Need advice please!

[Yankeegirl]

I am 19 years old. I have never been the athletic type. Currently I weigh 140 pounds and I am 5'4. My goal isnt to lose weight I just want to slim down my thighs, flatten my stomach and tone my arms. I just recently joined a gym and have been doing 30 minutes on the tredmil and 15 min on the eliptical every day. What are some exercises I can do at the gym to help me reach my goal? I have never lifted weights and I have no idea what else to do at the gym. please help

[Womens-Fitness]

Well... unfortunately to reach the goals you have, you have just said you want to lose weight. and thats ok, but the treadmill and elliptical alone isn't going to do it which it looks like you know and that rocks! Make sure that when on cardio that you are pushing yourself though, if you can carry a normal convo. then you're not working hard enough. A total body workout is best for your goals... they only take about 30 mins and can be done only 3 days a week.

[stikfigure]

Originally Posted by Yankeegirl

I am 19 years old. I have never been the athletic type. Currently I weigh 140 pounds and I am 5'4. My goal isnt to lose weight I just want to slim down my thighs, flatten my stomach and tone my arms. I just recently joined a gym and have been doing 30 minutes on the tredmil and 15 min on the eliptical every day. What are some exercises I can do at the gym to help me reach my goal? I have never lifted weights and I have no idea what else to do at the gym. please help

Hey Yankee girl. It's a slow day on the forum - probably because of the holiday weekend here.

19 is a great age to become physically active and just because you haven't done the typical athletic things doesn't mean a thing!
It sounds like you're off to a good start with the cardio. Flattening the stomach is really all about cardio. Toning the arms is all about working them hard (pull ups, pushups, weights) It sounds like you basically want to increase your calories while paying attention to getting enough of a good ratio between protein, carbs and fats. You definitely want to increase your time at the gym but there's nothing wrong with doing it gradually. Slimming the thighs might be more about running.

At this stage since you're starting out. you should try doing something like alternating swimming, running and cycling in one week and then add an upper body weight lifting day in there somewhere. Make sure to leave at least a day in between to let the muscles recover and repair which is how we actually build muscle.

Once you've done something like this for 3 solid months then you'll definitely be ready to move on to more structured body building kind of workout.