Joined A Gym... Now What?

[Miyth]

Hello fellow forum goers!

I feel incredibly imposing about this...

I recently joined  a gym (Saturday 6/21/14) and I want to make sure I'm getting the most out of it. I was pretty much gluing myself to the elliptical, so I took advantage of the 1-time free personal trainer session to learn more. We did 30 minutes of isometric exerciseasand I loved it, but unfortunately I just can't afford the cost of a trainer. The experience did leave me thinking that I have a lot to learn about making a 1 year (?) fitness program that will help me reach my goals.

So here are my stats:

• Age: 24
• Gender: Female
• Weight: 210 (Goal: 148 OR where ever my goal body fat % lands me)
• Body Fat %: 40 (18-20%)
• No health issues
• Super motivated
• I have used some resistance equipment before, but am still pretty unfamiliar with gym stuff
• I am going to the gym 3-4 times a week (with rest days in between)
• Gym time is about 30-45 minutes
• Body Fat %: 40

I'd like to mention that I have already lost 38 lbs from diet alone. The best thing that ever happened to me is that I became seriously interested in the science of nutrition. I feel that I have the "what to eat" down, but I need to know more about the "when to eat what" part of it all.

Can anyone make suggestions of an exercise routine, or some books that would fit my situation?

I really appreciate taking the time to read and respond!

[Joechef1]

Congrats on pushing through and staying determined. I too had a hard time figuring out what to do when I hit the gym. I have a friend that is personal trainer and she helped me out. But her time is limited so I asked her where I can look up options to keep things fresh, and keep me going. She gave me this website and it has helped me out a lot. 

www.acefitness.org

Hope it helps!

[trainer]

First, congratulations on taking the steps you need to get healthy 🙂 Second, I wish there was a way for people like me to hook up with people like you (I"m thinking globally, not necessarily on fitbit). I'm a personal trainer and my business model is providing training for people who are ready to get healthy but can't afford normal training sessions. I wonder if there is some way for you to check around in your area for options like I offer? Maybe check out groupon for example and see if anyone is offering a free initial session or a group of very short sessions aimed at teaching you how to benefit at the gym. One thing I do, for example, is offer a 2 hour session package, divided into either 20 minute or half hour sessions where all I'm doing is teaching the person how to use equipment and work out at their gym of choice and they walk away with a simple starter program and the understanding they need to progress it. Maybe there are books/dvds/youtube you could look at to get ideas? The basics of working out is really straight forward once you get past the intimidation factor. Do you know about the facebook fitbit group? It is called 'fitbit friends' If you hang out there people can give you a lot more information and ideas!

[Miyth]

Wow, that sounds like an incredible program that you do. I commend you for offering it, and I will definitely look around my town to see if anything exists here.

I've searched on YouTube, but there aren't a lot of videos (that I found) that focus on a long term routine, just a lot of "Loose your butt in 3 weeks!" or "15 minute all-in-one workout!". Also, I'm one of the few people my age who doesn't use Facebook but the group sounds great. I wish the fitbit app would incorporate more social group stuff.

I really appreciate your advice 🙂 !

[nicolasa]

It's great to hear how diet alone helped you lose 38 pounds.

If you like the treadmill I would suggest intervals. 

Start from 10minutes and work your way up to 40min

I usually do something along the lines of this:

1min 6.6

1min 10.0

1min 6.6

30 secs 11.0

.. basically I switch it up.between fast and slow so I get my heart pumping and then recover.

If you're not a fan of the treadmill, jumping lunges could be good too? And burpees.

[josephz2va]

Depending on your gym, a select few have a fitness program kiosk you can follow such as ActivTrax in Gold's Gym, XSport, and a few others. But you can also search online for programs, many free, for Bodybuilding and you can select your fitness routine program generated by expert users.

[Manticone]

Wow. 🙂 You seem very awesome and upbeat and just generally definitely on the right track 🙂 Keep your positive attitude 🙂

I always liked the following things at the gym...

-rowing machine. Meditative and often helped sculpt my arms. Now I, alas, don't have a gym membership and can't row much these days.

-stepping machine. Burns a lot of calories and really helps with getting your legs into shape. Great if you want to get into running, and heck...it can go towards your climbing counts for fitbit badges 🙂

-elliptical. It is an overall good machine, and better for people who experience hip/ knee/ joint pain or who have had any sort of exercise related injury

I also like taking my boxing gloves and whalloping the punching bags 🙂 haha. It's great for shoulders.

Get some good music and go through all the main different 'stations' too. I find it so much easier to get injured if you just stick with one activity over and over and over again (I have learned that the hard way!)

And also, if you are not 100% how a machine is to be used, definitely ask for help. I've seen people get injured not knowing how to set a machine or weight machine up properly. 😕

Good luck!

[flyboy]

If you want to focus on weight loss your best bet is aerobics.  Check to see if the gym you joined has a spin or indoor cycling class or classes. These are great 1 hour cardio workouts that will help your overall fitness and work to reduce your body fat %.  Also look at Zumba and possibly yoga and pilates, if you can stick out these classes once or twice a week you'll see better results than you would if you just focus on the weight room.  I'm a huge fan of swimming for fitness, it has zero impact and is a whole body workout so if you have access to a pool give it a try.  Start out slowly and build your swim endurance.  Mix up your workouts and have fun, you can do this!

[Dominique]

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@Miyth wrote:

I feel that I have the "what to eat" down, but I need to know more about the "when to eat what" part of it all.

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My understanding is that "when to eat what" doesn't matter that much, as long as you have the "what and how much to eat" right at the daily level.

[lisaaggie]

I started going to the gym back at the end of may.  I started with personal training with high interval training and hated it (I  started way to hard!)  Well, I step back and worked on my cardio (treadmil) to increase my stamina.  I did some personal training and now I do group training with HI training.  That has made all the difference in the world .  Stricly cardio does not change the body.  cardio with the HI training will do it.  

I am down three sizes and thirty pounds.  I feel a lot better and look better.

Overall, find what you enjoy and stick to it.  It is a natural high after working out.  You feel so much better.