5 Tips On Establishing Gym Credit
With having a healthy lifestyle most people automatically think countless hours in the gym, cardio, and cutting out their favorite foods.
In actuality having a healthy lifestyle is made up of everyday small actions that add up over time.
With that being said if you are a person that is starting a active transition into a healthy lifestyle and see the gym as a potential tool to help you get from point A to point B, I want to help you by establishing some of your gym credit.
Most of us have been there once in our lives whether it be from starting a new job, moving to a new place, or starting a new activity. There is that tiny nagging feeling of not fitting in the already established environment that can extremely detrimental if you let it get to you.
Many people have told me that they don't like the feeling of the gym or don't know what to do, how use the machines, or feel comfortable with others at the gym. Thus, they end up talking themselves out of the enjoyment and the benefits of a gym before they actually step foot into one.
How do I know this?
I'll tell you how! For the first 6 years of my lifestyle change I avoided the gym like the plague. I felt uncomfortable being bigger and doing cardio because I would be out of breathe in 2 minutes, while some person ran a 6:30 mile on the treadmill.
Then there was lifting, seriously I started out with 5 on my knee push ups and I was gassed. While a guy was over there benching 225lbs for reps of 5-8 like its nothing.
Also so many machines, OMG what is this one supposed to do? Is it supposed to feel like that when I sit down? That looks a little awkward. Or a personal favorite you are either getting done or just getting on a machine and the person before you was lifting the whole stack and you can only lift two of the plates.
Whatever the excuses or reason you get the idea.
The good news is all this can be avoided with some tips on how to feel at home or even establish a gym as your home.
First and foremost, you don't need a gym to facilitate and live a healthy lifestyle. A gym is just another means to progress, increase the intensity, or give an individual another option to add to simple changes to enhance their healthy lifestyle benefits.
With that said lets get this going!
Tip 1: Get The Lay Of The Land
Okay so this seem simple but in a gym it can be somewhat daunting if you don't know where to look for pieces of equipment, certain weights, or accessories for your workout.
The first thing I suggest in-order to get this accomplished is go in when you have time and ask to look around they gym or take a guided tour. If its guided though watch out for the sales pitch!
Anyways this particular step can actually get you familiarized with you potential new territory but it will also give you a sense of the gym hierarchy you are about to step into.
Another highlight is does the gym layout make sense? Are most of the same body part machines grouped together? The last thing you want is having to walk from one side of the gym to another just to use different machines or weights.
This is going to eat up more time than you think to set stuff up, move your stuff, or if you work in supper sets you are going to be aggravated because the moment you leave one machine someone will jump on it and then you have to wait.
If on your walk through the layout doesn't feel right then move on to another gym, preferably one that makes you feel like Rambo when you step through the doors.
The second thing knowing the lay of the land does, for you, is it gives you that slight boost of confidence.
Example One: This can be simply watching a person working out one certain machines you are interested in. You can get a feel for how the machines work, function, how to use them, and even go home and research how to use the machine.
Example Two: The first workout day you walk back into the gym you no longer feel like you don't know where the main things are. Instead you can identify the locker room, free weights, know where certain machines are.
This produces the air round you seeming that you have been there a million times an don't have to think twice about your routine or your next steps. This confidence is sometimes the very thing that can help get you started in feeling more comfortable in the gym setting.
Tip 2: Know Why You are There
With today's constant social media updates you probably see more people in the gym taking pictures about them supposedly working out then actually working out.
Or a personal favorite of mine, certain gyms these days have become more like social clubs where people get dressed up and talk to each other while hitting a set here or there on a particular machine every 5-20 minutes.
Both of those being said, know why you are in the gym in the first place. Some of you will be on a time crunch in the gym so keep it down to business. Get in, put everything you have into your sets and reps and get out.
Knowing why you are in the gym makes you focused and determined. You become a person on a mission that isn't going to quit until you have obtained your goal.
That goal is to get better, push yourself farther than you thought, and make a change you see as leading to a healthier you.
This starts from day one you enter a gym. For me personally going into a new gym I establish myself as a person that is there to work. I avoid eye contact, lift heavy, keep my head down, and just block everything and everyone out.
I do this for a about a month (for me that includes not sharing machines, not talking to anyone, or letting others work in or take the weights). Sound extreme? It its.
However, for me it works wonders. After about a month the gym hierarchy takes a noticeable shift. Hard workers and everyday members start coming up to you to chat a few seconds, fist bumps are given out, and the occasional nod of approval.
