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CNN Chief Medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains how your brain responds when you receive a compliment.

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If you're a woman just starting out in the gym, you may be feeling intimidated. Not only is the array of machines overwhelming, but most gyms are replete with muscular men who look like they'll crush anything in their way-including you.

If this describes how you feel, you're not alone; many women can identify. But if you're willing to take a tiny step beyond your comfort barrier, you'll be on the road to some fantastic fitness progress.

Let's review some of the key points you need to know to design a machine workout that will get you started on a weightlifting regimen. Then, you can follow the full program, Beginner Machine Workouts for Women, in BodyFit Elite. Track your workouts, swap out exercises to match the machines you have access to, and watch demonstration videos of every movement in every workout!

1. Kiss: Keep It Simple, Sister

First, keep your workout as simple as possible. Your objective at this point is to get the muscles used to the stress of the weight lifting stimulus and prepare yourself for more advanced programs.

Since you're new to the concept of weightlifting, your body will respond quickly to even basic exercises. So progress will happen quickly. Track these changes for motivation-it's called positive reinforcement!

Machine weight training is great because the apparatus helps you through the correct pattern of movement with no stress on your part. You won't have to worry about proper form as much as you would with free weights. Machine exercises will also help you get comfortable in the gym.

2. Focus On Form

At this stage, the goal is not to lift as much as possible. You don't need to be concerned with personal bests. For now, get comfortable and ensure you're performing each exercise correctly.

While the machine will guide you through proper form, there are still some things you need to be careful about.

One, make sure your back is pressed flat into the bench or back pad in machine exercises like the leg press, chest press and shoulder press. And two, don't hyperextend your knees or elbows as you do the shoulder press, horizontal chest press, horizontal row, triceps press-down or leg extension.

3. Don't Push Far Beyond Your Comfort Zone

Work hard, but not so hard that your comfort zone disappears and you want to quit. If you leave the gym feeling exhausted because you worked so hard, you may develop negative feelings toward working out.

Obviously, you should avoid feeling bad about working out. Instead of feeling exhausted, you should leave the gym feeling energized and excited about your next workout.

There's a difference between challenging yourself and pushing yourself to the limit. Save the extreme workouts for after you have a solid training base. Then knock yourself out.

4. Remember To Rest

Finally, rest enough to recover. This is a critical part to success with any training program, but some beginners tend to overlook it.

Leave at least one day between each of your full-body machine weightlifting sessions. If you're just starting out and know that you have a slower recovery system, rest for two days.

More rest beats not enough rest, so make sure you're fully recovered and feeling great each time you step in the gym.

As long as you get in at least two workouts per week, you will start seeing fitness improvements and more lean muscle mass. If you can do three sessions, excellent! But don't force yourself if you feel like you could use another day off.

On To The Program

So now that you know the key components of what makes for a successful machine workout, you're ready to get in the gym and follow a full program!

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The Ultimate Beginner's Machine Workout For Women

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Free weights are great, but machines have their place too-especially for newbies. Learn how to make the machines your friends in the gym.

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Healthy eating is a whole lot easier when you're full and fueled. These wholesome recipes are packed with whole-grain goodness (from oats, farro, wheat berries and more) to keep you going strong.

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Healthy eating is a whole lot easier when you're full and fueled. These wholesome recipes are packed with whole-grain goodness (from oats, farro, wheat berries and more) to keep you going strong.

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I've been sitting still for an hour, watching, listening, in the dark. Macaques swing through the cliff-top trees opposite, the drilling of cicadas has begun. Frogs take up the chorus below, the river rushes ahead, gibbons whoop in the distance. Even the leaves are noisy, falling around the deck of my beautiful treehouse with a thud. Stars appear to rush towards me; fireflies twinkling in the Takian trees.

I'm staying at Our Jungle House in Khao Sok - Thailand's largest national park, near Phuket. Run by social entrepreneur Bodhi Garrett, it's a model of ecotourism but doesn't shout about it. What you see is tasteful accommodation, all soft lighting and wood carvings while, in the background, they're quietly building schools and developing community-based tourism projects.

I took a group tour to Cheow Larn lake with Por, a young local guide, and we ventured north, three hours by longtail boat to Klong Saeg Wildlife Sanctuary, leaving the rest of the tourists behind. It's magical and remote, mist drifting over the jutting limestone karsts, the lake banked by thick jungle. We hiked up wild elephant trails, followed bear tracks, explored lakeside caves and ate fish caught beside the bamboo rafthouses we would sleep in. Before bed, Por took us on a night safari where we floated silently past shy gaur - tragically, the heads of these endangered bison can earn poachers £2,000 apiece.

Magical and remote ... Cheow Larn lake

It was all a far cry from where I started the year. January blues were abetted by minor heartbreak and I planned a healing trip to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. So far, so cliched. Friends, recalling youthful travels, promised adventure. Contemplating my more mature 41 years, I privately worried at the prospect of travelling among twenty-somethings headed for full-moon parties. Instead, I booked into a yoga centre on Koh Phangnan. I would emerge serene and calm, I told surprised friends. Arriving at the retreat, I passed men chanting among - or perhaps to - the trees. In a temple, strangers discussed receptivity to love and offered to partner me in tantric workshops. Sitting on the resort's beach, I pondered my situation when the faint strain of bongos made a decision easy. I beat a hasty retreat.

