HOW TO PLAN YOUR FIRST GYM SESSION
Going to the gym for the first time can be intimidating, especially if you’re not quite sure what to do there, which equipment you should use and how to make the most of the free weight section. In the post below I want to give you a general idea on how to start and what to include in your workout which will give you a solid base to work with. Once you’ve gained more experience, you can modify your workout and make it more specific to your goals.
Warmup
A well designed warm up gets your heart rate up, increases the blood flow and gets more oxygen to your muscles. It increases muscle elasticity, improves the range and efficiency of movement. It is an absolutely necessary part of every gym session as it supports the correct form of exercises and play a crucial role in injury prevention.
Pulse-raiser, 5min
The first part of warm-up is a cardio activity to increase your heart rate. Chose any cardio machine you want and work at around 50-60% of your maximum effort for 5 minutes.
Active stretching, 5min
The purpose of this part is to warm-up your joints and improve flexibility to prepare you for the exercises you’re going to perform. What you want to do here are simple exercises like leg swings, arm circles, gate openers, lunges with a twist etc. What you do not want to do is any static stretching (when you perform a regular stretch and hold- this has the exactly opposite effect on your body that what a warm-up aims for).
Resistance training, 40-60min
Now that your body is prepared, it’s time for the main part of your workout. First of all, decide how you want to do it- you can opt for a full body work out or divide it into sections done on separate days, e.g. lower/upper body or push pull. From there select 5-6 exercises. You want to do 2-4 sets of 8-12 reps of each, depending on your form and the time you have at your disposal. Your rest in between sets could be around 60-90s. As for the weight used- start low and perform exercises slowly to control the movements, as opposed to using a momentum. After each set you should have 2-3 more reps left in you- if you aren’t able to do those, it means your initial weight chosen was too high; if you feel like you can easily do 5 more reps, you need to increase the weight.
Cardio, 15min
After a good resistance session you probably want to get home as soon as possible. Well, not just yet. Jump back on your favourite cardio machine, this time for 15minutes and train at 80-90% of your maximum effort. I appreciate it makes your gym session quite long so if you aren’t able to stay for the cardio part each time, try do include it in every other session.
Stretching, 5-10min
Now it’s time for static stretches- depending on the body parts you trained before, you stretch the relevant muscles and hold each stretch for 10-15s. You can also use a foam roller to relieve some of the muscle fatigue. Don't forget to focus on breathing- the technique of 2 breaths in, 1 breath out for 5mins is an excellent tool to support muscle recovery by getting plenty of oxygen in there.
Alright you lot, I hope this post gave you some general idea on how to design your gym session to get the most benefits of training. If you have any questions, reach out to us on Instagram and we’ll do our best to go more in depth there!