First workout!

Tonight I had my first workout over at the Student Recreation and Wellness Center. In preparation for this momentous occasion, I read up on a few possible beginner routines to follow and used SparkPeople to generate a strength training program to try. This was really my first ever solo workout, so I was pretty nervous about getting started and kept putting it off throughout the day. It was about 9pm before I finally got over to the Rec to work out. 

Before I got started, I took some time to walk through the weight room and learn the layout and figure out which machines they had available. They didn't have all of the specific machines from my selected routine, but they had machines that worked the same muscles, so I was able to figure out pretty easily which machines I needed. Once I felt confident enough about what machines I would need to use, I headed back upstairs to the treadmills to warm up. I had a bit of fun varying my pace to find what worked. I think I may do more of my walking on a treadmill from now on - it's so much easier to get a good pace going that way.

Once I was nicely warmed up, I headed back downstairs and hit the weight machines. I spent some time on chest press, leg extension, lat pull, leg curl, triceps curl, biceps curl, back extension, and abdominal. I started out on pretty low weights for everything and decided to do just one set of each exercise, around 12 reps, just to get a feel for the machines and the basic form. When I was finished, I stretched and headed home, feeling pretty good about my first attempt at weightlifting. We'll see how I feel tomorrow!

Question of the day: Do you prefer to work out at a gym or at/around home?