I joined LA Fitness 4 days ago and have been every day since. I have a personal trainer as well but it is only for a half hour session 3 times a month. Needless to say, never having worked out consistently since 1974, and even then the most exercise I have had is lifting 12 oz. I have no clue which machines I should be using and when.

I am working on my diet and think that I can get a handle on that.

The trainers at LA Fitness tell me that circuit training is not good. I really don't have any idea how to use the machines other than treadmills and elipticals. The instructions on the machines are someone cryptical to me. But if I had an idea what to try to do inbetween training sessions that would help.

What are your goals? Try to be specific. Don't say you want to gain/lose weight or "get stronger". How much would you like to add/lose,etc. Then we can go from there.

Well, I'm 58 years old. I'm 6'1" I weigh 245 lbs, maybe a little less now. I have a pretty big beer belly. I'd like to lose that. I'm diabetic with uncontrolled blood sugar. I'd like to get it under control and either reduce or get off my diabetic medication. You ask me to be specific but I really have no clue, how to be more specific. When I was in my 20's I only weighed 145 lbs. I was overly skinny. I'd like to get at more of an ideal weight for someone 6'1", whatever that would be. I would also like to get well defined muscles. I want to look in shape, and be in shape, but I don't need to look like a body builder unless it just happens as a result of working out. I'd like to be able to improve my golf game and walk 36 holes without getting to tired or winded, provided my feet can take it. I'd like to be able run 5 or 6 miles as well without a lot of effort.

Edit..I did some research. I want to work on my core to start with, altered with strength training on other days. Is it OK to work out 7 days a week?

Well, I would say as far as diet goes you know far more than I. Especially given your diabetes so I think you are best to do whatever you and your doctor would think is best.

As for training, I would say some form of cardio a few times a week would go a long way. An ideal weight depends on a lot of factors and is highly individual. To give an example, I am 5'8" and about 205 and not overly muscular. I would say the "average person" would say I am muscular or"big" but another powerlifter would consider me average. Anyway, an ideal weight isn't as important as body composition. In other words, if you are 245 and 20% bodyfat, imagine the diference at the same weight with only 10% bodyfat. The cardio will go a long way in helping with this.

As for the weight training, go to elitefts.com and look under the exercise index section. They have descriptions of tons of exercises(some with video). Some are very much powerlifting specific but many will be helpful to you.

Hey Jim,
I went to that site. It seems like they are trying to sell a lot of stuff on that site. I bookmarked it and hopefully I can find some helpful stuff.