First day at gym; advice please.

Rowley Birkin QC

I joined a gym for the first time last week and I'm planning on heading there for the first time today. Never been a member before but have gone and basically faffed around the place on treadmills and that a few times.

Basically I'm looking for advice and tips from your experience of first days. What should I expect from the staff in terms of service/personalised training programme etc.? Are classes such as spin training the way to go to start with?
Also what do you guys eat before you go to the gym and how long before?

I'm just looking to improve my general fitness, not interested in bulking up or anything. Any advice appreciated. It's Total Fitness in Malahide btw.

Cheers.

technophobic

Staff sometimes need a gentle push to be helpful. Main lesson learnt for me is to be open and explain that you are new & perhaps would like an intro to the machines. They are usually good with advise -e.g. you objective is probably key. Mine was weight loss. I found over the first couple of visits I basically walked on the treadmill. Then introduced an alternative 5 mins walk 2 minutes fast pace back to 5 mins & repeat until I've done 20 mins. Over subsequent visits I found it dead easy to increase the proportion of fast versus slow and built it up to 25 then 20 mins. Key is sticking to a plan to keep going. Also track progress over a few weeks (not days or hours!).

Avoid music for the first couple of times - as concentration makes it easier.

Main thing - enjoy.

RoosterIllusion

Ideally what you should expect when you arrive is: an introductory program should you wish to have one, explained in full by a qualified member of staff who can answer any questions you have about the program and can tell you why the programme would suit you. Then they should bring you to each machine and show you how to use it properly.

I'm not sure how often it happens. It should be done in all gyms. I can't remember the amount of times I've seen guys (who seem fit and strong) lifting in all sorts of crazy ways, every one of them nowhere near correct form. The staff are there to help, whether they show that or not is a different story

Rowley Birkin QC

Cheers, I just want to make the most of it, never been as motivated and with free time before so I want to make sure that I'm doing it right rather than just spending 20 mins on a treadmill and being wrecked with no real benefit.

I play football once a week for an hour so that is a start I suppose.

RoosterIllusion

I read something (newspaper maybe) recently that said adults need 30 minutes of exercise 5 times a week.

Thats 2.5 hours a week. In my book that is far too little to feel any major effects.

I would suggest that you don't read into the gym too much. Going to the gym is a great thing to do and if done properly it will reward you in spades. I guess what I'm trying to get at is that you shouldn't look for instant gratification from it beyond enjoying working out. It takes time to see the results after the initial starting period where you lose weight faster. Just think of it as something you'd like to do a few times a week indefinitely, rather than going to get to a certain weight/size/ability and then not going once you hit that point.

Rowley Birkin QC

RoosterIllusion wrote: »

just think of it as something you'd like to do a few times a week indefinitely, rather than going to get to a certain weight/size/ability and then not going once you hit that point.

That would be my view on it, I enjoy exercise and at most I would be about 3/4 of a stone over my ideal weight ao the gym is a new hobby but I want to make sure I am doing it right to see some benefit from the exercise.

I'm also starting into my dissertation aswell at the moment so I want to use the gym as a way to get release from that and to improve my energy levels.

jt_dublin

BigKev,

I would recommend that you add some resistance training as well. Lifting weights will help tone you up and improve body shape. Lean muscle will raise your metabolism so your body will be burning more calories each day. The fitness instructors can make up a program for you and show you how to do each exercise with the correct technique.

I wouldn't worry too much about bulking up. You would have to lift fairly heavy and eat a lot to bulk up. I lift fairly heavy a couple of times a week and would have only added about 7 pounds of lean muscle in the last year!

Best of luck,
JT.

Rowley Birkin QC

jt_dublin wrote: »

BigKev,

I would recommend that you add some resistance training as well. Lifting weights will help tone you up and improve body shape. Lean muscle will raise your metabolism so your body will be burning more calories each day. The fitness instructors can make up a program for you and show you how to do each exercise with the correct technique.

I wouldn't worry too much about bulking up. You would have to lift fairly heavy and eat a lot to bulk up. I lift fairly heavy a couple of times a week and would have only added about 7 pounds of lean muscle in the last year!

Best of luck,
JT.

Cheers JT.

I have a routine with the last 6 weeks or so with dumb bells before I go to bed at night so that's a start in that direction too.

I booked in for a fitness assessment & introduction for this evening anyhow so I'll see how that goes.

Cheers again for the replys.