Ok - I love the gym. It strips away all my well worn excuses (it's too hot, too cold, too rainy, too dark, too bumpy, too hilly, don't want to run with my water, don't want to be burned, don't want to get distracted, don't want to get hit by a car/cyclist/dog/marauding axe murderer, etc). And they have coffee, TVs and music!

I love classes - there are just so many to pick from. Last year when I was test running hobbies, I tried basically every class offered outside of work hours! Check out my blog, and go to July - I give a quick review of each of them - the lawyer wants a hobby blog.

I love doing my own thing - I try to get my program updated every 6 weeks to make sure I've got a good variety, am working different muscles, and staying challenged. I can do my weights and resistance training and some ab work and then cardio, or I can just do cardio if I've done weights before, and if I want to really ramp it up, I can throw in a couple of 10 minute boxing sessions in there, and really slaughter myself.

PT is super, but it adds up quickly cost wise, so I have done very few PT sessions. But if you have some extra cash, get it into you.

And don't worry about your size and the classes. There are small, medium and large, and you take it at your own pace. No one stares or thinks anything other than there's another person there working to get healthier, and that's a good thing. The trainers don't care either - as long as they can see you're working (and sometimes, that's doing a modified version so you can just keep moving and learning how to do the steps and actions) then that's enough.

Get a good balance that you're comfortable with (whether it's a few classes, or a class or two and some solo sessions) and introduce yourself to people you see there a bit ... it's good for your own accountability if nothing else

Figure out what you find fun. I love Body Step, Body Attack, Body Jam (though my gym doesn't do it any more ) and when I'm a bit crazy, Body Pump.

I tend to make sure I don't do weights two days in a row, but otherwise I do what I feel like. Aiming for 3 classes and 3 training weekly. If I'm on a bit of a high after a class, I'll do some cardio afterwards