Gym virgin

Phoenix_Rising

Hi,

I joined a gym before Christmas and i am looking for advice as basically i have no idea of what sort of a workout i should be doing.

I am 5'6 and almost 14 stone. I have almost quit smoking ( down from 20+ a day to 10 a week) I am very unfit generally.

I want to lose weight and tone up - get rid of the tummy and the fat ass!

I have been using the cross trainer and the bike at the gym but i dont know what levels i shouldh have them at and how long i should stay on them for.

Any tips appreciated.

staf9

best thing to do is to speak to the instructor in the gym and get them to put you on a programme. they will be able to show you how to use the machines that you can vary your workout for fat burning and fitness building

Phoenix_Rising

staf9 wrote: »

best thing to do is to speak to the instructor in the gym and get them to put you on a programme. they will be able to show you how to use the machines that you can vary your workout for fat burning and fitness building

I spoke to the guy there but he wasnt very helpful. He just went through the machines and told me to come back if i had any problems. He seems to spend most of his time with the body builder crowd there though and i feel a bit silly waddling over to them!!

MagicMarker

Pretty much everything you need to know, from nutrition to exercise, is in the stickies. Have a gander and if you have any more specific questions feel free to ask here.

I know you're mainly concerned with the gym, but the most important thing in weight loss is your diet, if your diet is not good then no amount of time in the gym will help you.

Why not post up an example of what you would eat on a daily basis?

staf9

i always set myself a target when i'm doing my fitness work. when your on the cross trainer see how many calories you burn in your 10-20 minutes and the next time aim to get higher or try to keep the RPM's above a comfortable level. say if you are happy goin on level 2 at 60rpm's then go to 70rpm's and stay above that and slowly build up.

Dubdude

Phoenix what gym are you in as im sure there is more than 1 fitness instructor in it anyway my opinion would be that you go to someone else and ask them to do you out a program and tell them what your goals are, ie you want to lose weight and tone up etc. etc. if this fails just go over to the bodybuilders and ask them most of the time they are the soundest guys you will ever meet and will be glad to help anybody out sure they prob know more than the instructors

Oryx

Phoenix_Rising wrote: »

I spoke to the guy there but he wasnt very helpful. He just went through the machines and told me to come back if i had any problems. He seems to spend most of his time with the body builder crowd there though and i feel a bit silly waddling over to them!!

That makes me mad.:) For a novice to a gym, a good instructor makes all the difference. Is he the only member of staff? I would go back and ask can he do you a programme. I know its hard to butt in to a clique of people, but you are there to train just as much as they are, and after a while you will settle in and get to know faces, it will be less intimidating.

As said, read as much as you can here, hopefully that advice will give you a better idea. No matter what machine you are using, try to go a little above your usual comfort zone. Dont exercise at a level that feels easy, go for a level that pushes you more.

hardtrainer

I second Dubdude...if the trainer won't give you a program, go ask one of the bodybuilder types when they're not looking overly busy (i.e. chatting) and I can bet they'll be more than happy to give you some pointers and at least put you in the right direction, if not more.