ONE MONTH OF SOLO GYMMING

It’s coming to my one month of beginner / solo gymming journey and I wanted to pen down some things I learnt in the past month!

Let’s preface this with the fact that I don’t consider myself fit in any way, I usually shy away from intense workouts and rather sleep for another hour 🤣 However, life changes and this year I found myself really rethinking my unhealthy lifestyle and the way I felt about my body, and thus, I did it. I put money where my mouth was and got a gym membership.

Solo gymming can be daunting and might not be for everyone, but over this one month I realised it was the best thing I could have tried! Here’s some things I learnt from this month’s experience

1) SHOWING UP IS THE FIRST STEP

- I am the kind of person that gets pressured by people around me easily (not a good trait but good for the gym!) so showing up to the gym makes a huge difference right off the bat.

- If I make it to the gym, I usually end up doing some form of workout (better than just lazing at home) 🤭and any form of movement is better than none!

- For me I figured out that going to the gym at weird off peak hours worked for me as there were less people and I was less afraid to try new machines/ look dumb in the gym, it’s a good way to get more comfortable with your gym and machines when you first join.

- I also decided to join a smaller gym near to me rather than a bigger more popular gym ( of which I have 4 in my vicinity ) just so I can become more confident in the presence of less people and a smaller community first and so far, apart from the gym not having as many different machines as the bigger gyms, it has not affected my workouts in any way!

2) GO IN WITH A PLAN

- What is your purpose of being in the gym? Strength training? Weight loss? Heart health? Knowing what you want will make it much easier to cater workouts to your goals! Goals may change but sticking to a main goal will make training much easier and results may also be more obvious!

- In order not to look clueless in the gym, I take my workout planning very seriously. This makes it very efficient to get in and out of the gym as quick as possible, as well as get the most done in the shortest amount of time! 2 birds, one stone heheh.

- Having a gym schedule also keeps me accountable and less lazy, and keeping to a workout split makes it less painful to think about what I want to do everyday.

- However sometimes plans change and there may be people occupying the machines / benches that I planned to use but that’s where my best friend GOOGLE comes in! Variations in the same exercise sometimes also make me find an exercise which feels more comfortable for me to do, which brings me to my next point…

3) LISTEN TO YOUR BODY

- Everyone’s body and fitness levels are different, and an exercise that works and is comfortable for one may not feel as comfortable for you and THATS OK 👌🏼It’s not necessary to follow online workouts to a T if your body does not turn a certain way 😂 (me a not flexible queen) if changing exercises up makes you feel more comfortable, just do it 👍🏻

- I took the first week at the gym to try out intensity of workouts in order to figure out what my body was comfortable with ( be it what exercises / how many days ) and this helped to make the following days more enjoyable😬

-Quality over weight/quantity

Always take note that form is more important than anything else, to ensure you don’t get injured and lose all your progress 🥲

4) BABY GAINS ARE STILL GAINS

- It takes a substantial time to see gains if you are a casual gym goer like me and thus don’t be disheartened if you don’t see changes immediately, if you keep going with a solid plan, the gains will come💪🏻

As this month comes to an end, I find myself using my solo gym time as alone time for myself to recuperate from the hectic work life and as a mental reset. And I now really enjoy the hour in the gym I spend every session and taking every day as a small win in my journey of health.

I may not see any big gains yet but I feel healthier, more active and happier overall. So if you are thinking of SOLO GYMMING, I would say

JUST DO IT! it may become your favourite time of the day too 🥳