Posted on October 30, 2017 by Jenny Cromack
I am trying to challenge myself and trying a couple of new things that are outside my comfort zone. One of these is Yoga, I have booked myself onto a block of sessions and will aim to go at least once a week. Hopefully I will be able to touch my toes sometime soon…
As a complete beginner I found myself struggling to know what type of yoga to do for my goals. This got me to thinking, there must be a lot people out there that are in the same position as me, but for exercise and going to the gym. Hopefully being in the same position I may be able to help and give some tips of what to do in the gym as a beginner and hopefully lesser some of the anxiety surrounding the gym. So here is my Beginner’s Gym Guide.
Frequency
Let’s start simple, frequency, I would say ideally as a beginner you wouldn’t want to just go to the gym once a week as this may not get the results you’re looking for. Aim for 2 or 3 sessions, this way it will become part of your weekly routine and not just a one off every now and again.
Grab A Friend
Grab a buddy, whether a colleague, friend, family member or partner it is more helpful to have that person you can rely on and keep you motivated. It may be someone who can give tips, advice or just add some motivation to your training.
Focus
It’s often easy to tell who is new to the gym, they will usually start on the treadmill go for 10-20 min slow jog or walk, then hop on the bike do another 20 mins and finish with 10 mins on the cross trainer. Workout done. No embarrassment. Let’s go home. This is fine, but not that effective, if you want your money’s worth have a focus for each session. For example, if you are going to do cardiovascular session on the treadmill, bike, rower or cross-trainer then do intervals! Trust me it’s so much more effective, fun and quick. Try doing 30 seconds of work (this should be as hard as a 8-9 out of 10) and then rest for 30 seconds, repeat these fro 5 to 10 times. It will take no more than 20 minutes, workout complete and you’ll have burnt so many more calories than just going at we call ‘steady state’.
Beginners Gym Programme
This brings me nicely to my next point which is, being new to the gym you will be stuck for idea of what to in each of your sessions. Let’s say you go 3 time a week: the first of these sessions may be an interval session as stated above, but what about the other two?? Below is a simple dumbbell workout that anyone can follow. It is in a circuit format and only requires a space, dumbbell and a mat. Go through each exercise one by one then have 3 min rest and repeat 2 to 4 times. Maybe start of with two times, then over the weeks build up to three circuits, then four!
– 10 Squats
– 10 Shoulder Presses (each arm)
– 10 Forward Lunges (each leg)
– 10 Bicep Curls (each arm)
– 10 Bent over Rows (each arm)
– 20-60s Plank
– 10-30s Side Plank (each side)
So now you have two sessions, for your third session just repeat either the interval session or the dumbbell circuit session. This is depending on your goals, if you are just looking to lose weight/fat go for 2 intervals training and 1 dumbbell session.
If you are looking to tone up (not get big, don’t worry ladies!!!) then do 2 dumbbell sessions and 1 interval session, you will still lose weight/fat but could also tone up slightly.
If you want to you can add a long distance run, row or bike in there too, just don’t hop from machine to machine – pick one mode of exercise and stick with it!
Ask for Advice
If you don’t have a scooby about what the exercises are, what the machines do, how to warm up, whatever it may be then ask one of the trainers for advice – that is what they are they for! They won’t laugh at you, they will want to help you (and if they don’t then that’s their problem not yours!)
Anyway, I hope this help you guys or girls out there that are starting the gym or restarting the gym and want my top tips on how to get the most out of it. Wish me luck for my Yoga in the next couple of weeks……………