Like many of us, we have been out of the gym for months! And as gyms have reopened, we are so eager on returning as quickly as possible to get to our prior physical appearance. This has led to my top tips for anyone who is returning or thinking of starting the gym. Firstly, do NOT rush back into a full 7-day program thinking this will get results faster, this will only increase your likelihood of injury. Your body needs time to adapt, so I would recommend starting with 2-3 sessions for your first week/first time and increase the number of sessions from there. However, ultimately you know your own body the best!
This leads to my second point. As your body is still adapting to the challenges presented at the gym I would not go for a personal best (PB) instantly as your body has been away from heavy loads for a long period of time, so it only makes sense to allow your body time to adapt to these conditions again and work towards a PB over the coming weeks.
Some of you may have been going the gym for years and some of you may have set yourself a new goal of signing up to the gym for the very first time! Or even may have thought of the idea for a while but never quite managed it. The gym may sound like a scary place with a perceived outlook that only big people go to the gym. (Those big people used to be small people!), but this is far from what the norm is. Weather your goal is to get bigger muscles, lose weight or to generally improve your health and well-being you are now a part of a gym community as soon as you walk through those doors. You will feel a sense of achievement once your first workout is complete!
This leads to one of the most important factors of the gym, do NOT compare yourself to others! You may be in there looking at that huge muscular person comparing yourself to them asking why am I not like that? But like I said before that person used to be in the same shoes as you! Everyone has a goal on what they are trying to achieve, and we are at different points on our individual journey! So don’t be scared no one judges you whilst being in the gym. Offer encouragement to each other!
A good way to start or return to the gym is to bring a friend along! As this can offer support and competition with each other. Going with a friend can also bring a lot of motivation, when one is not feeling up to it you always have one of you who is eager to go that day and in 9/10 cases (Not scientifically proven) your friend will come along too.
When starting the gym for the very first time or returning after a long period it may seem daunting, you may not know where to begin and may have forgotten how to perform the movement of the exercises. Do NOT worry but also do NOT be stubborn there are people from the gym who would be happy to help but we classify them as Personal Trainers (PT) I would recommend hiring a PT if you need clear goal mapping out for you and would like a dedicated program suited to your needs. I will provide some Personal trainers Instagram accounts down below that I would highly recommend.
Last but not least be patient and consistent the results will come!
This article was made by Keone Parker.
3rd year Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation Student
University of Derby
Instagram accounts:
ht_sportstherapy
christophermoxon_pt
coach_sam_cbs
joeleefitness_
