Beginners Guide

Getting started at the gym can seem like a daunting task. You tell yourself each week that come Monday, you’ll be ready, and you will suddenly have the motivation to start fresh. But, that magic Monday never seems to come. There’s always going to be an excuse not to go. I’ve been there. I used to dread coming to the gym. If even the tiniest inconvenience popped up and gave me a reason to put it off another day, I would give in. I realise now that the more I put it off, the bigger the problem grew in my head. Each time I did show up it seemed just as difficult as the last. This was perpetuated by my all or nothing mentality and relentlessly only showing up once a week. I made no progress, a hamster on a wheel with no destination.

Coming to the gym alone I thought I had to pound the treadmill as hard and as fast as I could for as long as I could bear the discomfort. Post torture by treadmill, I would wander around the gym, confused by all the intimidating machines and equipment that I had no clue how to use and was absolutely not willing to humiliate myself by trying. Even with the machines I could figure out, I had no idea about sets or reps or what would actually produce results.

Things finally changed for me when I had a structured program to follow. I took baby steps to learn new movements and master them before moving onto more difficult things. I learned about mobility, dynamic stretching and began lifting weights. In other words, I learned to walk before I started running.

When starting at the very beginning, the best thing you can do is just that. Start at the beginning. Create small, realistic and achievable goals that will offer you feelings of success when you reach them. Feeling capable of your own success is what will motivate you to show up every day. Consistency is just putting one foot in front of the other each and every day, doing small things that will build up to big changes over time. Try setting some process goals for yourself, instead of outcome goals. For example, ‘I will complete 3 gym workouts this week’, instead of ‘I will lose 5lbs’. This type of goal setting will help you see you are making progress just by showing up and getting the workouts done.

When it comes to intensity, there’s no need to pump yourself so hard you can’t walk for three days after a workout, cursing the gym’s name under your breath each time you need to walk down a flight of stairs. The gym is here to help us enhance our daily lives and make us feel good. There is such a thing as too much too soon. I am definitely not saying there won’t be some level of discomfort at the start, but it does get easier. Your body will adapt and at some point, you may even get to the point where you truly enjoy and crave the burn. At that stage, you will have developed the resiliency that you’ll turn up the next day no matter what. It’s not necessary to burn yourself to complete fatigue for general health and wellness. It will be more beneficial for you to turn up 4 or 5 days a week and work out moderately than to turn up once and never want to come back.

Try not to lean on willpower alone to get you to the gym. Our willpower has a limited supply and leaving it up to whether you ‘feel like’ going to the gym will most likely result in missed sessions.

Be prepared, plan which days and exactly what time you'll go to the gym, and make it a priority. If you have to go on the way home from work, bring your gym bag to work with you and head straight there when you're finished. If you do better working out in the morning, have everything you need for the day ready to go, being more efficient with your time will stop you from using not having enough of it as an excuse.

Most importantly, figure out your ‘why?’ What is your main motivation for wanting to get into the gym? Are you unhappy with how you look? Have you got health concerns? Do you need more energy to be able to live your life to the fullest? Are you worried about repercussions for your future if you don’t take action now?

Whatever it is, your reasoning has to be clear and powerful in your mind, something you can come back to each and every day and focus on with determination. Once you know why you want to do it, the next step is figuring out how to do it. Hiring a personal trainer when you’re getting started will help take away so much of the uncertainty and frustration you may feel toward exercise and nutrition. With a structured, personalised program mapping out your meals and workouts, it leaves only one thing up to you, just doing it.

Lastly, be kind to yourself. Try not to compare yourself to other people who are further along than you are. Everyone starts somewhere, and losing weight, building muscle and gaining confidence in the gym takes time. Be patient. Be consistent. One step at a time.