Get yourself a book on how these things work. then maybe you will understand better. Yes, it is possible to use up more muscle tissue than you can rebuild if you do too much. then you are going to be in BIG trouble. All of your body tissues, both fat, neural and muscle are constantly being broken down and rebuilt. I suspect with the amount of exercise that you do that you have little fat to use for energy. Therefore, you are breaking down muscle tissue to use. That's the way the body works. Keep in mind that your most important muscle is your heart. It would be wise to listen to your trainer and give your muscles a proper lenght of time to recover. Watching TV will do this, more running won't.

I've never heard of Ladies Workout Express, but I joined Curves 2 years ago. I knew right off that I would be bored in short order, but I needed to do something for exercise. Well I ended up with a knee injury -- the orthopedist thinks I probably had a weakness, and Curves pushed me over the edge. Their concept and equipment is a "one size fits all" mentality. He said he has seen a lot of injuries from Curves users. I also found it amusing that when it came time to take our pulse (when the tape would instruct us), the front desk person would come around and say "Everyone okay?" I always wondered if they would know what to do if someone was in the "red" zone. I'd look for a real gym, with real instructors, classes, etc. Just my two cents.

I wear SkirtSports and Athleta running skorts for running and working out. For me the length is perfect - long enough to wear out to the grocery store w/o feeling skimpy. The built in compression shorts on the SkirtSports brand have pockets on either thigh where I store my car key and my iPod or anything else I need to carry. I also have a few things from lululemon that I love. I mostly wear skorts for working out now b/c I don't feel funny wearing them out in public. I don't like wearing tights/compression gear if I'm running errands. SkirtSports also has a longer skirt that I wouldn't wear for exercising as it's a tad too long, but it's great for running errands. In cooler months, I wear the LottaBreeze Capri style (capri w/skirt over top). For winter, I wear insulated running tights that have a built in skirt from Athleta or I wear Under Armour Cold Gear tights with a separate skirt from Athleta over top to cover my arse. Once I discovered skirts/skorts, I rarely ever wear workout shorts anymore (the compression shorts underneath prevent chafing). Here is a link that might be useful: Skirt Sports

I'm with those who've suggested creating a dual-purpose room. It sounds like you would use the crafting/project space, so why not set up half the room (or at least a corner) with a work space for yourself, and find some (gently used) fitness equipment your husband wants? Then you could see how you end up using the room before devoting more space than necessary to one purpose or the other. When I'm ready for another area to have to clean and maintain (which won't be for at least a couple of years), we'll finish our basement. We have the floor plan roughly worked out, and one room will be a combined fitness and project room. Right now the fitness stuff is set up in a corner of the unfinished basement and only sees use on the coldest mornings of the year, or occasionally when the kids are playing down there and it's too hot to run outside. I'm not sure it will get much more use even when finished as I'd much rather be outside moving around, but it's nice to have during periods of extreme weather. My sewing machine is now in a corner of our bedroom that's not ideal, but better than having it shut up somewhere. Projects end up all over the house, spread out in the living room or dining room. There's a kids craft table spackled and ready to be sanded sitting in the middle of the living room as I type. I know I would use a project space if I had a designated one, but the thought of having to clean (and decorate!) the basement when I'm still working on the main floors is too much for me at the moment.