Since there’s no “best” gym workout to lose weight, don’t limit yourself to one class or machine each time you exercise. Create cardio workouts using a variety of exercises that raise your heart rate and include resistance. Changing workouts helps prevent boredom, repetitive stress injuries and plateauing after several weeks.
Monday
Start with a low-impact cardio workout that uses machines to raise your heart rate. Warm up on a treadmill, increasing your pace over the course of several minutes until you reach your target heart rate. Continue until you’ve exercised for 10 to 15 minutes. Move to an elliptical machine to emphasize different muscles, including your arms if the elliptical has poles. Change machines every 10 to 15 minutes, working out on a rowing machine, exercise bike, stair stepper or other cardio machines the gym offers. Use the last machine to cool down before you quit. Gradually decrease the rate of exercise until you stop sweating and breathing hard.
Tuesday
Add resistance to your weight-loss workouts using a circuit training routine. Choose dumbbells, a kettlebell, resistance bands or weight machine resistance settings that let you perform repetitions of an exercise for one or two minutes without stopping. Work your arms at a pace that gets you breathing hard and sweating. After two minutes, take a two- or three-minute break to catch your breath, then perform another exercise, working your lower body. Continue this pattern for 30 minutes or more, taking longer breaks every 10 minutes to hydrate and give your muscles a chance to recover.
Wednesday
Go back to the cardio machines. If you can vary the exercises on one machine, use it longer than 15 minutes. For example, on a treadmill, raise and lower the incline and speed every five minutes to emphasize different muscles and raise and lower your heart rate.
Thursday
Circuit-train using different equipment than you used in your Tuesday workout. If you exercised with dumbbells, use resistance bands this time. If you used a kettlebell on Tuesday, work out with a universal machine instead.
Friday
Finish your five-day routine with another cardio workout. If you have a favorite machine, make sure you don’t get into the habit of using it for the majority of each workout. Don't exclude other machines. Consider taking a fitness class, such as step aerobics or indoor cycling, to add variety to your workout routine.
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