First Time Gym User?
For many first-time gym users & beginners, it can be and usually is very daunting and this is understandable. It is a new language, in a new environment, with new movements, new machines, LOADS of buttons and lot of mixed information from the social media, where you may or may not devised a plan. This can be very scary and intimidating.
Hopefully the advice below can help you feel more comfortable!
Thankfully, we have a team that is ready and wanting to help in the gym environment. Make it fun, have a friendly face to say hi to and have a go to person if you ever need a bit of help or simply want to have a chat.
Exercise and training are a very personal thing and with or without knowing it people can be self-conscious in the beginning, no one wants to look silly or feel incompetent, again very understandable….
So,how do you get started?
1. Use the Trainers Expertise
Use the trainers(not people training) at your disposal in the gym, build a relationship with them, believe me, we are more than happy to help, we actually want to, we want you to keep coming and to gain an understanding on your training, why you’re doing something and how to do it safely and effectively, which will in turn help you to feel comfortable and competent, which means you will keep coming and hey presto, results!
We too want to build relationships with members, it is one of the best parts of the job!
Program Design is part of your membership, absolutely use it! 3 hours of scheduled appointments with a trainer is valuable, a rapport and having unplanned meetings with a trainer, that is GOLD! Get to know us, we are nice or I have been told.
2. Sign up for a Program Design
Starting simple is always my strongest advice, there is no need to come in with intentions of going training 6 days a week and seeing where you end up, build a foundation, learn your exercises that are prescribed from your Program Design, try a class or 2, see what you like and don’t like, speak to the trainers some more, most importantly, enjoy it to the best of your ability!
3. Intensity or how hard you work
Here is the issue I ee come up time and again, we go too hard too soon. What happens? We stop! Why?
Our bodies and brains are not used to this stress. Take your time, not every session needs to be the hardest session ever and they should not feel like the hardest ever either. Yes, we should absolutely feel challenged, sometimes the challenge can be actually getting to the gym, when/if we get there it doesn’t mean we then have to “punish” ourselves, it is absolutely fine to do a lower intensity workout and feel happy that we got in and did something.
4. Give yourself a chance to succeed
We understand people want to achieve their goals as fast as they can, however this is not always possible. We have other things going on outside of this new part of our life – a partner, kids, a hectic job. And that’s okay! You are a human after all, you need to live your life as well. Give yourself a chance to succeed, keep the pressure on yourself low, keep coming in and enjoy your training. It will happen, give yourself a chance!
5. Figure out your Goals
We always ask the same questions to clients – do you want to be a bodybuilder or are you training to be an elite athlete. The answer has 99.9% of the time been no the latter! The majority of time, people say they want to lose a bit of weight and get a bit fitter. You do not need to train 10+ hours a week to lose weight, tone up and get fit. I suggest speaking to one of our trainers and go from there, we will do everything we can to assist.
We are all individual, we all have our own thing going on and if you do decide to come into us here in LeisureWorld or any other facility for that matter, SPEAK TO THE TRAINERS, ask all the questions, have fun and learn😊