I have been going to the gym now for about a couple weeks now and I wanted to make sure that I'm doing the right thing. Iwould love to get a trainer but I can't afford one. Here is my list of questions, I would appreciate it if anyone could try to help out.

My daily routine has been 35min on elliptical (400 cals) and then 30 on this new jogging bouncing machine (325 cals). just for the cardio a total of 725 cals burned. After that I have been doing about 15 minutes on either upper or lower body weight training. and then 5 minutes on abbs.

My questions:

1. should I be doing more or less of a certain thing to lose the weight? I still have about 50 lbs to lose.

2. How many days should I work out? Is it OK to workout everyday or does the body need time to rest?

3. Is it better to do training first or cardio?

4. when should I start stepping things up?

5. Is there a certain exercise to help with making my legs look straight...I have legs that alway touch at the knees and then go out at the ankles(reverse bow legs!:0)

6. Lastly, I want a bodybugg ssssooooo bad but can't afford one, is it really worth it? Is the wrist band a must have? I will sell my clothes that don't fit anymore to buy one. Anyone have one that wants to sell because they have reached their goal?

Thanks in advance for any responses!

Dear Time,

Congratulations on going to the gym. I've been going for over 3 years and the first couple months were the hardest. What kept me going at first was the fact that the membership was coming out of my paycheck. Now I go because I like it. I try to use all the machines in the gym just so I don't get bored. Usually I use 2 different ones each time I go. An hour total on the machines is good - if the workout is not making you sweat, bump up the resistance on the machines - you may work slower but you'll work harder. Do this gradually so that you don't hurt your knees. Weights are great, just make sure you let your body rest a day in between the weights - for example, alternate upper and lower body days. If you feel like your body can tolerated the workout every day, then by all means, go every day. If you gym has a pool, you could also try water walking, water aerobics or something like that. It gives a good workout without stressing the joints too much. Keep up the good work.

Hi Time!

By no means am I any expert & I'm sure some who've been at it longer will post but I thought I'd answer some of your questions..

First, I think you can go to Ebay & see if you can get a bodybugg cheaper - I think I've seen some even here on this Forum trying to sell their's too...So I'd hit the internet for a good deal.

I work out with a trainer and have for approx 4 months now. Prior to that I had a regular routine (not far off the mark from you), and what I've realized is that you need to change your routine up every 3 wks or so. On the 2 days a wk I work out w/him, I hit it VERY hard w/weights followed afterwards with a 2mile run. I do a lot of core strength * resistance training and mix up my cardio (bike/elliptical/treadmill) when not with him.

I got big thighs myself - and to get them as lean as possibly (also only 5'1), I do more lunges & squats than I care to count on most days. Add some leg press weights in, and well their starting to get the athletic look I want. I'll NEVER have small legs - I just don't want them wiggling:tongue:

I do give myself one day a wk to rest up & I also recently upped' my calorie intake to counter the hard workouts. My trainer is really big in mixing up my Protein and workouts to sorta "shock" the body from getting use to anyone thing.

I would surf around for workout routines online....a friend of mine found one to concentrate on her abs, and it's pretty close to what I do with my trainer.....

Hope this helps some:smile:

As long as you enjoy what you're doing, there's no wrong way to do it.

I've been told so many times that to do so much running and not a lot of weights is wrong and that I will burn all my muscle up and wont improve my body composition - usually by people on forums who are not raelly experts, just as I am not.

Yet, I love running, I *want* to do it for an hour a day, I've lost ALL my weight and then some, I've got plenty of muscle and actually quite nice definition in arms, back, abs and thighs, and my brief foray into Curves recently (free membership) has totally and utterly stuffed my back every time I've gone, taken me a week to recover, cost a fortune in physio, acupuncture and massage and obviously is just not something my dicky sciatic nerve will tolerate (all that fast movement on hydraulic machines seems to be diabolical for proper form). So yeah, me, fit, healthy and active, failed what I thought of as old lady gym, lol!.

Running is right for me. That's why I do it. If you like what you're doing, you'll do it regularly and you'll get good results. Who cares about the finer details? Dont mess with somethng that is working.

I just think for the average person, it really doesnt matter whether you do weights first or cardio first, if you focus more heavily on one or the other, etc. And when you search online what you often find is hard core weight training routines, which tell you to not do cardio, or minimise it, etc, it all sounds plausible, but really, what you want is toning, maintenance of muscle tissue, and good fat burning, which requires both some strength training and a lot of cardio. What you're doing sounds fantastic.

Thanks Ladies for all the helpful advice! I will keep everyone updated with my progress....I would really like to .....no...I'm going to lose 40 pounds before Sept. All you guys at LBT are the greatest, thanks for all the motivation. Nicole