‘I’m going to the gym’ is such a healthy and disciplined statement, it feels empowering everytime when I say it. Undoubtedly, being able to go to the gym regularly brings us numerous health benefits, ranging from building more muscles, boasting our energy levels, to potentially reducing the risks of injuries and chronic diseases, to name but a few. However, to our dear friends who have never been to a gym before, the real question is: ‘What should I do in the gym?’ As the intimidating amount of machines can be confusing sometimes. In this blog today, I’m going to list 3 principles to kick start gym workouts.
- Identify your goals
Exercise is an umbrella term for every planned and structured physical activity. Underneath the big family, there are different subtypes of exercises, for example strengthening training, aerobic exercises, stretches, functional training, or rehab exercises, to name but a few. Each of the subtypes targets more specific benefits, therefore it is important to identify our goals before we hit the gym.
(P.S. While this post focuses on activities in the gym, we should also bare in mind that gym is NOT THE ONLY PLACE to perform these exercises, so don’t stress if you don’t have access to a gym, this principle is still applicable in different settings~)
For example, a goal of building more muscles indicates that more strengthening workouts should be done (eg. leg press, bicep curls etc); whereas a goal of improving exercise endurance indicates a heavier focus on aerobic exercises (Eg. treadmill, elliptical etc).
- Plan for the ways to achieve the goals – BE REALISTIC!
Knowing what you want to achieve is the first step, actually planning the ways towards them is the next! Questions like ‘how often?’, ‘ what time in the day?’, ‘how long am I staying?’, or ‘what body parts am I working on?’, etc. are helpful when it comes to planning the actual workouts. The more specific the answers are, the less intimidating the workouts seem to be. The key here, however, is to be realistic! Say for example if we’re not a morning person, then telling ourselves to workout before work might not be the best idea, or if we know that we are having a big walk that day, then it might be better to have an upper body workout afterwards, instead of lower body.
Other examples include using leg press, leg curl, and calf raises machines etc, for leg day, and doing bicep curls, chest presses, and push ups for arm days. The programs can be more flexible as we get more familiar with different equipment and training, but hopefully this gives a general guide for friends who are starting gym.
- Know what to expect
Starting off a habit is challenging enough, being able to sustain it is even more challenging. It is not surprising to lose motivation over time, and get discouraged after not seeing the results we want. Therefore, I think it’s worth mentioning some common reactions that our bodies have after gym workouts, just so we know what to expect starting off gym.
- It will be SORE
Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is a usual thing in sports, it is the ache and soreness of muscles that happens after our bodies trial new forms or dosages of exercises. DOMS usually happens 24-48 hours after the session, and gets better on its own after a few days to a week. This is our muscles’ natural reaction towards resistance. Therefore, don’t be frightened by the pain after the workouts, they are indicators that our training is effective!
- Results are slow
‘I hit the gym everyday in the last month, how come my body still looks the same?’ ‘I do cardio every time when I am at the gym, how come I’m still out of breath when I walk up the stairs?’
Depending on how we train (eg. the frequency, mode, intensity etc), and how we rest, different people have different progress in their workouts. Oftentimes people get discouraged after a few weeks of training when they don’t see their goals being reached, or notice a plateau of their improvements. This is completely normal, which is why it is beneficial to reflect on our goals at times, and adjust them accordingly. Sometimes, a goal that’s set too challenging or far in the future makes us lose interest in accomplishing them.
Another useful tip to being more consistent at the gym, which is also one thing that I’ve always been reminded of, is to ENJOY THE PROCESS. I used to think that I would be happier as soon as I hit my fitness goal, yet, I was never satisfied. I slowly came to realise that happiness should not be dependent on the future (or the past), but on how we allow ourselves to enjoy the present, aka the process. So before celebrating us lifting our personal best weights and getting our dream physiques in a few months, let’s also celebrate every session after the sweat we let out, the extra endorphins that we generated, and the discipline that we demonstrated.
There are still a lot about the specificity and safety sides of gym training that I will cover in the future, and feel free to shoot me a message or comment below with any questions or ideas that you’d like me to talk about. But for now, I hope this post helps make gymming less intimidating, and more empowering. Thank you for reading and see you next time!
the HRUNGRY KITCHEN 
Leave a comment