Weight Room, Part 2

A couple of weeks ago, I made my first journey to THAT side of the gym.  I met with a trainer for a weight room orientation and wrote about it here.

I left my first session with mixed feelings:  I realized that the weight room was not nearly as scary as I thought, but we had tried so many machines and so many exercises, so quickly that I didn't know that I would know where to begin if I had to go back on my own.

Thank goodness for session two, which happened today!  The trainer let me start off by choosing my own method of warming up.  Rather than hop on the treadmill, I went back to the TRX which she had introduced me to last week.  After a quick reminder on the correct stance, I went through 3 sets of reps of the exercise she had shown me before and then she demonstrated a few other squat and sit-up variations to try while I was there.  Other than almost taking out a woman on the elyptical with my arm swing, that went pretty well.

This time around the gym, the trainer reminded me of the different machines we had tried before to work the same muscle groups and asked which ones I liked/thought I would actually do on my own.  Stepping up and down on the bench, thrusting a weight in the air in a Lady Liberty stance next to all the high school boys on the free weights?  No, thank you.  Using a pully machine off in the corner is more my style.  Thrusting my pelvis in the air with legs butterflied and balanced on a ball to work my thighs?  Give me hamstring curls instead, please.

By the end of today's session, the trainer had led me back around the gym, but this time letting me do 3 full sets of 10-15 reps of each exercise.  Giving me lots of guidance on the first rep, teaching me how to check myself on the second and leaving me to it on the third.  She set the weight and then let me go up or down as I felt comfortable.  She reccorded everything and gave me a copy of the program to work on for the next little while as well as a few new ab exercises to try out.

Here it is:

Hack Squat (split with lunges) 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps
Assisted Lift - 2-4 sets of 10-15 reps
Hamcurl alternated with Cable Pull Through 2-3 sets of 10-15
Ball Chest Press, Chest Fly and Tricep Extension - 2-3 sets of 10-15
Lateral Raise on Bosu 2-3 sets of 10-15
Low seated Row 3 sets of 10-15
Back Extension 2-3 sets of 10 without weight (for now)
10 minute Abs

I feel like I'm using pretty wimpy weights for everything, but ya gotta start somewhere, right?

After this second session, I definitely feel as though I could get through all of the above without much guidance.  Now it's just a matter of fitting it into my schedule!