Making the choice to head to the gym is an important one for your health. However, if you’ve never set foot in a public gym before, you might be unfamiliar with how to act in a public gym. That’s completely understandable. Everyone was a beginner at some point. When you’re preparing to embark on your personal training journey, make sure you have a plan of attack before you step through those doors.
Have a Plan
The best way to make the gym feel less intimidating is to have a plan going into it. This means knowing when you’re going and what equipment you’ll be using during your workout. If you’ve never stepped foot into that specific gym before (ie., if you purchased your membership online), take some time as soon as you get there to familiarize yourself with the gym’s layout. This will help you finalize your plan and know exactly where you’re headed next when you finish with an exercise.
Having a plan helps you for multiple reasons. Primarily, it helps you stay focused in the gym. Gyms are often a large, sprawling place with many people doing many things. For newcomers, this is often intimidating and distracting. By having a plan, you can ignore the distractions and move from machine to machine, staying focused on your own wellbeing instead of others around you.
Don’t Go Overboard
With all the machines available to you in a gym, your first instinct may be to try everything out on your first trip. Don’t do that. Not only will it take you hours to do so if your gym is large, but you risk injuring yourself by overworking muscles you haven’t worked in a while. Choose 3-5 exercises to focus on for your first few visits, depending on your exercise level when you joined the gym. Once you’ve mastered those, expand to new machines and add variety to your workout routine. If you’re having issues deciding on what exercises to add to your workout plan, consider talking to a personal trainer.
Learn the Etiquette
Even though your exercise routine is a solo activity, it’s important to remember that the gym is a public place. There are other people working out around you, and there are certain things that are a part of gym etiquette that you should keep in mind:
- Wipe the machine down when you’re finished. Most gyms have spray bottles and paper towels spread out throughout the facility.
- Don’t hog the machines, especially when the gym is busy.
- Ask when someone is going to be finished with the machine you want, but don’t hover over them while they finish their set.
- Respect people’s space during their workouts.
It all boils down to one thing: be conscious of the people around you. You’re in a public place, and being aware of the people around you can make your experience at the gym much better.
Consider Going With a Friend
If you find the gym especially intimidating, consider going with a friend! The friend will both keep you regularly going to the gym while also helping the gym not be full of strangers. The two of you can do joint exercises, and you have someone always available to spot you whenever your workout routine calls for it. The friend will also make the gym less scary on your first trip. Even if it’s also your friend’s first time at the gym, knowing someone else there always makes things easier.
Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help
The last thing you should keep in mind is that you can always ask for help. If you can’t find a specific machine, ask one of the workers to point you in the right direction. If you need someone to spot you and you went to the gym by yourself, ask one of your fellow gym-goers to help you out. Even though they’re strangers, it’s common to ask someone for a spot if you need one and to help them in return. The gym is a welcoming community full of people who want to improve themselves. Don’t be intimidated by the scale of it. Focus on yourself, and working out regularly will start to become something you look forward to.
