Help with a workout routine
I'll address this to the resident trainer, Earl. Love the board, by the way, and how you "journal" your workouts. I just had a baby 3 months ago and need to get back in the gym. I have no problem with cardio--I usually get on the elliptical for 30 minutes. My problem? Weight lifting. This is serious now--I am seriously embarassed to go to the gym and start weight lifting because I don't have a set routine. I don't want to go in and just "wing" it for fear of looking like an idiot. I go to 24 hour fitness and the it's usually full of men, which is intimidating to me. Can you help me with (1) suggesting a workout routine, and (2) suggesting ways to overcome my fears? I appreciate your help and suggestions!!!
Jennifer 
5/19/03
333/204/138 
Hey Jennifer! Welcome to the board. You definately went to the right person. One of these days I will get him to be a personal trainer as his "real" job...he's good isn't he?
I just wanted to add, I definately know how you feel. I HATED being in the gym when I was heavy or first losing weight. Oh man. I swear, you feel like everyone there is watching and whispering. But Earl is right. I found out that most the time they were as I love to refer to it being "punked out" because when I was heavy I was lifting more than most those high school boys. 
Now I am back to building up my strength so I can punk them out again...man that's a power trip... er um..anyways...
I do love the mirrors now. Just wait. It's a rush too. When the weight comes off you can see your muscles moving!! OMG THEY ARE REALLY IN THERE!! Then, the veins come...that's a whole 'nother story... Mirrors can actually be your friend. They help you to watch the movement you are making so that you have proper technique. If you don't use proper technique on your training, then you are not using the effort to do the right job.
Slow and steady wins the race, start off light and easy, get the movements and get moving...I will be honest the funny thing with me is as much as I now love cardio, I have a hard time getting that in, I'd rather move the weights!!
GOOD LUCK!! Keep us posted. Share your routines, Earl can give you pointers if you need them. He's da man. 
Hugs,
Val
PS NO MORE BLUSHING UNLESS YOU GOTTA PUMP...NO NEED TO BE EMBARRASSED HERE GIRLFRIEND!!! Heck Earl isn't embarrassed when he wears his pink tutu around so you shouldn't be embarrassed either!
Now I am back to building up my strength so I can punk them out again...man that's a power trip... er um..anyways...
I do love the mirrors now. Just wait. It's a rush too. When the weight comes off you can see your muscles moving!! OMG THEY ARE REALLY IN THERE!! Then, the veins come...that's a whole 'nother story... Mirrors can actually be your friend. They help you to watch the movement you are making so that you have proper technique. If you don't use proper technique on your training, then you are not using the effort to do the right job.
Slow and steady wins the race, start off light and easy, get the movements and get moving...I will be honest the funny thing with me is as much as I now love cardio, I have a hard time getting that in, I'd rather move the weights!!
GOOD LUCK!! Keep us posted. Share your routines, Earl can give you pointers if you need them. He's da man.
Hugs,
Val
PS NO MORE BLUSHING UNLESS YOU GOTTA PUMP...NO NEED TO BE EMBARRASSED HERE GIRLFRIEND!!! Heck Earl isn't embarrassed when he wears his pink tutu around so you shouldn't be embarrassed either!
You know, Val, I love what you said about the mirrors! Before WLS, I just didn't ever look in mirrors, no point, since the image that came back wasn't the image of me in my head anyway! And I hated having my picture taken because I just wasn't very *photogenic!*
My daughter has modelled off and on, and we tease her that she never met a mirror that she couldn't get stuck in! Now I've become my daughter, but especially at the gym, I am in my little skinny workout clothes and I am utterly unembarassed to study all of my muscles while I workout, flexing between exercises and studying them, and really liking what I see! Ooh I love looking at the pump!!! Man oh man I just love it, and I also know that there are plenty of the guys in that gym loving my pumped up muscles, too! I'm really the only woman like me generally in that weightroom who is really into that so much, so yeah, I get noticed.
