The gym can be an intimidating place. I’m fine as long as I’m just on the treadmill or in an aerobics class, but put me on the strength-training floor and I’m lost. It isn’t that I can’t figure out how to use the equipment. I just don’t know how to use it efficiently.

After flailing around in the gym for a while yesterday, I decided I needed a trainer. Not necessarily to enforce the working out – although that wouldn’t be a bad side effect – but to tell me what to do. So I asked for some information about their personal training. I should have known it wasn’t going to be good news when they took me to one of their little desks.

Let’s just say the prices were a little out of my range.

I came home a little discouraged. Then I tried to find something online that would tell me what I needed to be doing at the gym. I wanted something that gave me specific exercises and showed me how to do them. I wanted something that I’d be able to change periodically, when it started to get too easy. (Ha.)

And I found just that.

Sparkpeople.com is a free site that gives you nutrition guidance and provides you with “customized” workouts. Once you’ve inputted your goals, your schedule and the equipment you have available, Sparkpeople’s workout generator will give you your daily workout plan, complete with demos.

Sparkpeople won’t correct your form or encourage you to do just a few more reps, but I’m hoping I can at least handle the motivation part on my own. If not, I’ll just download some mp3s of Jillian Michaels yelling at people on “The Biggest Loser” and put them on the iPod. Although really, I think Bob’s hug-it-out style would better work for me.

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