Going to a gym tomorrow

[Cheeeeislifenow]

It's a small rural gym so they don't have personal trainers but they do have someone to show you the machines.
How do I know what to do at a gym. I would like to feel stronger, I am quite overweight..I feel really nervous and don't know how to start.

Someone showing you the machines is a great start. As it’s your first visit, why not try a few things and see what you enjoy? You don’t have to use all the machines every visit. There might be some that you don’t like and never use and that’s fine.

Once you’ve had a chance to try things, you can develop a plan. I imagine there are plenty of sample plans online to use as a template.

My go-to workout is always a warm up using a cardio machine (treadmill/bike/cross-trainer/rowing machine) and then I would use dumbells and barbells (free weights) for about 45 mins to work different muscle groups.

But others would prefer to do mostly cardio and very little resistance work. It depends what you enjoy and what your goals are.

If you can afford a couple of sessions with a PT, is it worth asking the gym if the PT could accompany you there to do the sessions?

Good luck, hope you enjoy your session.

Or ask the gym staff to help you write a programme. They might not be PTs but they will probably have a Level 2 Fitness Instructor qualification as a minimum which should mean they’d be capable of writing an exercise programme.

I'm also on weight loss journey, I'm doing intermission fasting, and as I am full time single mother I exercise at home. I use YouTube alot, dance, zumba, hiit. I'm sure there are some that could help with gym workout too.

I hope things go well for you and your nerves calm down

Can you recommend any sites @Bre10 ?

Thanks so much for helpful advice. I am definitely more interested in weights etc than cardio. I just feel.luke I'm going 5o look like Mr. Bean dropping everything and looking like a fool.

Awww! You won’t be like Mr Bean 😆
We’re all beginners at some point, and most of us feel self conscious at first! Great that you want to use weights. Working with weights will certainly improve your strength, which is one of your goals, and when you build muscle, you burn more fat (because muscle has to use a lot of energy). I reckon you’ll find it empowering and great for your self esteem.

Before you go to the gym, can you look on YouTube for weights exercises for beginners? I’m sure there’ll be plenty there. Not to try anything at home necessarily, but just to get familiar with some of the main exercises and techniques.

Then when you’re there, ask the gym staff to show you a few exercises using the barbells/dumbbells/kettlebells,. Some gyms have a few posters around showing various exercises so they might have something like that too. Just let them know you’re new to it and need some pointers. And most of all: enjoy!

I lost a lot of weight a good few years ago and was so self conscious starting at the gym, but I've got to say if I wanted to talk to anyone they were lovely and if I just wanted to shove headphones in and do 45 minutes on the cross trainer while watching real housewives that was fine too. I started off with a lot of cardio as it helped me quite quickly to feel fitter and I could see a tangible improvement in what I could do, I moved into resistance and weights later. A baby later and I'm back on the weight loss and there's still nothing like a spin class for stress 😁

Hi,

I have been doing a mixture of YouTube, cardio, hiit, dancing, and weight. Here's a few I have tried out and enjoyed: dancing with dumbell, sientete joven(tried two videos of hers, flamenco, and flamenco with dumbells). Kyro Pro, emkfit, grow with jo, Mr london.

There are so many free workout on YouTube, whenever it becomes boring or hard choose another one, but aim to do half an hour at the very least.

@determinedtomakethiswork I hope this is helpful. I'm new to this journey, I lose some weight last year and fhen fell off the bandwagon and starting again but this time I actually want to carry on till I have flat belly.

I watch the Caroline girvan videos in the gym.

So I went anyway, I was met by aovely woman who showed me the ropes and gave me advice on what to use and what to avoid. She was lovely and she gave me a small plan to get my foot in the door. I really really enjoyed the weights room.

I really really love weights too. I'm glad someone showed you the ropes. If you need more inspo women do tiktoks that are for exactly this, they talk you through go here, do this exercise this many times, now do this this many times etc. Like they're there with you as a supportive friend.
Once you get the hang of the process though, weights are beautifully simple. There's a lifting support thread over in The Weights Room too.

Love this! Well done on taking that first step. Weightlifting is my true love and it's so good to hear other women trying it and loving it too! You've done the hard but by getting in there on day one. Now you can enjoy the process of getting stronger and watching your body change

@Skala123, I was nodding along to every word of your post! Exactly what I wanted to say.

Well done @Cheeeeislifenow! Don’t worry if you have slightly achy muscles tomorrow- that’s just a sign you’ve given your muscles a job to do and they are making a start on growing! You’ll soon learn to tell the difference between good muscle aches after a good workout, and pain caused by an injury. Hopefully if you ease yourself in with lighter weights, a good bit of stretching and enough rest days, you’ll be able to avoid injury and enjoy starting to see and feel the changes in a short time.

First up all don't panic about the machine and your gym workouts. Just start with cool and fresh mindset. My small advice is, please start with small step that means do simple workouts in the early stage, later onwards do some heavy workouts. It will gives you good results in the coming days. All the very best 👏