I go to pump classes at Les Mills for weight training, such a good workout and way more exciting than just doing weights in the weights room. Definitely recommend!

Other than having a training partner to talk to, I don't think weights can be made more interesting.

I took up rock climbing which I find does the same job as a gym workout (strength and cardio) and is mentally challenging as well. Climbs are never quite the same each time.

I love weights, but they're the most fun when mixed with interval-style training. Les Mills has some great group fitness classes at Extreme, but then I guess if you have a pool at your gym you won't be looking at changing. Plus those classes probably wouldn't be that good for your back. My former trainer is now back in the country and offering her own blend of outdoor bootcamp-style training. I'm looking forward to the day I can join her.

I'm with you on the whole casting jealous looks at runners thing. Since October I've managed two short runs and half an hour on a spin bike. Right now the only thing that's getting worked out is my expanding butt. My husband even went so far as to move my road bike from the hallway to the spare room yesterday. I wanted to weep!

I see my trainer every few weeks and we go over what weight he has me doing and how I have improved or not (i'm currently doing another version of pull ups, because I'm not strong enough to do it without him making sure I don't injure myself). He'll usually add another variation to my programme so it keeps the variety up, which I find works well for me doing weights. I don't have a training buddy at the moment, so if you need another for motivation, or just pure comedy with attempting pull ups let me know :-)

Plus it tends to eb not as busy as cardioland, so its a good way to practice technique too.

Go for the big compound exercises with free weights instead of billions of boring isolation exercises on machines. If you train for real functional strength you can do a set or two of heavy squats one day, deadlifts another, benchpress and pullups another, and that's all your weight training for the week sorted. Counting warm-ups and hanging around between sets, you can still be out of there within 40 minutes.

www.stumptuous.com is an excellent resource, and geared towards women.

Ipod helps - some nice angry music. I hate doing my weights bit at the gym (I am in now way some mega fitness/training person lol) Although I have to resist the urge to start swearing out loud when I get to the very end of the last set of reps and its really burning lol.

"Any tricks for making a weights training programme more interesting?"

Yes, drop them on yer feet. At least it gives everyone else a laugh.

I second the vote for pump! I used to do my own weights though and didn't get bored. As long as there's music on, I'm fine. I can also recommend body resistance kinds of training outside of the gym, like Geoff's said about rock climbing - my personal choice is pole rather than climbing though but each to their own :) (and just got my own one is the mail today wheeeeeee!).

I find the stock standard 3 sets of 12-15reps quite boring. I might do that every now and then, but I tend to mix it up so I don't have to do the same weights program every time. It helps to know a bit about how to structure a weights program though.

An ipod also helps.

I've always found weights a waste of time... Usually because I hate being inside to train and I don't want to pack on muscle weight that I have to carry uphill on my bike. I've always found that all the muscle I need is developed from doing the sports I need them for, anything else developed from pumping tin is just uneccessary...

Not to mention having to hang out with all those egotistic weight maniacs at the gym, personal trainers who can't seem to comprehend that you want to do cardio rather than have massive biceps like them, seems their muscle development drained their mental capacity...

Obviously it depends on your chosen pursuits but if you train sensibly and cross-train then there really isn't a need to sit in the gym and do weights. Unless of course you want to look all beef-cake, but natual abs look so much better than gym abs anyway.