How did the gym change your life

[Dandelionsinthegarden]

Stories of how going to the gym on a regular basis changed your life?

I'm overweight, but I want to do regular exercise for fitness and health rather than weightless.

I have a full time job and single parent but I could make time 3/4 times a week to go. Motivate me, please! 😂

I genuinely think that going to the gym (making time for it, getting yourself there, making it a ‘thing’) creates an unnecessary obstacle to working out.

Find a YouTube personal trainer that you like, and commit to half an hour of HIIT or tabata, three times a week. Get some resistance bands and use them for strength training, twice a week. And then just actually do it. Five days a week, half an hour, at home. Toss in some yoga for your cool-down and as a way to centre yourself.

Combined with some minor (genuinely quite small) changes to my diet, I lost 17kg in a year doing this, my body was more toned than it’s ever been (no longer, currently very pregnant 😂) and I felt fantastic.

I'm a fairly undisciplined person () and love the structure of going to regular gym classes (mainly BodyPump) and feel fitter and stronger as a result. Definitely lifts my mood, sometimes have to have a stern word with myself to get there but always feel better after exercise and am glad that I did it. Good for kids to see regular exercise being a normal activity too

It has been hugely beneficial for me. Life has become very unstructured since Covid and wfh. Going to the gym gets me out of the house regularly, four times a week. I walk there, so it gets me out in the fresh air as well. I have only lost a little weight, but have gained significant strength and energy. Perhaps even more importantly, I have become someone who exercises - it is a positive identity. I like the ritual of going and being around others who are doing the same. I am fitter than I have been for years and it feels great.

I don't even know where to start!

I've had many failed gym memberships in the past as to me gym was cardio. Then I found weights and I go 4 times a week, excited every time, I'd go every day if I could but I make sure I have rest days.

It's made me stronger, fitter, so much more confident. I love myself, am amazed what I can do. I have muscles I can see and feel. I'm part of a world I never knew existed full of people who get it too. The difference is immense. I walk down the street with a smile and swagger I've never known before. I am just so proud of myself so often.

I know from speaking to other women who strength train it's not just me.

I started at a little gym, basic programme, fairly light weights but plenty of enthusiasm and got hooked. It's has an easy entry point as you can start at whatever weight works for you and build up.

Hope you find similar enjoyment in what you do.

I love it and go 4 times a week. I love the classes and love it each time I put an extra weight on the bar. I don't do a lot of cardio. Usually just 10minute steep walk to warm up and cool down. But I also do a step class 1/2 times a week. I feel so much fitter and stronger and have lost a lot of weight too.
I never got on with doing home workouts. It's not the same as a live class and I don't have the equipment I do at the gym. It's great if you can do them at home but I always half arsed it or only did 10mins. Once I've made it to the gym I'm going to do my whole plan.
Good luck.

Not the gym but I adore my peloton. I have the swivel screen so I can do strength classes and I like that it’s right there so I can go on whenever.

I love, love, love weight training and building strength.

Finding a gym that's easy to get to is the most important thing. You don't need an expensive membership, chain 24 hr gyms are fantastic.

Build a plan so you aren't just wandering around and track progress (heavier weights, more reps). You want consistency so follow workouts for 2-3 months before changing.

Little things like having your own barbell clasps helps too and remember rests between sets are important.

I love going to the gym. I found it hard at the beginning to have the motivation and to know what I was doing. I invested in a PT twice a week for 4 weeks to help me and have never looked back. I’m fitter and stronger than I have ever been and much more confident in myself.

I started going to the gym at the beginning of last year and it's really changed my life.
I have a dodgy knee so got a PT to make sure I didn't make it worse and it now hardly bothers me at all. I love feeling strong and capable, it's me time, I feel less stressed and more confident. Mainly do weights and love pushing myself to go heavier. Such a great sense of achievement! I'm 54 and never thought I'd be a gym sort of person but I am!

I don't go to the gym but I do Team Bodyproject workouts at home.

No barrier of having to go to the gym, get changed etc it's just me in the spare room in bra and knickers.

Am 4 months in and the change in my energy levels has been dramatic. I've gone from doing absolutely no exercise at all for decades to working out 5x a week and getting excited about what my next workout is.

Never thought in a million years this would happen.

I don't do gyms, but do classes and solo stuff like running. Being fit makes life easier and more enjoyable. I lost a lot of fitness in two difficult pregnancies/ births and life felt so much harder for it. Getting fit is an uncomfortable process, but it's rewarding.

My fitness goals are something I do for me.

I do some home workouts, particularly yoga, but it's hard to self motivate and I don't last longer than 15-20 minutes. Working up a sweat at home is grim, particularly in winter when you have to open the windows to chill the room then spend hours heating it back up afterwards. Moving outside or in a controlled environment is far nicer!

I have two personal training sessions a week and aim for 2-3 gym sessions on my own. I go to the cheapest and closest gym (think it's £18 per month).

I'm aiming for weight loss but regulated exercising has massively improved my breathing (I'm asthmatic), my strength and generally makes me feel a bit better about myself despite the weight loss taking a while.

