Hitting the gym again, and it feels so good!

My body feels so good after a rigorous workout. and the good feeling lasts for days. I've been three times since joining last week, and I can already feel that I'm building muscle, which in turn is burning fat.

Before, when I went to the gym, I spent no more than an hour doing just one specific routine, then I went home, regardless of how much energy I might have had remaining. I didn't want to overdo it, and I wasn't sure what I was capable of. I would either do my medicine ball routine, shoulders with back and biceps, chest with triceps, or legs. Now that I'm back at it, I'm learning a little from a friend of the benefits of cross-training.

He has been having great results by doing a variety of exercises, working out his entire body every time he hits the gym - about three days per week. So taking a cue from him, I've developed a similar attitude.

On Friday, I went to the gym with Khizer and we did one set of about seven exercises using the medicine ball. This was mostly focused on core, but it's really a total body workout. Then, he went to do legs and I did shoulders and back. I also did some focused work on abs with about 200 reps of Russian Twists using the cable pulley machine. We stayed about an hour and a half, a full 30 minutes longer than I ever used to work out.

Then, on Saturday I returned to the gym myself and had a great workout in the same vein, but this time I did more exercises and spent about two hours there. I started off by doing the same medicine ball routine, but I added a second set. Then I did the cable pulley Russian Twist abs workout, doing about 200 reps - 100 on each side (focusing on both lower and upper abs). After this I did my regular chest and triceps routine, which includes three sets of 12 reps each of five different exercises (using machines, free weights and pulleys). Plus, I added weight-assisted dips, which I now plan on making a regular part of this routine.

I'm heading back to the gym today after work, and I plan on doing another 2-hour workout. In fact, my new goal for the gym is a two 1-hour workouts and two 2-hour workouts per week. I will also plan on hiking for between 6 and 10 hours per week (two 2-hour hikes during the week and one on 4- to 8-hour hike on the weekend).