I'm going back to college in September, and I figure I should use the gym + weight room to get in better shape; I'm not setting out to get huge or have beautiful, toned muscles (although that would be pretty cool), but my main goals are to sleep better and be less fatigued/have more energy when awake (I don't think I'm very fit). The weight room seems to have basically everything except an ab machine (so I guess you have to do your own sit-ups)...I vaguely recognize the various machines from high school phys-ed, but I don't really know what would be a good workout. So what would you guys recommend? I probably have at least an hour a day to spend on this.

All the running in the world can't solve insomnia.

Trust me, I've tried.

I don't think he said insomnia. Work out in the morning, before eatting breakfast. Wait about an hour to an hour and a half after working out before ingesting anything, as you will continue to burn calories for this period of time (eatting will cause this to stop). Do sprint drills, it will increase your metabolism, which in turn with give you greater energy when waking. If you're not looking to bulk up, do lower weights with high-reps. There, start with that and adjust it to fit your own needs.

By 'sleep better' I mean that right now I'll be out for ten hours, wake up groggy and still be tired throughout the day - tired like I have no energy, not tired like it's bedtime. And I also want to get my sleeping more regulated. On I typical day I won't be ready to sleep until one or two am, which is no good if I have class the next morning.

Roach: what's a sprint drill?

If you can't sleep at night, try melatonin supplements.

As for the exact lifting exercises that you should do, I'm not really qualified to give that kind of advice.

I've been exercising 2 hours a day (running in the morning + gym at night) for the past month and I've lost more than 18 pounds so far. As for what to do at the gym; it really depends on your goals. You say you aren't really looking to build muscle all that much, so you should focus more on cardio stuff (exercise bikes, treadmill, elliptical machine, etc.). Though a little bit of strength training can't hurt.

A program of alternating between sprinting for a specific amount of time and jogging for another. Sprinting for 20 seconds (I don't mean running, I mean sprinting) and jogging for 10 seconds and do that 8 times (4 minutes total) after jogging for 4 minutes and cooling down with a 4 minutes jog (the entire session is 12 minutes...4 jog, 4 sprint drill, 4 jog) is wonderful but brutal, if it's too much, do 30-60s, spring/run for 30 seconds, run for 60, do that about 8-10 times. You can add this idea to any exercise. Do as many reps as you can for 20 seconds, and do very slow reps for 10, etc etc.

Oh, I see. The gym has a bunch of treadmills and excercise bikes I could use for that kind of thing...

Page: I think my main problem is that I just have a really low level of fitness. I've become kind of a couch potato.

But like, which machines should I be using? Or should I be doing free weights instead?

This might be a stupid question, but it's normal to feel sore the next day even if you streched before and after, right?

Yeah. They usually recommend working out muscles on alternate days (so like if you worked out your upper body today, you'd do your lower body tomorrow so they have time to heal).

Pain means you did your job and tore down muscle tissue.

Free weights will force more muscle groups to work simply to maintain balance. Machines tend to be safer for those working out alone. Rotate through machines and positions to prevent your workout becoming stale.

If you're going to be liftng weights, you'll want a core routine, at least to start.

Chest
Shoulders
Biceps
Triceps
Forearms
Abs
Quads
Calves

Thanks, guys.

Best thing I ever did was buy a book about it. The one I got was really cool. You picked how much time you wanted to spend on each work out, how many times a week you wanted to do it, and what you were hoping to acomplish (weight loss, muscle tone, plain old muscle strength, or a mix), and it would tell you which types of exercises to do. It also showed you how to do around 45 different exercises and what muscles they built.

Best advice I can give you is to use free weights or a bowflex type system. Machines can only let your muscles move in one direction all the time, but with a free weight or bowflex, you have to both support the weight AND balance it, which works your muscles out better. If you want to do it at home, it only cost me around $200 to get a bench, weight set and floor mat. With that you can do pretty much any exercise.

This'll be at the school gym. I get free access because I'm a student. A book or some other resource might be useful, but I know that several guys around here are into weight training so I though I'd check first...

Trust me, you'll get a lot more information buying a good book than from here. Such as how to breath when you're lifting, how long the lift and lowering of the weight should take, and a lot more.

Avenger and I pretty much have the same physical training advice.

Another options are to do Tai Chi, Yoga, stop drinking soda pop completely, decrease meat intake for at least 3 days, and jogging nice and steady for 10-15 minutes for 3-4 times a week.

If you want more energy, then it's all about breathing techniques.

I can elaborate on any information here if you wish, but for tonight I'm off to bed.

Yeah, so this is exactly what I'm talking about. It's like a quarter to four in the morning and I need to be up at seven for work.

This is...frustrating.