I'm sorry if this has been asked before -- I've never really stuck with an exercise program, and this week I joined a local gym with almost everything one would need. The first day my friend and I spent about an hour between the treadmill and elliptical machines, and then day 2 I went by myself and took advantage of their "one free session with a personal trainer" thing. It was very difficult but I could see the advantage to it. I felt good all day, and naturally I woke up this morning and could barely move my legs.

For someone starting out, how often should I go to the gym? I've read that once you do a lot of the weight/resistance training you should give it a day or so to heal the muscles before doing that again, but I'd be tempted to even go for the treadmills after that, but I don't want to completely burn myself out. Any advice? Thanks ^^

How often you go to the gym is up to you... you could go every day, you could go much less.

Did the personal trainer show you how to lift weights? How to use the machines? etc etc?

Here is a good website I'd recommend for reading in regards to weight:
http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/

In general, you should never work the same muscle group two days in a row. So you can lift weights every day but you'd have to make sure you rotate the muscle groups.

You should definitely rotate muscle groups and allow a day of "recovery" between groups when you're lifting or doing body resistance. The building of muscle happens not when you lift, but during the recovery/healing process.

I would recommend you check out a book called New Rules of Lifting for Women. It'll give you a lot of info on lifting and resistance training and talk about a lot of the myths of weightlifting - especially liftting when you're a woman.

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