Hi all. I'm joining a gym this weekend and whould like some advice.

I've used gyms before and always felt like I had no idea what I was doing (unless there was a gym coach yelling in my ear, lol). Anyways I'm a 5'8, 150lbs. & female and I just want to lose some fat and gain muscle. I have no trouble with my arms and legs, but my lower stomach and back are a different story. So if anyone know of any exercises for those areas, or any advice really, could you share it?

Also, what does everyone think about energy and meal replacement bars and shakes?

Hi Tricky!

For your stomach, one of the most effective exercises is incline situps. When you do these, lay down on a incline bench that lets you strap your feet at the top, put your hands on the back of your head (or leave them on your side if you can't do situps with your hands on the back), and slowly sit up. This exercise will tone and build muscle in your stomach. But to actually lose the fat, cardio and a healthy diet is the only way to go.

2 good exercises for your back are pulldowns, and dumbbell rows. Pulldowns include going on a machine that has a horizontal bar on the top, and simply pulling it down while sitting straight. Dumbbell rows include kneeling on the bench, and pulling a dumbbell up. I recommend you research some of these exercises on google.

Protein shakes are good for fast muscle building but are not necessary. Keep up the strength training, cardio, and diet, and you will see results!!!!!

http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

Congrats on the membership. http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/wink.gif

Most gyms have trainers walking the floor who will show you how to use all the equipment for free. Don't be shy about asking one of them for help -- it's best you learn proper form now than to train with risk of injury or train ineffectively because of poor form. Plus, everyone starts out at square one at some point, so ask all the questions you can think of.

Second, concentrate on training your whole body in whatever sort of split is comfortable for you -- muscle is your furnace, remember. Combine that with a clean diet and some cardio and you'll see improvement in your stomach. Fat loss just math -- create a deficit. This is 90% diet, but it's expedited by cardio -- not to mention the heart benefits of cardio. You will reduce fat all over via this method, but you can't pick where you lose fat from. But be patient, it will come.

Bars -- glorified candy bars. I'd suggest not making regular use of them. I don't even like them as treats personally. Usually just cheap quality whey and soy concentrate mixed with some high-GI carbs. Sugar free? Sure. But they'll cause insulin spikes just as severe as refined sugar will, in some cases worse.

Shakes -- depends on the shake, it's a mixed bag. Pre-mixed (bottled/canned) MRPs often contain a lot of sugar and miscellaneous additives. Buying the powder is best. If you make your own, they generally aren't bad as supplements, and are in fact advantageous after training, but don't let them replace whole food sources at meal times.

Also keep in mind that (with the exception being the beginner stage for anyone, or for a little bit longer with highly overweight folks) building muscle while losing bodyfat is not terribly achievable. It's a cyclical process. To build muscle, you will need to gain some fat as well; however, it's quite possible to keep the proportion of fat gain low with a clean diet. Likewise, to cut bodyfat, you will inevitably sacrifice a bit of muscle. This can also be minimized, but it's a long story. http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

Anyhow, concentrate on whichever is more important to you at this point and evaluate your progress down the road. When doing one, it's quite possible to see small gains in the other, just don't expect to see dramatic gains in both at once. That requires a cycle. http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

Thanks for all of your replies. After looking at what's actually in all those bars and shakes, I agree that there's too much sugar in them. Fruit and a glass of milk after a workout sounds better.

Anyways, since it got cooler here, I walked to the gym (about 5 miles there and back) and lifted weights for 45 min. I'm gonna do this 3-4 times a week. Do you think that's enough cardio?

Xia covered basically everything..
If you are starting out, just stick to the basics.. try to do exercises which incorporate many muscles, bench press, squats and lat pull downs. Train your body as a whole and when you get into the rythm then you can get fancy with specific body group exercises.
Also, (I might get refuted on this one, but I read it in several articles and it worked for me) if you want to reduce fat you might want to do your cardio right after your weight traning.. a good 15 to 20 min. "Cardio interval training".
Lastly, if you have no time to count calories and just don't want to get technical on food consumption.. try spliting your meals to 5 or 6 meals a day.
Good luck.

Personally, I'd stay away from fruit post-workout because fructose preferentially replenishes liver glycogen stores, not muscle glycogen. The logic behind consuming carbs post-training is to refill muscle glycogen in order to help fuel your next workout. The last thing you want is to fill up your liver while simultaneously spiking your insulin, then possibly have any carb spillover be stored as fat.

That's a little bit of a nit-picky point, though, I know. =)

Other than that, you're on the right track! Reach for clean, single-ingredient whole foods before settling for something in a package.