Ok, so a membership for the YMCA where I live is $50 a month. I simply can't afford that myself right now, but let's just say a nice family relative were to share their membership, should I start going to the gym right away or should I wait a bit? How did you guys introduce the gym into your weight loss? Also, what equipment would be suitable for someone my size, age, etc. (315lbs 20yrs old) I have no idea about anything except a treadmill. For the first time in my life I feel ashamed of something that has to do with exercise. Help?

HI,
I am not a gym person myself because I need to have everything handy and not dependent on my getting there. If I were to go though, I would try to mimimize costs by doing some pre gym stuff at home to get to where I could most benefit from the experience.

To my thinking, it is not cost effective to go when I could only do a few of the machines or participate in only a miminal way. The one exception would be if they had a pool because anyone can water walk even if not in the best condition.

I did go to a gym in the past but it is just not for me. I solved the water issue by taking a class at the local high school.

I would encourage you to do what is best for you but you really can do what is needed in your home with a miminal investment of resistance bands. Also a stationary bike is easy to find used as many people buy but then have a change of heart.

Walking can be done for free in your neighborhood unless you are in a suspect urban area. In that case walking could be done up and down the stairs.

The problem with gyms is that they don't work if you don't go and I didn't go as there was always some reason not to.

Having said the above,my sister joined a gym and met the greatest guy so that is a possible benefit if you're interested.

Best of luck.

Sheridan

Haha, good for her! I think it would be the strangest thing if I were to ever meet someone at a gym, but never say never right? I live in a small, industrial town without many sidewalks. It's like a pass-through town with many 18 wheeler trucks and stuff so it isn't really safe, smells AWFUL and like I said, not many streets you can walk on. Half of the town is on a hill, the other half is just the main road. I do know a little route I will try for a while though. I just don't want to find myself getting bored, because then i'll think of every reason to stop and I don't want that. Walking up and down the stairs would be great, but ours are quite noisy and I have agile neighbors/family members and the rug is loosening causing nails to stick up. Yes, I feel like I have an excuse for everything, but it's true. I will find a way though! Where there's a will there's a way right? I am going to take your advice and wait on the gym until I can make the best out of the experience. No point in going when i'm completely out of shape. Thank you for replying!

Running has made me skinny. Weightlifting and so on - that's not for me.

go go go ! It's always great exercise. Do cardio, strength training, and flexibility exercises. Maybe you should hire a personal trainer for one session.

I love the gym! Go go go!

There are all kinds of things for you to try out. The treadmill is a great place to start, as are the bikes and the elliptical machines. Load up your mp3 player with great music and start doing low or moderate intensity cardio and see how you go. Depending on your current level of fitness you could start with 15 minutes or 30 minutes and work on developing your stamina as you increase the intensity. Being out of shape is NOT a good reason not to go and start exercising! The gym is the perfect place to get into better shape!!!!!!!!

Once you start to feel comfortable you can start to experiment with the different cardio machines, try out weights (my fave!), go to some classes, swim, etc. Give it a try--you might find something to love!

I loved the gym but haven't renewed my membership lately because I can't afford it and also I don't have a lot of free time to go. Is there any way you can go in on a visitor day or something to see if it's your type of thing?

I started off really unfit (no exercise since high school!) at 280lbs with a little help from one of the trainers doing treadmill and swimming mainly. The bikes were so close together in the spinning section that I couldn't actually get my leg over to get on one! The biggest thing I was surprised at was that no-one was staring - I was convinced I'd be the biggest person there and I was but I was pleasantly surprised that me trotting along on the treadmill wasn't a source of jokes or curious stares! Once you get going it can be really enjoyable.

I did get checked out by my doctor before I started though just to make sure I was ok to start working out because I was so unfit and had been so overweight for so long. I'm glad every day that I started.

I'd say go as well - but maybe go a few times before committing to it to make sure you will enjoy it. The $ commitment can help make the commitment to keep going, but you can do it yourself at home with a bit of inexpensive equipment and dvd's.

If working out from home, get some resistance bands or light dumbells and an assortment of workout DVD's (have a look an Leslie Sansones Walk away the pounds DVD's) you can do these in the safety of your own home and don't need a large area.

Personally I loved my time at the gym, and if its a good environemnt most people do benefit from membership. I now live in the country so have my own treadmill, elliptical, dumbells, excercise dvd's and swim at the town pool as there is no gym nearby. Its convenient and works for me, but I think the thing is if you have the commitment you will use a gym or workout at home, whatever is available to you.

When I had a gym membership and did go, I loved it - especially the versatility of the equipment and the feeling of accomplishment afterwards.

