So, you've taken the first step in your fitness journey and you are ready to take on your first group training session.
You have made the commitment to better yourself and are ready to do this!
We understand that you may be feeling a little bit nervous, not sure what to expect because you haven’t done this before or are coming back from some time off training.
You may feel a little lost or outside of your comfort zone.
I’m here to tell you this feeling is normal, everyone will experience this at some point.
The hardest part is not the workout itself, it is getting out the front door and into the gym.
Rest assured that we are here to make you feel welcome and comfortable during your first session.
We want you to succeed and are here to help.
Here are 5 tips that can help you to feel more comfortable and ready to nail your first session:
We know that exercise not only benefits our physical health but also mental health and improves feelings of well-being. Use positive thinking to reinforce the benefits of exercise and your reasons for coming, remind yourself that you are doing this to better yourself and improve your own health and fitness.
Use breathing techniques to calm you down and reduce the feeling of stress and anxiety. A simple tool that you can use in any stressful situation is to focus on deep diaphragmatic breathing to calm your mind and reduce your heart rate. You can try this on the way to the gym, in the car park to help calm the nerves or even during the session to help you recover between exercises.
Movement Innovation provides a friendly and welcoming environment where all our members are here to workout and focus on their own fitness journey. Our main aim is to get you to feel comfortable and help you on your own journey. Have a chat to the coach and ask any questions before you start to get all the information you need. We will introduce you to some of the members or say hi to someone else and have a chat to get you feeling more comfortable. We will explain the session and provide coaching and feedback throughout so you know you will be doing things correctly.
It may be hard in the beginning, but as you develop a healthy routine and start training regularly the benefits will start to show and it will become easier in the long term. The more you go, the more confident you will become and the easier it will be. Once you find out which strategies work for you and stick with it, you’ll see improvement over time.
If possible, bring a friend! Group training is a social environment but if you bring a friend, family member or partner along, you will also have someone else to chat with and you can both help keep each other motivated and accountable throughout your training.
Would you like to see a Tour of our Gym? Click here to see our space.
Written by Aaron Ashdown, Exercise Physiologist, & Coach at Movement Innovation.