[Koshka]

I think I am going to start using a personal trainer at the Y and am trying to decide between various options.

I plan to do my cardio stuff separate from the personal training and can warm up on my own just fine before the sessions.

My Situation - I was exercising at home using a treadmill and outside walking for cardio. I started doing some light weight work at home using dumbbells. Then I had a trabecular bone injury in my leg and a knee MRI revealed I have virtually no cartilage under my left knee cap (I had knee surgery -- tibial transfer -- some years ago). Doctor recommended that I not walk (suggested exercise bike/elleptical which I am now using). He says I can do strength training but no lunges, no squats, no leg extensions or anything that would bend my knee more than 90 degrees.

I had been doing really good with exercise before the injury but it is hard to get back into it. Also, I am a little nervous about just doing a strength training workout on my own given my limitations.

Past experience with personal training - Years ago when I owned a home gym I had someone come into my house once a week and work with me for an hour. This was very effective, but stopped when we moved. A few years ago when I was a member at a different Y, I used a trainer in hour long sessions that I shared with my husband once a week. Basically he would work half an hour with each of us and we rode the exercise bike while he was working with the other. I was not very happy with the experience. It was good from the standpoint of getting me in there every week. However, every session he did something different with me and there was no way to really see if I was making any progress. He mostly used exercises that involved using kettleballs, body weight and resistance bands. Also, none of what he did was stuff that I could do on my own so I had to do something totally different for strength training on the days he didn't work with me.

What I want now - I want to work with someone and do something that I can do during the week on at least one other day when I'm by myself. It can be using machines (I actually like working on machines although I know free weights are objectively better). I am amenable to free weights to some extent but only if it is exercises that I can do by myself when working alone.

Options that I have

1. 1 hour session once a week - This allows me to work on my entire body in the session and then I would do it on my own once or twice a week. For the first month I might do this twice a week just to get off to a good start. I have some concern that an hour long session might be too long, particularly since I can do the warm up on my own before the session.

2. 30 minute session once a week - Some of the research I did online said that for most people 30 minutes is fine and an hour long session is overkill. When I go through the machines at the Y by myself it usually takes me about 45 minutes. So, in some ways 30 minutes doesn't seem long enough for working the whole body, but an hour seems too long.

3. 30 minute session twice a week - If I did this I would probably do lower body in once session and upper in the other. This sort of makes it where I then need to do 2 other sessions on my own during the week so I have to go to the Y 4 times during the week when I really would prefer to go there only 3 times.

Any thoughts as to what might be best? Right now, I'm really out of practice on strength training (haven't really done much for the last 3 years). I was doing a lot of cardio before my leg injury.