Gym Workout Guide
Gyms have a variety of equipment designed to meet any need or goal, be it weight loss, overall fitness, body-building, endurance training, recreational leagues, or recovery from injury. Regardless of your reasons for joining a gym, take advantage of all it has to offer. Membership fees are generally reasonable and many gyms are now open 24 hours to accommodate the various schedules of their clients.
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Weights
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Weight plates
Free weights, cable machines, resistance bands and medicine balls are commonplace in most gyms, and you should incorporate them into your fitness plan. Strength training with any of this equipment will help you to build and tone muscle, which will increase your metabolic rate and allow you to burn more calories throughout the day (see reference 1). Use a variety of equipment to prevent boredom. Adding variety to your workouts and keeping them interesting will inspire you to keep coming back to the gym (see reference 3).
Cardio
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Cardiovascular exercise is important to your health and should be included in any guide to gym use. Treadmills, ellipticals, rowing machines, bicycles and stair steppers are all machines that help you to build up cardiovascular endurance, burn calories and lose or maintain weight.
Classes
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Step aerobics class
Classes are not just for women wearing leg warmers and headbands anymore. Gyms have developed a range of aerobic, kick-boxing, karate, yoga, step and weight-training group classes that are built in to your membership dues. Working with a group is another way to stay motivated and challenge yourself, and the group-exercise setting is a fun way to mix up your fitness plan and sweat it out together.
Gym Etiquette
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Gym etiquette is basically universal and most of these rules are put in place to protect you and your fellow gym-goers:
After sweating all over a piece of equipment, be it a treadmill, bench press or exercise mat, disinfect it with a few squirts of a cleaner and a paper towel.Always re-rack any weights you use and put all equipment back in its designated place.
Ask to alternate activities on a machine that is being used by someone else rather than taking it over without clarifying whether or not the other person has completed his workout.
Maintain some modesty in the locker rooms--regardless of how confident you may be in your appearance, keep other people in mind when stripping out of your sweaty clothes.
Use common sense and be courteous to the people you're working out with.
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