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Top tips for joining a new gym

Written by Fiona

May 17 2017

With summer holidays on the horizon, many people will be keen to get in shape, especially if they plan to bare legs, arms and torsos in shorts, t-shirts and swimming costumes. Here are four tips for choosing the right gym for you.

Closer is better

If you choose a cheaper gym that is further from you home it may well give you too many excuses not to attend a gym. The nearer the gym is to your home, the easier it is to reach.

A gym that is just a walk away could also provide you with the motivation to run or walk briskly to and from the gym. This will give you even better fitness benefits that simply driving to a gym for a workout.

Depending on when you will use the gym, it could be close to home or work.

Think about it this way: If you stop going to the cheaper gym that is further away, then you’re not saving money at all – you’re wasting it.

Getting to the gym is over half the battle, none of the rest of the tips in this article matter if you can’t get to the gym.

Pace yourself

Whether you used to go to the gym or if you’re new to it, it’s important to pace yourself. When you first join a gym you’ll be full of enthusiasm, so it’s tempting to rush ahead and try to do as much as possible in the weights rom or on the treadmill.

Buy by doing too much too soon you risk injury and also putting yourself off going back again.

Start gently and increase your workouts slowly week by week.

Also try to ignore everyone around you. It can be tempting to run harder or lift more weights than the person next to you but going to a gym should not be a competition.

Wear the right eyewear

Eyewear for the gym is very important. Whether you’re short or long-sighted, it’s important that you wear prescription lenses to the gym. Often vanity prevents gym goers from wearing glasses, or laziness stops them from taking the time to put in their contact lenses.

But no matter what kind of work out you do at the gym, you’re going to be operating dangerous equipment so the inability to see clearly could cause an accident, injuring yourself or someone else.

One of the things preventing people from wearing prescription glasses to the gym is that they are worried about them falling off during their workout – especially after they work up a bit of a sweat around their nose and their hair.

However, glasses only slip off because they are ill-fitting or because someone isn’t wearing the right glasses for a workout. This can be solved by investing in sports glasses with wraparound arms and a snug fit.

If you’re worried about spending too much money, you should consider shopping online, as online stores like Red Hot Sunglasses have huge prescription glasses collections to choose from with lower prices than you’ll find in stores. This is because online stores have much lower overheads and they buy their stock in bulk, saving money and passing those savings on to their customers.

Be considerate

So many blog posts emphasise nutrition and the different types of workouts without talking about gym etiquette. The gym is like any other public space and you should be considerate of others.

But as there are so many people moving around, trying to achieve their own workout, there is a greater chance that you’re going to rub someone up the wrong way or do something that negatively impacts someone else. Here are a few rules of etiquette to remember when at the gym:

  • Put weights back after you’ve used them, and don’t hang on to a pair of dumbbells for 20 minutes because you know you’re going to use them eventually.
  • Offer to take turns on equipment if the gym is especially busy. Everyone in the gym is probably in a hurry, so help each other.
  • Do not hover around other people if you’re waiting to use their weights or their machine. You wouldn’t want to be pressured, so don’t do it to someone else.
  • Do not do bicep curls at the squat rack. Especially if there is only one squat rack.
  • Clean any gym equipment you sweat on and make sure you aren’t too stinky before going to the gym.

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