Not all exercise was created equally. Just as walking on the treadmill for five minutes a day won't cause you to lose much weight, pumping iron for an hour may actually cause you to gain more weight in muscle mass. You should exercise at the gym to lose weight by picking the routine that suits your lifestyle and goals. For total body fitness, you should combine a few methods of exercise and modify your daily habits.
Step 1
Exercise on a regular basis. No matter what you do at the gym to lose weight, you should aim to work out at least 30 minutes most days of the week. The longer you exercise beyond that point, the more calories you will burn. To start with, try doing an activity that causes your to breathe a little harder as your pulse increases and a light sweat forms on your brow.
Step 2
Do aerobics. Aerobic exercise is the kind that increases your body's need for oxygen. It also happens to burn flab. Different forms of aerobic exercise burn different amounts of calories. Assuming that you are trying to lose about 1 lb. (or 3,500 calories) per week, you will need to burn 500 calories a day all seven days of the week. Some aerobic exercises (walking, for example) may require you to invest more than an hour in a day to burn enough calories for weight loss, while others burn calories at a more rapid rate. Step aerobics and racquetball can cause you to burn up to 800 calories in one hour.
Step 3
Step up the aerobics to do interval training. This method is now known to cause more rapid weight loss than traditional steady-paced aerobic exercise. Interval training involves alternating between low or moderate-intensity and high-intensity aerobic exercise for the entire duration of a workout. For example, if your preferred aerobic exercise is running on a treadmill, you might alternate between jogging and sprinting every two minutes. Your goal should be to increase your heart rate to around 85 percent of its maximum and then bring it back down to a moderate rate.
Step 4
Do strength training. You will maximize your daily aerobic activity if you supplement it with training that builds muscle. This is because increasing the amount of lean muscle in your body allows you to burn more calories. A great way to do strength training in the gym is to lift weights (weight training). Learn how to use weights properly by seeking a one-on-one tutorial from a trainer, and make sure that you address all of your major muscle groups to balance the fitness level of your whole body.
Step 5
Stay in "gym" mentality after you leave. Exercise burns calories, but it also makes you hungry. Be careful not to "eat back" all of your calories when you leave the gym. One celebratory muffin from a local café can cause you to gain everything you just burned off. Cut back on a few hundred calories a day, or at least don't eat any more calories than you did when you started your exercise routine.
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