It feels like yesterday, but last November marked three years since I first walked into a gym.

It was something people around me had always recommended — especially given how overweight I was at the time — yet I had always dismissed it out of a mix of ignorance, prejudice, and a great deal of shame. Fortunately I got past all of that, decided to sign up, and I have to say it is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Regular exercise has helped me in every area of my life — some as obvious as the physical, and others less so, like self-esteem, mood, and discipline. It’s precisely those latter ones I’ve come to value most, and they’re what motivated me to write this post.

If you’re a fairly sedentary person who isn’t into sport, but who deep down knows they need to exercise more and thinks the gym isn’t for them — I can only tell you that three years ago I was in exactly that situation, and I couldn’t have been more wrong.

So, with the hope of giving you that little push you need, or helping you if you’ve already taken the leap but are just getting started, here are ten things I wish I’d known when I was in your shoes:

1. Nobody cares about you: No, not in that way! What I mean is that once you’re inside the gym, everyone is focused on their own workout and nobody is watching you or what you’re doing.

2. Ask: If it’s your first day and you don’t have a workout plan, go find a trainer and ask for one. If you have questions later, don’t hesitate to ask them to explain an exercise or check your form. It’s their job, and they’ll be happy to help.

3. Warm up first: Especially if you’re sedentary, warming up is crucial to avoid injury. Five to ten minutes on the elliptical or treadmill is plenty.

4. Stretch after: Until fairly recently, the moment I finished my last exercise I’d head straight to the shower. Predictably, when I wasn’t nursing a pulled muscle, I’d have terrible soreness. Fortunately that’s something I’ve corrected — there isn’t a day I don’t spend ten minutes stretching after a workout. I follow a routine that covers all the major muscle groups, though I always pay extra attention to the ones I trained that day.

   Since I started stretching regularly, not only have my injuries and soreness decreased, but my overall flexibility has improved.

5. Don’t be afraid of weights: There’s a false belief that to lose weight and get in shape you only need diet and “cardio” (long periods of low-intensity exercise). This is a myth. In fact, if you ranked the best ways to get in shape, cardio would be near the bottom. That said, I’m not saying cardio is bad — quite the opposite — but for that specific goal, it’s not only inefficient, it can actually be counterproductive (leading to muscle loss and a slower metabolism, colloquially known as “skinny fat”).

   Whether through CrossFit, Calisthenics, or weightlifting, strength training is essential if you want a toned, healthy, and attractive body.

6. Leave your ego at the door: We’ve all done it: you start an exercise and notice the person next to you doing the same thing with much more weight, so instead of your usual load you add a bit more — just to show them how strong you are. You end up doing the exercise with terrible form (if you finish it at all) and the other person didn’t even notice (see point one).

   What you don’t know is that person has been going to the gym for ten years and is training for strength (few reps, heavy weight), while you’ve just started and are training for volume (many reps, lighter weight).

   Everyone at the gym has different circumstances — age, history, fitness level — so comparison is pointless.

7. Embrace the exercises you hate: The exercise you dread the most is probably the one you need most. No matter how bad you are at it, never skip it — embrace it, be consistent, and you’ll soon get better at it. I give you my word.

8. Rest: It sounds paradoxical, but muscle doesn’t grow at the gym — it grows in bed, while you sleep. So no matter how hard you push yourself in every session, if you don’t let your body recover afterwards, that effort is wasted. The usual recommendation is six to eight hours of sleep a night, though what you actually need depends on factors like age and lifestyle. The key is to wake up feeling energised the next day.

9. Pace yourself: It’s normal to get carried away — especially at the start — and want to do an hour of weights plus three back-to-back classes seven days a week. But that intensity is impossible to sustain in the medium and long term and usually leads to exhaustion injuries or quitting altogether, especially for beginners. My advice: start light, and once you’ve established a routine, ramp up to the maximum intensity that still lets you stay consistent. I started going three days a week, got up to five, and eventually settled on four.

10. Build discipline: This won’t happen at first, but there will be days when you don’t feel like going to the gym at all. That moment is critical — and it’s the reason most people end up quitting.

    There’s a false belief that you need to be motivated to go to the gym, and it’s exactly the opposite. When the time comes to go, just go. That simple. Once you’re done you’ll feel so good you won’t even remember why you didn’t want to go, and over time it gets easier every time.

I hope these tips are useful to you. Now it’s your turn. Head to the gym that works best for you today and sign up. Don’t leave it for another day. No excuses. #JUSTDOIT.

Photo by George Pagan III on Unsplash.