With time and a constant attitude of lets get to business, the right people will notice you in the gym and you will feel comfortable. Others will know you mean business when you walk through the doors and admire you for it.
For Example:
There was a particular instance in college where I was asked to trainer a friend of mine. So we went to the gym ,the place was packed, and on a particular move I was showing this person some tips on training arms.
Anyways, after the tips we put the dumbbells back on the rack finished the workout and left. Later that day my friend and I were working and he was telling other people about his gym trip and then he said something I will never forget.
He told the others we were working with that in the gym I walk around like I own the place and other people just move out of my way. Like I don't have to say anything or move out of my way because people see me coming and just don't want to be standing in front of me.
That's what I mean by know why you are there! Have a purpose and make it known so others either help or at least respect your time while you are at the gym.
Tip 3: Respect the Weight
This one is simple but it bugs me and it kinda shows the type of lifter you are. If you want some extra brownie points as being serious then keep your equipment top notch.
That's right the weights you use, the bars you put the weights on, benches, machines, etc... keep them top notch. Wipe your machine down, put the weights back in their appropriate place, and just keep things tidy.
No one likes heading to bench with sweat covering the whole thing. In actuality if you are new to the gym the last thing you want is faulty equipment that could mess with your form. Weights you cant find so you pick up something way heavier than what you need and hurt yourself or a machine that is malfunctioning because someone else didn't take the weights off.
Respect the weights and the environment and put things away. You start doing this and people might look at you weird but they will respect you more for it. Also unloading machines for people if the case arises and someone is struggling to load or unload a machine.
This shows you care for yourself along with the things you use and are willing to go the extra mile to keep things progressing in a safe manner.
If you are big enough to put the weight on the bar you are big enough to re-rack the weight!
Tip 4: Partner Up
For me getting comfortable in the gym was helped by two very dedicated gym partners that would hit it just as hard as I did on the daily.
With time and new options my location of living changed and over the years I have adapted to working out solo. There are benefits to both, or so I personally believe, but with a workout partner the gym can seem less daunting.
When you have a person that has the same lifting style and mentality its a whole new level. You have a person you can push but at the same time they are struggling with you. They also tend to push you to be better.
Another reason, I believe, is both of you will naturally be better at lifting with certain body parts or even lifting styles. This helps a lot!
Not only can you learn a better technique for training a particular body part. You have the option to learn how to training a possible weakness and turn it into a strength of yours, while at the same time teaching a strength of yours to help your partner improve a weakness.
When they ask you for a tip on how to train their weakness, your strength, you have that confidence about knowing what you are discussing!
Partners can help you focus when your mind is wondering as well and really help you hit that connection you could be lacking for the day.
Be careful though on who you pick as a partner! Others might distract you or not keep you safe with a good spot and cause you more harm than good.
Its your choice, but to start its not a bad one!
Tip 5: Remember Why
The number one, most humbling, but effective reason to get comfortable: Remembering why you first started going or using the gym in the first place.
For some they use it as a stress reliever they cant find somewhere else.
Others its an escape from their everyday life even if its for that one hour.
Others yet they view it as their office, going to the gym is what they do!
Others yet their passion, love, sanctuary.
You get the point we all have different reasons for going to they gym.
Heck we all have different reasons for starting our journeys. When you realize this it doesn't matter what stage you are at because every person in the gym has already experienced the very feelings of feeling out of place.
Knowing this and the fact you started to better your own life are two basic,but fundamentals, of getting comfortable in the gym.
At the end of the day if you remember why you started and know that in truth the guy lifting 500 lbs in the squat rack doesn't care that you just started and are only lifting 135 lbs for the bench.
You free yourself from your own mind of doubt.
That's right! Nobody cares you go to the gym or how much you lift. In actuality they are more worried about lifting themselves.
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At the end of the day we all start going to the gym for a reason. If its the biggest reason in the world or the smallest it doesn't matter. Keep a few of these things in your mind when you step onto the gym floor, in no time, you will feel like the king of the jungle.
Lift with a purpose and know that with the time and consistent approach the feeling of not knowing how to behave, feeling uncomfortable, or even out of place will fade and you will start progressing even better.
We are not defined by what we say we are going to do but rather the actions we actually do and perform on a constant day to day basis.
We all started at one place or another, we all hit the gym for various reasons, and we all have the right to feel like the top dog when we finally hit our stride. We simply have to try and sometimes we have to do things together.
Don't let the fear of being uncomfortable stop you from obtaining a dream, or forge a healthy lifestyle for yourself.
-The Iron Pulse
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