My New Workout Buddies

I'm sure I'm not the only person who has a gym membership, but has no idea what I should be doing at when I get there. The easy route is to jump on the treadmill, elliptical, or a bike and do some cardio. If I can make it on time, maybe I join in on a group fitness class. But all those machines and weights are intimidating. I know I should take the step and cross into that part of the gym. When I invested time and money into a personal trainer, many of our sessions only included a treadmill as a warm-up, but no cardio. My heart rate was good and sky high with strength training alone. Up until this week, I rarely crossed that line that separated the cardio equipment from the weights.

This week I got some confidence from Jamie Eason and my JEFIT app. I came across Jamie Eason in a Fitness RX magazine that I bought after seeing her perfect 10 routine. It was listed with detailed instructions and pictures.

Doesn't she look amazing?! So, I planned to put this workout into my phone and try it out for myself the next day. Well, I then started doing some online searching and ran across a blog post by Amy at Write This Down that referred to Jamie Eason's Live Fit Training Program. It's a 12 week transformation program complete with workouts for each day, meal plans, and supplements. I was interested in the workout plan. Here's a glimpse at the first day:

Each day tells you exactly what to do and links to a video to demonstrate proper form. The only guess work is the amount of weight you use for each exercise.

So, of course I'm not taking my laptop into the gym with me to follow the workout routine. There is a printable sheet with each workout for you to log it, but I don't plan on carrying around a piece of paper and pen in the gym either. I have a hard enough time carrying my keys, water, phone, and a jacket. Maybe I should invest in a locker...

Anyway, I then started to add all the workout information into a note, but thought "there's got to be an app for that" and there is...it's called JEFIT.

So, I added each exercise along with the number of reps and rest time. The database has a ridiculous amount of exercises categorized by muscle group. So, you pick your muscle group, then find the exercise to add to your workout routine. Here's a picture of my routine based on the Jamie Eason workout above.

It took a while, but when I got in the gym I was so glad I did. With the pictures and videos provided of each exercise in the app, I knew exactly which machine to look for and the proper form for the exercise. In addition, the app will time my sets and record my workouts along with the amount of weight I used.

Want to see how my first week of workouts went with my two new workout buddies? I plan to give you all the details of my week of workouts on {Fitness} Friday!

Until then, let's chat...how do you determine your routine for the gym? Do you cross that great divide between the cardio equipment and the weights?