But I didn't start out that way, no way! It was incredibly difficult for me to start going to the gym, though I talked to the owner right away, and told him that I just had bariatric surgery and intended to launch my new body working out in that gym! I told him that I used to do some body building in a much younger life, and he was probably looking at me and thinking, "yeah right!". But he's very close to the top of the people who admire what I've accomplished and continue to work to maintain. He admires my commitment, and has many times asked me to work out *with* him, which was quite a compliment to me!
I would suggest to anyone who is feeling uncomfortable when they think about going to a gym for the first time before they have lost the weight, to approach the gym about scheduling some personal training sessions to get some solid and safe routines workout out for them in a personal one-on-one session and that will help a lot with breaking the ice and feeling more a sense of belonging there. They usually write out the exercise routines for you so you can follow them, and if you forget how to use a machine, it's always ok to go back to them and ask them to show you again!
What impresses people at the gym is not simply how buff you look, though, but your commitment and consistency with working in support of your goals. It doesn't really matter to those guys over time how big you are/were when you start, but what you are doing with yourself. And don't worry about what the dorky teenager is doing with weights, chances are he's probably doing it the wrong way anyway and is trying to look cool in front of someone else!
I actually felt extremely self-conscious about doing free weight squats at first, and just wouldn't try that on my own. What if I looked stupid? (the head trips we do, eh?) I was mortified for someone to tell me that I was doing it all wrong! So I didn't try them again until I was working with a personal trainer, who worked with me directly and taught me and followed my training to tell me that I was doing it right. Then, I was able to do it on my own eventually and I know that I do it right now, better than a lot of the people in that gym!
With kindest regards, Donna E.
www.teklawgirl.biz
My daughter has modelled off and on, and we tease her that she never met a mirror that she couldn't get stuck in! Now I've become my daughter, but especially at the gym, I am in my little skinny workout clothes and I am utterly unembarassed to study all of my muscles while I workout, flexing between exercises and studying them, and really liking what I see! Ooh I love looking at the pump!!! Man oh man I just love it, and I also know that there are plenty of the guys in that gym loving my pumped up muscles, too! I'm really the only woman like me generally in that weightroom who is really into that so much, so yeah, I get noticed.
But I didn't start out that way, no way! It was incredibly difficult for me to start going to the gym, though I talked to the owner right away, and told him that I just had bariatric surgery and intended to launch my new body working out in that gym! I told him that I used to do some body building in a much younger life, and he was probably looking at me and thinking, "yeah right!". But he's very close to the top of the people who admire what I've accomplished and continue to work to maintain. He admires my commitment, and has many times asked me to work out *with* him, which was quite a compliment to me!
I would suggest to anyone who is feeling uncomfortable when they think about going to a gym for the first time before they have lost the weight, to approach the gym about scheduling some personal training sessions to get some solid and safe routines workout out for them in a personal one-on-one session and that will help a lot with breaking the ice and feeling more a sense of belonging there. They usually write out the exercise routines for you so you can follow them, and if you forget how to use a machine, it's always ok to go back to them and ask them to show you again!
What impresses people at the gym is not simply how buff you look, though, but your commitment and consistency with working in support of your goals. It doesn't really matter to those guys over time how big you are/were when you start, but what you are doing with yourself. And don't worry about what the dorky teenager is doing with weights, chances are he's probably doing it the wrong way anyway and is trying to look cool in front of someone else!
I actually felt extremely self-conscious about doing free weight squats at first, and just wouldn't try that on my own. What if I looked stupid? (the head trips we do, eh?) I was mortified for someone to tell me that I was doing it all wrong! So I didn't try them again until I was working with a personal trainer, who worked with me directly and taught me and followed my training to tell me that I was doing it right. Then, I was able to do it on my own eventually and I know that I do it right now, better than a lot of the people in that gym!
With kindest regards, Donna E.
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