Starting a new gym can feel overwhelming, especially if you are not sure what you should be doing or how hard you should be pushing. These tips are for beginners who want a simple, sensible start, without pressure, hype, or confusion. The aim is to help you ease in, build confidence, and create habits you can stick with.
1. Get The Lay Of The Land
A lot of the time when you enter a new gym the set up will likely be slightly different to the ones you’ve already been to. If it is your first time, it is a new space to you. Hopping on a bike or a piece of cardio equipment where you can survey the space where you can work out how the regulars use the gym.
2. Ditch The No Pain No Gain Idea
What we’re trying to establish is not how much we can ruin ourselves but what is the minimum effective dose. Thinking lower volume and lower load to begin with. This will mean we can potentially come in more days in a row without suffering from bad D.O.M.S (delayed onset muscle soreness).
3. Be Kind To Yourself
The novelty of a new training plan can be a stress on the body. Trying to make sure you smash the gym every day for 90mins! is possible but potentially not viable. We want to give our bodies time to adapt as it is taking on lots of new stimulus. Maybe doing 15-30 minutes sessions to begin might be the minimum effective dose you need to begin with.
4. What Do I Do?
Knowing what to do for exercise selection can be daunting. Starting off focusing on one movement could be enough. Picking a basic compound movement* as the main focus of your session is enough. *a squat, horizontal push or pull, a deadlift or hinge pattern, a vertical push or pull. This could be a plan, it doesn’t have to be perfect, but just a loose idea for when you get there. This could be something you’ve seen online, or something you’ve put together yourself. For some ideas head to our Instagram page and check out our exercise library in our Highlight Reels.
5. Focus On One Thing At A Time
Only focusing on one main aspect to begin with regarding; nutrition, sleep, step count, supplements, gym etiquette, what to wear etc. Small tweaks will make bigger improvements.
6. Ask For Help
Lastly there are no dumb first questions. If you are unsure come talk to a member of staff. If you are completely in the dark you can join in a class (£8 adult/£6 concession|) or you could do a book in a one-to-one Induction/personal training session (£40 or packages available) to give you some framework going forward.
