Joined the Gym!

So after many months of swaying back and fouth i have finally joined the Gym with my sister in law. As it stands i am swimming 2 days a week and doing the Zumba dance class every friday night, along with about 5 hours on my Wii over the week, but the local fitness groups where i live are offering a membership for £25 for the use of 2 gym and the swimming pool (which i pay 8 pounds a week for as it stands)

So my question is, does anyone have an idea of what i should be doing there? I know it sounds like a silly question but i really have no idea which kind of exersize will burn fat faster than others or which ones tone which parts of the body. I also dont want to do too much as we have made a vow to go 3 times a week and i dont want to knacker myself on the first day.

Any suggestions?

Any decent gym will have instructors who will design an exercise programme for you that is designed to assist in your weight loss. So your best bet is to speak to the receptionist about making an appointment for this. They will also show you how to use the equipment safely, which is very important. But very roughly you need to be doing a mixed programme of cardiovascular exercises (treadmill, bike, rowing machine) to burn calories and resistance training (weights) to tone up.

I've been thinking of joining the gym, but I'm limited as to what I can do since I have a bad back, and weak ankles etc.... But I did get a years membership to the pool, and go swimming every weekday morning. The lifeguard at the pool said a trainer would be able to tailor a plan I could do, but I'm still not sure it would be worth the money, as we don't have any special offers on and they want £200 for a year!

I would ask one of the instructors to design a program for you. Will help initially and then the more you learn about the machines, the more you can do on your own. The key things is variety - doing the same thing every time you go could mean you get bored.

Combination of aerobic exercise and weights is the best way to go.

If your gym does body pump I would really recommend that - it tones the whole body, is a reasonable cardio work out and it really motivational with a good instructor. If you don't fancy a class yet I agree with the others, get an instructor to work a plan out for you.

Remember that a pound of muscle burns more calories than a pound of fat so its worth doing the weight training as well as the cardio - and weight bearing exercise also helps protect against osteoporosis!

Good luck and enjoy!

Well done on joining the gym, Zumba and doing the Wii- I'm sure this will make a big difference to your losses
I don't go to a gym now, but when I used to they had a free introductory session with me and a personal trainer asked me what I wanted to work on and I said everything...he had me go on the machines and see how tired I got on each of the machines. According to that he wrote up an exercise sheet the times I should spend on the Bike, Stepper, Treadmill, Exercises with Weights and that big workout ball, squats and situps. Think you should enquire about someone guiding you and giving you a plan to work with as well.

I took your advice and called up and made an appointment for yesterday

first of OOOOOOOH DEAR GOOODNESS my legs hurt lol

the woman kinda walked me though an hours worth of cardio/toning exersize's that would be the most effective for me and wow, its felt really good but i am paying for it today lol!