I used to have the discipline to do workouts at home but haven't been able to since I had my DD 4 years ago.

It is worth investing in a personal trainer if you can. But if not, try and create a plan. There will be lots online. Don't just stick to the cardio machines, try to use the weights areas - even if they're a bit scary to start with. You will see huge improvements in your fitness levels doing strength as well as cardio.

I love going to the gym now, having had various failed memberships in the past with smaller, grottier or out of the way places, this one is new, clean and well equipped and welcoming to all ages, shapes, fitness levels etc. On the whole I am done with exercising at home since having to do it in lockdowns but do a few specific strength exercises at home every day.

My gym is in walking distance so a brisk walk there to warm up and a slower stroll down to cool off afterwards. I like being around other people exercising, seeing what they are doing, getting ideas, I have a PT who is brilliant, well worth it for a few weeks if budget permits. I am getting stronger and fitter, it gets me out of the house, often bump into people I know, I get to listen to audio books while I exercise, it really is good.

I don't go to the gym per se, but I do go to a Pilates studio 2-3 times a week for Reformer Pilates and I love it. I don't enjoy running or other cardio stuff, so I supplement it with regular walking or hiking, something outdoors.

But the classes themselves are great, they mix things up so the 50 mins goes really quickly, and I like being told what to do as I have no motivation to create my own workout plan. Some days it's an effort but I always feel better afterwards.

My advice OP would be to find an activity you enjoy (or at least one you don't hate - will make it much easier to convince yourself to do it on days when you don't really want to) and commit to doing it regularly. Maybe a gym class - some of us do better with structure than others.

Don't rely simply on motivation, as that will come and go. Discipline will serve you better in long run. Make time for doing your activity every week and prioritise it. You are worth the effort.

the more I exercise the more I want to, I squeeze in a session at 6.15 am or a cycle ride. It’s great way to start the day or for meditation healthy mind

Oh yes I agree with others. You need to concentrate on forming a habit. It supposedly takes 3 or so weeks to form a habit so you've got to motivate yourself for a little while. The more often you go, the more you want to go.

I'm going to offer an alternative opinion.

There have been times in my life when going to the gym was great - I enjoyed the break of getting out the house and doing something for myself.

However, I've recently cancelled my gym membership. Why? Because my current lifestyle (I started a new job at the end of last year, so a new thing) was making it a chore to go to the gym without impacting other things I wanted to do, and I thus wasn't finding it as energising as I used to.

I knew that I like strength training but my joints can't cope with running any more. I also prefer to be outdoors at least sometimes. So I've built more walking into my day to day life, do regular strength training at home and go swimming at the weekend (which I love, but was struggling to fit in as I felt I should go to the gym instead to justify the membership).

The gym per se will not change your life. Thinking about what you like doing and finding something that fits into your day to day routine, just might.

Find classes you like.

I used to go to the gym years ago and it made me much more disciplined. I was a student, and I would go out of my way to make sure I was up at 6am to go to the gym just across the road. The rush and adrenaline you feel afterwards is what will keep you going.

These days, I work so I'm much busier. I still workout a lot as I make it my priority but I train from home. If you rarely exercise now, I would recommend Youtube workout videos. There are so many different ones on there.

If you have a busy lifestyle and little motivation, there's a good chance you'll pay for a gym membership and then waste it. Just this January alone, 4 of my colleagues all started gym membership. One of them still regularly goes. The other 3 never even stepped foot in there and have since cancelled their membership.

There are plenty of ways to improve your fitness without going to the gym - Youtube workouts, cycling, tennis, swimming, dance etc etc.

Strength training has massively improved my back pain. It makes no difference to my weight whether I work out or not, but I'm "underweight" anyway (not really, just on the charts, I've always been this way). I'm incredibly hypermobile and had really bad back pain at one point, to the point I was on codeine. I'm now off all painkillers except for paracetamol occasionally. I got a proper routine from a gym instructor to build core and shoulder strength and its been huge in reducing pain. I prioritze weights and do them first in my routine. I do some cardio as well but that's for the mental benefits more than anything.

I don't really agree with that working out at home vs the gym is the best for everyone.

For me, the gym has a huge selection of weights and equipment (plus mine has classes full of people who you get to know and makes it enjoyable to go) that I just wouldn't have at home. I could probably do cardio at home and maybe a small selection of weights, but the cost and storage for the selection I'd like is not realistic. At the gym (obviously depending on where you go), there are people there who can show you the correct form on how to lift correctly and use the machines.

I agree the effort to go can be an obstacle for some but home workouts beyond cardio are unrealistic for most unless you had the space and money to invest in a variety of weight equipment.

Cool, you do what works for you. Most women, in my experience - I haven’t conducted any studies - go to the gym to do cardio based classes and use a small selection of weights. We can do this at home, without the faff and at less expense.

@AlmostaMamma you can but if you want to lift heavy, it's probably easier to use a gym.

It really depends on what sort of exercise you're interested in doing.

I love the gym because it’s something I do for me. I don’t have much money or time, combined with mother guilt it’s easy to be selfless all the time. When I’m there I’m proud I took time out just for me to benefit me.