What way to spend 1 hr in the gym?

dahat

Right,do a bit of jogging 2/3 times a week and used to paly astro soccer for 2hrs on sat but now i want to change tactics a bit and use the gym.

Have been losing weight,currently 15-7 from 20 stone....
I run 2/3 weekly,3-4 mile runs...

What i want to know is the best way to spend 1 hr in my local gym using the rower and eleptical,possibly treadmill to warm up....
Have never been to the gym so no mad suggestions on sessions,something basic plus it is a public gym,pay as you go type....
Would be once a week trip there...

Red Alert

You're fitter than I was when I started going to the gym, but I'd still recommend talking to someone (even a friend) about how to make best use of your time there. You might find that the rower / elliptical aren't the only things you should be doing.

Press ups, chin ups, some weights, at 15 stone plus and running a few times a week you are more than likely a potentially strong chap, you'd get a decent sweat from a the likes of a session doing bell presses.

dahat

Red Alert wrote: »

You're fitter than I was when I started going to the gym, but I'd still recommend talking to someone (even a friend) about how to make best use of your time there. You might find that the rower / elliptical aren't the only things you should be doing.

I would assume a gym like so would have an instructor around to ask newbie questions?
I was thinking 1o mins on each machine starting with the treadmill then leaving the treadmill out on the second loop?

dahat

RoverJames wrote: »

Press ups, chin ups, some weights, at 15 stone plus and running a few times a week you are more than likely a potentially strong chap, you'd get a decent sweat from a the likes of a session doing bell presses.

Weights are where i get lost,none of my mates do them plus i don't want to bulk just want to keep shedding pounds,from what i have read,high reps of light weights would be best but as i said i am lost with weights....

You're not going to bulk to any extent from lifting weights once or twice a week, every gym in the country is full of lots of skinny lads lifting weights trying to bulk up without achieving much.

A friend of mine is less than 13 stone and bench presses 140kg quite comfortably, out and about he doesn't seem bulked up

You'll shed plenty of fat doing high reps of weights you can manage rather than light weights.

Red Alert

Yep, get to know at least one of the instructors and have them draw up some sort of programme with you. At least then you'll have someone you know there that you can ask questions. Instructors like anyone else vary from being incredibly useful to being downright useless, but some guidance at the beginning is better than nothing.

popebenny16

dahat wrote: »

Right,do a bit of jogging 2/3 times a week and used to paly astro soccer for 2hrs on sat but now i want to change tactics a bit and use the gym.

Have been losing weight,currently 15-7 from 20 stone....
I run 2/3 weekly,3-4 mile runs...

What i want to know is the best way to spend 1 hr in my local gym using the rower and eleptical,possibly treadmill to warm up....
Have never been to the gym so no mad suggestions on sessions,something basic plus it is a public gym,pay as you go type....
Would be once a week trip there...

everyone is different, so it is hard to judge by any one posters experiance. What I can say is that I started in the Gym during a period of unemployment and spent about two hours a day three days a week at it, and what that did was it got my fitness levels up. 10 mins treadmill, 10 mins cross trainer, then various weight machines to tone the arms legs and chest.

when i got a job i joined local gym and dis an hour each lunchtime, 5 days a week, kept the fitness levels up and also kept toned. Then in october the gym started a strength and core class, 45 mins a week, and the difference was amazing. I was more physically exerted in the first 5 mins of it than I was doing an hour on my own in the gym. The class was increased to twice a week, and it is savage, but the improvement is immense.

All I am saying is, try and figure out what it is that you want - you will be fit and healthy doing an hour in the gym, you will lose weight and you will tone up. Note - bulking up is not the same as being toned, if bulking up is what you want you have to diet and live accordingly and put a tremendous amount of work into it. Being toned is, in my opinion, better anyway. If you are fit and toned you will be able to do many other things like running 10 k runs and suchlike, being bulked up wont help you in that. If oyu want to go further, see if there is a fitness or strength and core class or something like it, for one hour/90 mins a week you will not belive the results.

bopper12

hey, try your best to mix up your time... dont spend it doing the same thing everyday... if you like running try and do interval running i.e on a KPH treadmill start off at speed 9.5 for 2 mins then after that begin 30secs interval between 14to16kph then rest for 30secs when your resting dont drop the speed below 12kph if you can do 8 to 10 reps of this..

try circuit training to its a great mix of doing various exercises for an all round workout... tbh dont like machine weights for better results use free weights instead.

Doctor_Socks

Honestly man, no chance of you bulking up with weights for a long time! Rome wasn't built in a day and either were any bodybuilders you see on magazines. Stick with heavy weights with compound exercises (Squats, Deadlifts, Bench Press, Shoulder Press etc.), combine that with a good diet as outlined in the stickies and the weight will fall off you. Another plus of the heavy weights is when the weight does fall off your body will look a lot better!

pbowenroe

Doctor_Socks wrote: »

Honestly man, no chance of you bulking up with weights for a long time! Rome wasn't built in a day and either were any bodybuilders you see on magazines. Stick with heavy weights with compound exercises (Squats, Deadlifts, Bench Press, Shoulder Press etc.), combine that with a good diet as outlined in the stickies and the weight will fall off you. Another plus of the heavy weights is when the weight does fall off your body will look a lot better!

+1. OP to bulk up while lifting weights you have to eat A LOT and considering you have lost about 5 stone you are obviously not eating enough to gain weight and don't have to worry.

Doing these exercises will help you to lose weight.

dahat

Thanks all for the advice,some really good stuff in there....

Did want to keep it basic starting out as i can once a week for now,defo going to ask the instructor the best way to spend my time there

Also the more regular the visits become i will surely meet some like minded helpfull folk to get advice from

bordsie

My favourite thing to do at the moment when I want in & out of the gym quickly is a Kettlebell Class. If they do these in your gym I'd highly recommend.

The one I do interchanges Kettlebell work (swings,rows,squats,deadlifts) with a bodyweight excercise(press-ups, lunges, sit-ups, planks) for 30 seconds on/off so you are constantly on the go and get the real burn! unlike if i wander around the gym looking for weights and spend half the time looking through my ipod