Q: I am a 19 year old female. I want to know is joining gym good for girls at this age? I mean can it cause any problem for me in the near future? I also want to know the cardiovascular exercises. If I shouldn't join gym then tell me some cardiovascular exercises which can be done at home. Actually, I feel very lazy throughout the day even doing yoga exercises so I thought gym might be a solution to my problem.

A:You should keep in mind that exercise should be fun rather than looked at as a chore. If you are joining the gym, find out what the reasons are - is it to work out under the supervision of a trained instructor, or to add some variety to your workout, to kill the boredom of working out on your own or to create an opportunity to make friends? If you cannot sustain going to the gym as a lifestyle habit, do not begin it as yet. You could perhaps try out doing things on your own like cardiovascular exercises of the like: Brisk walking, cycling, swimming, tennis, badminton. If you haven't already started, you must progress slowly in whatever you choose. Build it up slowly over time, for example, if you start walking today and do so 2-3 times a week, you may not and should not walk too fast to be out of breath. In about a week or ten days, you can up the pace a little and so on. If you are looking for cardiovascular variety, check out you local area to see if you can join an aerobics or dance class. Again, you might like to try this out for a month and then continue it only if it fits in with your lifestyle.