Taking the leap and starting exercise

Life is full of challenges and moments that make us feel out of our depth.

For many that is the gym or perhaps specifically the weights area of a gym, a place for some that makes them feel completely out of their depth. If this is you then I want to give you a few little bits of advice that might help you with taking the leap and starting exercise.

We all started somewhere, and this is your start!

It can be easy to forget that those people who are lifting more than their body weight over their heads or off the floor that a few years ago, or even months were not able to do this. They too had to start with lower weights, the same as you, so remind yourself to not judge your day 1 with someone else’s day 1000!

Don’t be afraid to ask for help

Form is a massive aspect to weight training and with bad form not only will you not be able to increase your weight, but you are also at risk of serious injury. You should be able to speak to one of the trainers on duty to help you understand an exercise or whether you are doing it correctly. One moment of slight embarrassment is better than years of muscle strain and injury!

Instagram and youtube

For those of you that use social media and bring your phone to the gym have a look at some exercises and ideas on Instagram. There’s a load of content out there produced by professionals who do know what they are doing, just make sure to choose who you watch carefully!

Stick with the basics

You don’t necessarily need to be doing all those weird looking moves in the gym. Sometimes sticking with the basics is the best thing, then once you have nailed those you can start bringing in your accessory movements. For now, work on your form and those big compound lifts that work the whole body. Exercises such as deadlifts or squats, these movements are brilliant as well because you can start with bodyweight, then move onto dumbbells and work up to using the barbell.

Have a plan

It can be overwhelming walking into a gym and then having to think “what am I actually going to do”. You probably end up doing a bit of everything and feeling slightly lost – I know this is what I used to do! I started by just writing a few simple notes on my phone about what exercises I wanted to do or wrote out a little ab circuit I’d seen on Instagram and before I knew it I had a plan and felt confident that I was walking into the gym with a direction of what I was about to train.

Lastly, ENJOY!

Make sure the workouts that you are planning are ones that will challenge   you but also be something that you will enjoy because ultimately healthy habits are formed by activities we want to do! If hiit style training and sprints is what you like then that’s what you should do, don’t feel like you must do weight training if it isn’t something you enjoy. However, it’s always great to give everything a go as all types of training are beneficial!