your routine at the gym

You can do it! Just go slow, pay attention to how your body feels, watch videos, use light weight, and focus on things like flexibility and balance. A trainer can't step inside your body so you've got to sorta "find" good form through reps for yourself anyway. It's a journey. Don't go heavy and you won't get hurt.

cool thx! I really liked the dude and he was a great salesman too, but it's just so way beyond my budget it's not even something I can consider. But it does feel like now that I've been at this very consistently for a few months, I am making progress but there is a missing ingredient.

Apparently my hip strength is a weak spot. I never would have known.

i have never had a trainer and i think my deadlift form is a+ because there are really so few steps to doing it right. also i cannot recommend goblet squats enough. i am back to barbell squatting now but i think they are more fun. just limited by how heavy of a dumbbell you can carry in your arms (which is part of the fun of it, it works your arms and lats to hoist it off the ground). it really helps your flexibility and hips and teaches you to force your knees out. i do like 5 sets of 5 at 50-55 lbs or so and get so sweaty.

gonna try the more strength-oriented program for at least a few weeks I think. Did chest today -- 3 sets bar bench presses, 3 sets incline dumbbell presses, 3 sets cable cross fly, 3 sets bodyweight dips, all 10 reps and at weights where I could barely complete 3 sets of ten. I followed that with some abs and then brief cardio. I definitely feel different after this kind of workout than after my old one -- before I would be sweatier by the end and then leave the gym with a kind of pep in my step, whereas this leaves me feeling a little stiffer and slower, though maybe just getting used to it. OTOH I feel like I'm going to see visible results more quickly with this, like I just feel like I did much more to the muscles I worked, much sorer.

One thing I've noticed about "starting strength" types (from talking to trainers, reading on the internet, etc.) is that they're almost data-oriented -- very focused on numerically measurable results. You get "gains" in weight you can lift, and, for the heavy lifters, in muscle size. I think my personality is a little averse to this -- I like variety, improvisation, and I don't care much about measuring progress as long as I can sense it.