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to get to know you without the appearance of a facade, as well. If you have questions about a piece of equipment or need help with an exercise, there is always someone available to assist you.

All of these factors go back to my first point - comfort, feeling at home in a place where you will exert yourself at length, work up a serious sweat and expose your strengths and weaknesses more than anywhere else is the main factor in building a relationship with a gym, its members and incorporating these items into your weekly regiment.

Granted, you may prefer a more public, larger setting with greater emphasis on aerobics, classes or other items; regardless, do not force yourself into a long-term relationship with a fitness facility where there is not some factor - layout, equipment, trainers, workout partners - that makes you feel at home in the place sooner than not. Working out is hard enough, if you do not look forward to going to your gym you will stop going there soon enough.

GO HOME MORE THAN USUAL EVEN IF LOVE YOUR GYM: On my end, it took a decade or two of training to realize that I had been over-training for most of my lifting career. Among the few benefits of getting older is that your strength actually increases, assuming relatively constant training, well into your mid-40's. But, the demands on your time likely increase and, it was only after reaching a point where I was getting into a gym that I loved three or four times a week, instead of six, when I noticed that I was getting stronger and felt better and more refreshed every trip to the gym.

The exact level of what constitutes over-training will vary for each individual, but a few generalizations can be made. Ideally, you should work hard, but not to exhaustion every time you are in the gym, but to the extent that you do work a given body part: chest, back, shoulders, legs more than once a week, the first workout should be near full effort (reserving total exhaustion of a body part for once every few weeks or so), while the second workout of the same body part should emphasize additional repetitions - defining the body part more than lifting for strength.

UPGRADE YOUR HOME, MOVE THINGS AROUND: Whether you are a veteran, intermediate or beginner, you will reach various points in your gym career where the same routines become boring and it becomes increasingly difficult to mentally motivate yourself. The solution is relatively simple - mix up your workouts, use different equipment, use more or less aerobic

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