Several hours later, I was on the neighbouring island, enrolling on an open-water dive course at family-run Master Divers. Koh Tao is a diving epicentre and, as a result, the main town, Mae Haad, is also a backpacker's haven, its narrow pathways and rising streets crammed with budget accommodation. A basic, clean beach bungalow at Ananda Villas costs £23 a night (rooms start at £10) and, as with much of Thailand, there's excellent affordable food everywhere. Master Divers are keen environmentalists so, at lunchtimes, I used their reusable plastic containers to fill with fresh papaya salads and spicy noodle soups from nearby street stalls. Mornings were spent in the classroom, afternoons in the sea in small groups, under the expert guidance of Simone, a charming German divemaster.

We got to grips with the basics at one of the most scenic sites, Japanese Gardens. It's ideal for learners and snorkellers, with the reef across the bay going from paddling depth to 14m, vibrant soft and hard corals, and a wide variety of fish: wrasses, parrotfish, titan triggerfish. Once we'd mastered safety techniques, Simone led the way as we glided past lobed pore coral heads fully five metres high, and fields of slipper corals. It wasn't long before we stumbled upon a hungry turtle, chomping away, unperturbed by the captivated audience of divers: you can see why people flock here to learn to dive.

I was smitten, and this newfound passion saw me heading, freshly qualified, to Khao Lak for a liveaboard trip to the Similan islands with an underwater camera. Happy days were spent launching myself into the deep from Sea Dragon's dive boat, photographing turtles, barracuda and stingrays, and using up my air trying to outswim tuna. We were the first divers to visit the East of Eden site, reopened after two years, and here I got up close, too close, to a giant moray eel I later discovered was almost certainly Scarface - a known resident of the table coral at 16m depth, and infamous for having bitten a diver's thumb off. Evenings were passed swapping stories and pictures with other divers over the Thai kitchen crew's fragrant curries.

Diving in ... a hungry turtle spotted on the Master Divers trip

The only time I felt "older" was on the backpacker bus trail from Koh Tao to Khao Sok, where some studiously jaded youngsters viewed my cheery optimism with the contempt it obviously deserved. "God, Thailand's so slow," they whined, even as the bus company sent a car to reunite the ingrates with a forgotten backpack. Not all youthful backpackers are cast from the same mould. In Koh Tao, I had great fun with a trio of twenty-somethings from Paris, and Khao Sok was memorable for the stunning scenery and wild animals, as well as for sharing those experiences with other travellers. I set off for Phnom Penh, happy I'd made lifelong friends.

But some things are best done alone. My first day in Cambodia was spent in quiet reflection at the killing fields of Choeung Ek. It is Ros Kosal, a survivor of the Khmer Rouge's regime, whose audio narration leads you around the field, past the depressions that mark mass graves. The effects of such recent bloody history are ever-present in a country that's suddenly very young, orphaned and hungry.

However, there is a positivity everywhere, and initiatives you're glad to spend money on. In Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, I visited Romdeng and Marum, training restaurants where the staff - ex-street children - cook and serve fresh, creative food. In Kampot, visually impaired masseurs offer soothing treatments at Seeing Hands, and there's a chilled vibe and decent coffee to enjoy at Epic Arts Cafe, run by deaf and disabled workers. Much of the budget accommodation in Kampot is on Guesthouse Street, where you'll find Pepper Guesthouse offering possibly the finest fish amok in town. This fragrant fish curry, steamed in banana leaves, is Cambodia's national dish.

Kampot pepper stars in this region too, notably at the nearby Kep crab market, where the locals serve it alongside the tasty little critters - well worth a trip. A 15-minute boat ride away, you'll find Koh Tonsay, aka Rabbit Island. Seasoned backpackers who visited Thailand 30 years ago might find the pace familiar: it's pleasingly slow and sleepy, with simple stripped-back bamboo beach huts for just $7 a night, and three hours of electricity daily. I met Lisa here, a Californian backpacker and photographer my own age, and we spent afternoons swimming and walking, evenings lazing in hammocks with cold beers or eating crab (and that fiery pepper sauce) at the quiet restaurants (the two best are part of the family-run bungalow resorts at either end of the beach).

Recharged, I crossed the border to Vietnam, taking a heart-stopping bus ride to Can Tho, the largest city in the Mekong Delta. I hired an automatic motorbike, procured a vague tourist map of the region and set off to explore the Delta. In every direction was river, little tributaries inviting exploration. I scrambled down palm-fringed dirt tracks, the air heavy with the scent of coriander. When patches of drying rice blocked my way I was unsure how to proceed, but smiling women in nón lá paddy hats waved me across, and I rode gently over the grains. It felt wrong, trampling over food on my dirty motorbike, but these piles of rice were ubiquitous and I got used to it.

