New to the gym?

Because you just couldn’t help yourselves, you made resolutions for the new year. Maybe one of them was to loose weight/go to the gym/not be a fat ass. I know there are more than a few of you that have done this. Most of you go to my gym this week, but not next, which is really to bad.

So I’m going to lay down a few tips that might help you stick with it longer than a week. I’m going to assume you are in poor shape, much as I was when I started going over a year ago. These worked for me, so they might work for you, too!

1. Get Comfortable
Loose is good. Shirt and shorts/pants. And, make sure you have good shoes for craps sake. Spend a couple of dollars more than you would normally and don’t get them from Walmart/Target/Payless. Check out Zappos for great selection and some good deals.
2. Listen to the trainers
They will help you with the machines so you don’t hurt yourself.
3. Stay away from the weight machines
Sure, you just spent all that time learning the weight machines, and that’s great, but you aren’t in any shape to take advantage of them yet. Cardio, cardio, cardio should be your mantra for at least a month. That’s the best way to work the most important of all of you muscles, your heart. Besides, all of the weight machines are a little uncomfortable right now.
4. Split the cardio
Depending on how bad of shape you are in, you might want to break up the cardio a bit. 10 minutes on the treadmill, 10 minutes on the bike. Not those silly recumbent style bikes either, at least not yet. And, whatever you do, stay away from the cardio machines near the mirrors! Trust me on this. The last thing you want to see is a fat person sweating on bike and realize said fatty is you.
5. Go often
Even when you don’t want to go, you have to go. Force yourself to stay on schedule. Even if you go, only do 10 minutes of cardio, have a little freak out and leave. You have to go. Go at night, in the morning, in the middle of the day. It doesn’t matter. I found that hitting the gym after work when I first started going worked very well. I was able to do my 20-30 minutes of cardio (no weight machines, remember?) and head home, missing traffic at the same time.
6. Ignore the scale
Don’t get all hyper crazy about the scale. You will only be disappointed. Stick with once a month. Use the same scale everytime and get on at the same time of day. Once a month, that’s it. I know you can do it.
7. Watch for changes you can see
You will start to see small changes in about 2 weeks. Very minor. Nobody will notice, but you will. Be happy with that and use it for motivation. Change happens slowly, but it will always be noticeable.
8. Skip days
When putting together a schedule, make sure you are skipping days. That will avoid burn-out and give your body a chance to adjust. If you are sore or stiff, skip 2 or 3, but no more if possible.

This is about as RaRa as I get. I certainly hope it helps!

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