But, my biggest problem and the reason I don't join gyms anymore is a few months into the membership, I lose motivation or have an injury/illness of some sort that keeps me from exercising and I eventually stop going & then I'm stuck with the contract.

Instead, I saved up and bought myself a decent elliptical and rowing machine from Walmart and use those daily (especially when it's cold outside & I don't feel like walking around the neighborhood). I have hand weights, an exercise ball, an ab roller, and a stepping machine from previous diets years ago, and I alternate those with cardio days.

I'm hoping, when my husband and I are in a better financial position to finish our basement and turn one of the rooms into a personal home gym so I never have to even leave the house to workout , but for the meantime, I'm gradually adding to my collection with machines and equipment that doesn't take up too much room in our house.

I say if you can swing it and think you would benefit from it, go for it!

I go through stages where I work out at the gym and other times when I don't. It's dependent on my mood and my finances. I started out by just exercising at home----but then again, that was summertime, and the weather was more conducive to cycling (something I like to do). However, I decided to start going to the gym again because my gym offers fitness classes, and I actually like fitness classes. Also, they were having a three-month special, and the price was right.

The thing is, my gym offers so much variety that it will take a very long time to get bored. Not only are there different types of fitness classes (bootcamp, spinning, etc.), but there are many, many different types of machines and other workout equipment. I've devised my own circuit training routine using their equipment. Also, when I just use the machines, I do one machine for 10-15 minutes and quickly switch to another (e.g., treadmill--->elliptical--->stair climber (that one's a killer!)--->bike). I don't have that option if I exercise at home.

So, check out what your Y offers in terms of variety (I'm sure they'll let you take a tour of the place before you join). Also, see if you can join for the short term or just month-to-month to see how you like it and if you'll go.

Good luck!

Some people do well exercising at home. Personally, I find there are too many distractions at home. If you live close to a gym, I would advocate going. Once you get there, you really have no choice but to do something..... The pay off is so worth the effort ! If you live far away, or feel you would like to work up to a membership, you could drive to a nice location and start a walking program there.

Do you have a city park? Walking around the park in nice weather can be a great way to meet new people.
I walk around in Lowes and Home Depot once a week. The stores are huge, and its a great place to walk indoors in this winter weather.

Walmart stores are huge also. There is a walking club at our local mall too.

I've started regularly going to the gym, but I know that for me I needed to get comfortable moving before I wanted to commit to it. I hired a trainer (which I know you can't afford right now) but that helped me begin to feel comfortable with exercise. It's hard and it sucks, but I'm not quite as scared of it now as I was. Now that I go to the gym I like the variety. I go really early because it's less crowded which is nice because its not hard to get on the machines. I'm also still self-conscious so going earlier makes it easier for that as well.

But before that I tried to do home stuff. And it sort of worked. I know that you said you don't really have a place to walk but believe it or not they actually have walking exercise dvds. There's a whole line of them where you can just walk in your house. It's amazing what's out there these days. I think if you can at least start to do that then you can make a decision on the gym once you know what kind of movement/exercise you want to keep up with.

On a side note, sometimes a gym is good because it allows you to try all different things to figure out what you might like. As opposed to needing to buy 10 different dvds to figure out you don't like to do any of that.

I personally love going to my Y, though sometimes it's a challenge to get there, time wise and energy wise. I didn't start going from the beginning, and felt very self conscious at first. And I was pretty dang out of shape. All level of people, athletically speaking, go there, and all ages, and all shapes. I've seen extremely fit, and extremely big.

Don't feel ashamed. I would advise starting slow to avoid injury, and building up. Plus, have a trainer show you how to use the resistance machines when you feel comfortable.

PS the machines aren't hard to figure out, the elliptical can seem deceptively easy, ha.

My husband loves the gym atmosphere, and it makes him want to work out. I have social anxiety issues, so the gym is very intimidating to me. But I love having the variety of equipment to work out on. I jump around from machine to machine. When I get bored of the treadmill, I do the rowing machine for a while, when I get bored with the rowing machine, I do the stationary bike. There's also the elliptical, the stairmaster, and the weights/weight machines. It's also nice to have the pool in the winter and summer for that matter. So if you get bored with the same thing all the time, the gym is very nice. A trainer would be a nice investment to get used to the different machines and to make sure you are exercising properly. And the classes are really great.

A warning, I would like to say if you do decide it is more cost efficient to build a home gym, you have to make sure you maintain the equipment. Some kid locally almost died bc his home gym equipment was not properly maintained. Also, if you buy used equipment, be careful to make sure it actually works like it is supposed to. You could spend a lot of money only to find out you have to have it repaired or maybe even throw it out.