Weddingbee Blog

Take it slow. