Regardless of your physical appearance, your first day at the gym will always be intimidating and daunting. So here are some tips and tricks to help take out the stress when you’re going for your first workout.

What To Bring?

Before you head out to the gym, you’ll need to bring some daily essentials that you’ll be frequently using at the gym. First, you should make sure to bring a large drink bottle and make sure it’s completely full before going to the gym. When participating in vigorous physical activities, you tend to sweat a lot more to cool the body down. Therefore, you need to make sure you keep your fluids up to replace the fluids used as sweat, as this will reduce the risks of heat stress occurring. Having a bigger bottle will ensure less trips to the drink fountain, ultimately reducing the amount of time filling up your drink bottle and more time for working out.

You’ll also need to pack a gym towel. Since Gyms operate as a communal service, hygiene should be a top priority for any gym goer. Bringing a gym towel to every workout can provide that extra bit of cleanliness and ensuring you’re keeping your sweat off equipment other people will be using. Everything Fitness offers several gym towels including the Towel X by @PTPFit that have magnets incorporated within the towel to prevent the towel from slipping off the benches when in use. The Towel X also includes with a small, zipped pocket to keep your keys and phone out your pockets while you’re working out.

You may also want to pack headphones to the gym. All gyms are different in terms of the music they play. Music can play a major role in the mood you’re in, so if the gym is playing music you dislike or music you consider to be unmotivating. Your workout may likely be not as productive as it could be if you were listening to music you considered to be more motivating. Everything Fitness offers Bluetooth headphones by @Bluedio, which are noise cancelling so you can completely block out all distracting background noises which will help you focus on your workout.

Which Gym Should You Go To?

All gyms are completely different in terms of the layout, location, fitness classes and membership options the gym provides. However, most commercial gyms do offer a similar range of gym equipment for personal training. To ensure you’re joining a gym that will be more suited to your needs, the gym staff may take you on a tour of the gym, showcasing everything the gym offers and how they operate. If you do not decide to take the tour, as an alternative you could look up reviews
on the gym along with their social media accounts to gain insight on the membership prices, layout, and possibly extras the gym offers.

What Exercises Should You Be Doing?

The exercises you should be doing differs from person-to-person which is all determined by your desired end goal. It is known to achieve the goal of building muscle mass and strength, you should be focusing on your core compound exercises while mainly focusing on progressing your bench press, barbell squats and deadlifts. Furthermore, if the desired end goal was more focused on weight loss and becoming more toned. These individuals should focus on high volume and high-intensity workouts which can be achieved through undertaking HIIT programs or incorporating cardio into body building programs.

Recovery

After undertaking vigorous physical activities, you may have encountered some minor muscular injuries. When this happens, it is essential to make sure you’re taking the right steps during your recovery stage to avoid injuries from getting worse. If you’re feeling some muscle pain, it is suggested you use a foam roller to ease muscle pain, as rolling out your muscles can assist in reducing inflammation along with reducing delayed-onset muscle soreness. Rolling out your muscles can also help with further increasing the range of motion than just stretching alone, ultimately reducing the frequency of joint-related injuries and muscle tightness. Everything Fitness offers the commercial foam roller by @Force USA that is made from high-quality EVA foam ensuring the roller will last through extended use.

Massage guns can also help relieve muscle pain. Like traditional massages, massage guns intend to reduce inflammatory by removing extracellular fluids out of muscle tissue and into the circulatory system, ultimately increasing blood circulation throughout the body. Everything Fitness offers many massage guns all from the Theragun line by @Therabody. Focusing on the Theragun PRO, users can experience a more personalised top-of-the-line deep muscle treatment through wirelessly connecting with the user-friendly mobile application.

Alternatively, massage balls help target a distinctive area of muscle tightness that is more stubborn as well as assisting in contributing to injury prevention. Muscle pain can be the result of prolonged sitting positions, accumulation of muscle tension or sport-related injuries. This can hinder future physical activity performance, therefore it’s important to address these issues immediately. Massage balls should be used before and after intense workouts to increase the range of motion. The massage ball’s level of firmness should cater to the severe pain being experienced. Softer balls are used to treat moderate injuries whereas firm-density balls are used to treat higher levels of muscle tension. Everything Fitness offers a pack of 2 massage balls from @PTPFit including balls of
different levels of firmness to cater to a wider range of pain thresholds. The massage balls from @PTPFit are designed to address a specific area affected thus, penetrating muscles to release knots. The massage balls also incorporate a more compact design to better fit duffle bags of everyday gym goers.