During my psych eval, the doc recommended strength training and I've had fitness oriented friends recommend it too, but I don't know where to begin.

I go to the gym for my cardio and then go into the machine room and I feel like I've landed on Mars.

What are these things? What do I do with them?

Do you guys use any web sites or apps to help? Personal trainers (My gym offers them for what seems like a reasonable price)?

I like Curves because the plan is laid out. But I don't know if that is really good strength training or not. But I guess any is better than none. I'm lost at the gym too with all the machines.

During my psych eval, the doc recommended strength training and I've had fitness oriented friends recommend it too, but I don't know where to begin.

I go to the gym for my cardio and then go into the machine room and I feel like I've landed on Mars.

What are these things? What do I do with them?

Do you guys use any web sites or apps to help? Personal trainers (My gym offers them for what seems like a reasonable price)?

My go-to website in the beginning was bodybuilding.com. They even have fitness plans that tell you exactly what to do. An awesome beginner place is the Jamie Eason 12 week trainer. Tells you what day and what exercise. Don't know what that exercise is? Even better....they have 10-15 sec videos that show you.

Few helpful hints:

If it says to do a workout on Monday and you can't until Tuesday, it's ok. Just be flexible with yourself until you get in the groove.

Schedule your workouts as you schedule anything else in your life that is important. Put it on the calendar, you are a priority and go.

Don't want an audience? Then do not go at peak times. (Before work, lunch, and directly after work)

Hope this helps.

During my psych eval, the doc recommended strength training and I've had fitness oriented friends recommend it too, but I don't know where to begin.

I go to the gym for my cardio and then go into the machine room and I feel like I've landed on Mars.

What are these things? What do I do with them?

Do you guys use any web sites or apps to help? Personal trainers (My gym offers them for what seems like a reasonable price)?

My go-to website in the beginning was bodybuilding.com. They even have fitness plans that tell you exactly what to do. An awesome beginner place is the Jamie Eason 12 week trainer. Tells you what day and what exercise. Don't know what that exercise is? Even better....they have 10-15 sec videos that show you.

Few helpful hints:

If it says to do a workout on Monday and you can't until Tuesday, it's ok. Just be flexible with yourself until you get in the groove.

Schedule your workouts as you schedule anything else in your life that is important. Put it on the calendar, you are a priority and go.

Don't want an audience? Then do not go at peak times. (Before work, lunch, and directly after work)

Hope this helps.

Totally helpful!!! Thank you!

The way I want to schedule it is to be at the gym at least 4-5 days out of the week.

They have a lap pool, yoga and zumba, which are already on my list, so I just need to put in some strength training days!

I highly recommend doing a session or two with a trainer. Think of it as "Introduction to the Gym 101" - well worth the money. It's important to learn the safe ways to work out.

A common way to go is to break your workouts into bodyparts. When you workout, you are fatiguing and damaging muscle. It repairs itself and gets bigger and stronger in the process. But that limits what all you can do in a given session. Many people who are looking to build mass do a push/pull/legs routine over three separate days. Push muscles are anything that moves the weight away from your body (chest, triceps, shoulders). Pull likewise would be back, biceps. Some like to do shoulders with legs to spread it out.

I will tell you that for people who are focused on weight loss and toning, over building mass and grunting, you can do more general full-body workouts with more reps and lighter maximums. The "time under load" depletes the cell's energy stores and will ramp your metabolism nicely. Another tip: to lose weight, work the biggest muscle groups, as they are more metabolically active. So I try to throw in something for hamstrings and quads every day.

Finally, don't be afraid of free weights (as opposed to machines). They come in all shapes and sizes and many believe they give you a much better workout because the movement is not restricted for you. In other words, they coopt other muscle groups just to achieve balance as you lift them. I use a combination myself. Get a pair of gloves if you want to try them, it will make your experience better.

This site has a list of dumbell exercises with pictures to show you the right way to do them.

http://www.myfit.ca/exercisedatabase/search.asp?muscle=Dumbbell&type=Free_Weight_Exercises

As with anything else, listen to your body. Write down your goals, by body part. Take notes, determine your strengths and weaknesses and make a plan to address them. If you feel weird, just put headphones on with music you enjoy, and tune the world out. There's not too many things that feel better than leaving the gym after a good workout!