horizon697

Hi everyone!
I'm new here. I just started working out yesterday, after a year and a half of no real exercises routine, just sporadic stretches, squats, cruches at home. I used to work out 4-5 times a week, 4 years ago, and again a year and a half ago, doing cardio and the circuit machines at the gym that my husband owns as his side business. However, I am 35, 5'3", and currently weigh 145 lbs. I run all the time with my teenage (15 & 13) kids, do housework, etc., so haven't really had time to really exercise, and have gained about 18 lbs in the last 2 years. My husband is a certified trainer, and he put me through a workout yesterday that seemed more intense than the one I started with 4 years ago (different trainer). He had me walk for 3 minutes on the treadmill at a 3.5 pace, then run for a minute at a 5 pace, then walk for 3 minutes at a 3.5 pace again. I got a little scared (I have panic disorder and get scared when my heart beats fast - but I know it has to when I workout and it's not going to hurt me), and didnt' want to do that anymore, so I did 8 more minutes on the elliptical machine, and a moderate pace of about 126 strides per minute. We then went through the circuit machines, and I did 2 sets on each one. I was a little concerned, because he had me to more weights at the beginning that the other trainer had me do in the past, but I made it through the sets. I'm a little sore today, as I have been before when I started working out. I guess my question is....is that too much cardio to begin with? And is 20-40 lbs on circuit machines too much to start with? I didn't have any pain while doing them. The first set didn't seem to bad on most, but the 2nd set was a little tough on a few of the machines. The one that worried me, but I did it, was the calf raise machine. He had it set at 100 lbs, but you just put your shoulders on the pads and your heels hang down and you raise up a little and lower your heels back down. It didn't feel like I was pushing up 100 lbs or anything. He said that 20 lbs was too low, and actually caused more problems, because people would try to overcompensate as they felt that there wasn't enough resistance and they would come up too high and pull muscles. I would appreciate any feedback. Thanks!