Being a Gym Beginner – It Can Be Intimidating

I’m not going to lie. Being a gym beginner can be super intimidating. If you’ve never stepped foot inside a gym, even more so. I’ve been in plenty of gyms, but after taking 20 years off, you’d better believe I was intimidated my first day back.

If you’ve never been, it’s understandable and you wouldn’t be alone. It’s a new environment. There are strange-looking machines, unfamiliar equipment, and lots of people who appear to know exactly what they’re doing (trust me, they don’t all know what they’re doing). Many of them are in fantastic shape to boot! Why wouldn’t you feel intimidated? Accept the feeling, but don’t let it immobilize you.

One way to alleviate a smidgen of this fear is to make an appointment with a trainer. Most gyms, when you first sign up, give you one free session with a trainer. This trainer will take you around the gym and have you do an hour’s worth of exercises. This is great for familiarizing yourself with at least some of the machines there and getting the lay of the land. Once you’ve done that, you’ll know what to do the next time. Keep doing that and gradually explore more every time you go in.

You can also use technology to your advantage. YouTube is chock full of exercise videos. It’s a virtual library of how-to’s right at your fingertips. Each machine will have the name of the exercise it’s associated with on the side. Look up those machines on YouTube and you’ll find videos on how to operate that machine and perform the exercise correctly. The next time you go into the gym, you’ll know what to do.

The other thing you can do is to just ask people who are currently using the machine when they come to a stopping point. Or, you can discretely watch what they’re doing. Some of the machines can be tricky as they might have a locking mechanism when you’re done with the exercise. You can’t perform the exercise unless you release it. So, it doesn’t hurt to watch without being creepy.

It won’t take long before you build up a bit of confidence. You won’t be 100% familiar with everything in there yet, but you’ll be comfortable doing what you do know. Being a gym beginner doesn’t last forever as long as you are consistent.