a quick, efficient work out. Or, I can do a class and have a ton of fun as well as burn a mega load of calories. I also like that a lot of gyms offer some sort of cardio lifting class. Light weights, longer reps and totally kicks my butt. Kickboxing classes, if done correctly can also help increase muscle as well as get cardio in. Even though you won't have your bootcamp instructor pushing you, you can set goals for yourself and gradually push yourself harder.

For example, after you've been running for a while on a treadmill ...push it up a notch by doing inclines every couple of minutes to get your heartrate up and get those legs workin double time!

Let me know if you have any questions....I'm completely obsessed with "going to the gym"...its a repeated phrase in my house..haha! By the way, I love your new pic! 10 in 9! :bigsmile:

I will try for the time being to go to the exercise classes cuz I never know what to do on my own when I'm at the gym working out by myself. What's your gym routine like?

At first I did strictly running to get me into shape, and now I do a variety of things.

My running routine looks like this (on treadmill)
5 min jog, no incline, 6mph
Stretch for 2 minutes (my legs need to be warmed up, thats for sure!)

for the next 40 minutes I do this....
run 6.2 mph at a 2.0 incline (for 3 min, in the beginning I didn't do this one at an incline)
run 6.2 mph at a 6.0 incline (for 1 min- hard, but worth it)
walk 3.5mph at 2.0 incline (1 min)
repeat

Once I get better at this, I will gradually do less walking...but I kind of like it because it gets my heart rate down after the large incline.... and then I get my heart rate pumping again. When I wasn't in as good of shape, I would walk for 2 minutes and then start my interval again. It helps me not to get bored on the treadmill too.

I also like to do cardio pump classes/ cardio lifting classes at least 2 days a week. And I like my Kickboxing classes- those are some of my favorite classes! And I love Step Class. At my gym they also have a bootcamp class some nights of the week, so I will hit that up. Its pretty fun. I really like the variety with having the classes available.


I love exercising so if you have any questions, let me know. My struggle...is limiting my fries and ice cream!! haha!