Exercising

Hey guys, well now that the semester has started it's time to start working out like I had planned during the summer. I really want to work on my upper body strength. Could anyone recommend what machines I should use in the gym and how much I should lift and for how long? I'm about 5 ft 4 (yea short for my age), and I weigh about 130 pounds. Please let me know. Thanks

Sign up for a couple of sessions with a personal trainer at your gym so you can get some one-on-one instruction. The sessions are sometimes free, but even if they're not they're usually very affordable. A trainer can help you target the areas of your body you want to focus on, show you the correct weight-lifting positioning when you start off, and suggest good starting weights and repetitions/sets. The young guys at my gym like the free weights. Dumbells for curls and other one-side-at-a-time lifting and extensions. They use barbells for curls and chest presses. Lat pulls for shoulders. The trainer can also show you the weight machines, too, which are nice because they control the path the weights take while you work on proper technique with the lifting and proper breathing (exhaling while you lift the weight and inhaling as you return it to correct position). Good luck! Working out makes you feel like a million bucks.

I can't really do that because I'm exercising during my gym class. Which is a gen ed requirement for every undergraduate.

I agree with BG, you should get instruction from a trainer.

Otherwise the next thing is to go to Bodybuilding.com - The Future Of Bodybuilding! Huge Bodybuilding Site. and start reading up.

Ideally you should work-out your entire body, otherwise it'll look a little out of proportion if you have a big chest, but chicken legs!

Sure you can. They have trainers who work at the gym. Students who're majoring in kinesiology and working there as part of their classwork. They have to have those folks on duty anyway for the safety and liability protection of the gym. Plus if it's for a gym class, don't you have a teacher?

I hate it when folks say they can't do something. If you want to do something bad enough, you can find a way.