does anyone have experince with curves or ladies workout express? I just joined and it seems so easy, I just hope this works for me.
Katjax ... I don't personally have experience with Curves or the other ladies only gyms but if you are finding it too easy now, I hope you didn't lock yourself in a one year contract. If you did, make the best of it by brisk or hill walking... When your contract is up join a real gym and get some lessons with a personal trainer...
I think Curves is just for extreme beginners. My mom joined and locked herself into a contract but we had a death in the family so she got out of it. How about trying the walking dvd's, people seem to like those that are on this site, Leslie something? Or join the local ymca so it wouldn't be as much pressure as a co-ed gym? I'm in one and there are people of all ages and sizes. Getting back in shape it's very comfortable not being the only one in a big shirt rather then a sports bra. They have lots of classes and one is a circuit routine similar to Curves where you go in a circle (but you don't do cardio inbetween machines, you do it all afterwards).
My legs felt too, too tired to get back on the treadmill after my lifting--I managed another 3 minutes on the treadmill before quitting for the day. This is why I like to do my cardio first!
Horsey - are you talking about the Walk Away the Pounds videos with Leslie Sansone? She has a 1-mile jog that I love...but she is annoyingly perky sometimes. Then again, almost all fitness video instructors are, for me, irritatingly perky-tastic. Except the Aussie who does my kickboxing tape and keeps yelling "Do it like you really mean it! No smiling!"
Baffled - I tend to do whatever I like least first. That way, when I finish the first part of whatever I'm doing, I am looking forward to the second part. I -love- strength training, so I make sure to do it after my cardio. Otherwise I'd finish my strength training and be WAY too likely to go "but I don't WANNA go do my cardio...I'm TIIIIIIRED" and skip it.
Hey Amanda. I kinda like both cardio and strength training, actually, but the conventional wisdom is that you're supposed to do the strength training first--a trainer years ago told me that you should do it that way because otherwise you'll waste all your energy doing cardio and not have enough left to do the weights properly. I, however, always do cardio first, because what I really like most about the gym is BURNING CALORIES and I happen to think that if I waste all my energy building muscles, I won't have any left for the real calorie-burning cardio Anyway, my legs have been so sore after leg day that I thought I should just do a 10 min run to warm up, then work my legs, and then hop back on the treadmill. Alas, my suspicions were correct: no energy or leg strength left to run after all that squatting and lunging.
Hey Amanda. I kinda like both cardio and strength training, actually, but the conventional wisdom is that you're supposed to do the strength training first--a trainer years ago told me that you should do it that way because otherwise you'll waste all your energy doing cardio and not have enough left to do the weights properly. I, however, always do cardio first, because what I really like most about the gym is BURNING CALORIES and I happen to think that if I waste all my energy building muscles, I won't have any left for the real calorie-burning cardio Anyway, my legs have been so sore after leg day that I thought I should just do a 10 min run to warm up, then work my legs, and then hop back on the treadmill. Alas, my suspicions were correct: no energy or leg strength left to run after all that squatting and lunging.
Ah, we live and learn
I know they say do strength training first and then cardio, but I have never had the problem of tiring out. I always do my cardio first because it gets me warmed up and pumped up and being too tired has never been an issue for me. Guess I'm weird like that.
I've been doing DDR (dance dance revolution) an hour in the morning, an hour when I get home from school, and an hour just before I eat. I'm cutting those in half so I only play half an hour morning, noon, night, etc. since I'm trying to get to standard level instead of my light/basic level.
So far I've done an hour of that and a mile walk.
Katjax 
... I don't personally have experience with Curves or the other ladies only gyms but if you are finding it too easy now, I hope you didn't lock yourself in a one year contract. If you did, make the best of it by brisk or hill walking... When your contract is up join a real gym and get some lessons with a personal trainer...