Susan, her bike, and a new friend

The delta gradually swelled from tiny backwaters to vast estuaries. I crossed some on ferries so rickety it took all my courage to ride up the wobbly ramps. Commonly, as I rode, children ran alongside, shouting, people thronged, incredulous at this western woman, alone on a motorbike, unable to make even my "xin cha" (hello) understood in their tonal language. I stopped at a streetside wedding party to find myself holding a gorgeous fat baby, posing for photos. Weird and wonderful.

Emboldened, I headed for Ho Chi Minh City. Everyone warned against motorbiking there - estimates put the number of bikes at between two and four million. I told the hotel reception I wanted to rent a bike. "Motorbike taxi?" No, motorbike. "For how many?" Just me. "You? Alone? Out there?"

The rules are a little ... loose. People don't stop at red lights. They ride en masse towards you, on what you naively thought was your side of the road. And, yes, they are in their millions, which means you don't need to check your blind spot - there's always someone in it. It was so much fun, so mesmerising, that, come rush hour, I was still riding around, in a thunderstorm, soaked in a summer dress. Proudly, I rolled up to Quan An Ngon restaurant on Pasteur Street, threw my keys down like a local and ordered a delicious banh xeo (sizzling cake). "You obviously live here," a New York visitor said. "Where can I get a good cocktail?"

I had found my place, and my heart was happy.

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Backpacking in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam

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On a restorative trip around Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, Susan Smillie finds spectacular diving, quiet reflection and delicious local food

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I have been writing something about myself or my everyday for almost 5 years now. It has been one of the greatest and most freeing experiences in my life because I can actually slow myself down to think about what's truly happening around me as well as my part in it.

Most people treat journaling as something they "know they should do" but rarely ever take up the practice. And if they do, they fall off the wagon within a few months.

It doesn't have to be this way, especially when you learn about the amazing benefits of journaling. Here are 6 ways that journaling will change your life:

1. Dig into your true feeling

Journaling can help you get out of the way of what you truly feel on the inside. In other words, taken the time to sit and write about something that is affecting you can lead to a deeper and more realistic view of what feelings you are actually feeling.

When we are caught up in the "rat-race" of life, we tend to disregard our feelings and keep ourselves, busy and jaded. It isn't until we slow down for some time to let the feelings inside be what they truly are.

2. Give you a point of view

Another thing that journaling can give us is a better understanding of our own point of view as well as what others may think of a situation.

It's always thought to know exactly what others are thinking, but journaling can allow us to slow down enough to start to try to understand someone else's point of view.

3. Remind you of a life worth living

I like to think of journaling as "my life's story". That alone makes it fun, enjoyable, and inspiring to write a little about myself and what is going on with me every single day.

After you have journaled continuously for sometime and you look back on the things that you have written you may realize that your life is much more interesting and deep than you once thought.

In fact, if you are down on yourself a lot, journaling is a great way to get around this and discover that your life is truly worth living.

4. Reassure yourself of who you are

Do you know yourself? Without thinking too hard about it, you may just simply say, "of course I do," yet if you haven't done some serious introspection and work on who you are, chances are you may only know who you think you are.

This was definitely the case for me before I started writing for myself every single day. I thought that I knew what I liked and disliked, who I was, and where I was going in life.

But in reality I these aspects of myself were what I thought I should be; not actually who I was.

With journaling, I uncovered dreams and goals that I never imagine would be mine. I realized that there were so many things that I just couldn't stand to do and therefore gave myself boundaries to say "no" more.

Journaling can do this for you too. You can finally say hello to yourself.

5. Help you record your legendary stories

The idea of being able to write for your life and then pass that writing onto someone else, whether it be old friends, children, grandchildren, etc. is inspiring.

I could only wish that my father or grandfather would have been able to pass on something like that to me. It wouldn't have mattered if the words they wrote were deep or insightful; just as long as they were words that I could read and feel more connected to them.

You can journal every day and then pass this legacy on to loved ones later in life. They can learn about you and what made you tick as a human.

6. Build your serenity

Getting back to number one; when you start to write about your feelings and how situations in your life change your feelings you gain the ability to start to process those feelings.

Rather than leaving feelings completely bottled up inside, you can put them down on paper and get them out of your heart and mind so you can process and understand them more which will lead to a more serene existence.

This especially works well with feelings like anger, jealousy, resentment, etc. Putting these feeling out on paper and letting them take their course is a great way to stay balanced.

Final thoughts

The simple act of writing a few words, sentences, or paragraphs everyday can have a profound and instant effect on your life for the better.

Journaling can change your life. It makes you a more interesting person through the years and makes you feel more interested in your life.

Featured photo credit: Unsplash via unsplash.com

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6 Unexpected Ways Journaling Every Day Will Make Your Life Better - LifeHack

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Keeping a journal is a tough practice. But you can be inspired to keep going by learning 6 different ways journaling will change your life. Then making it a habit will be a lot easier!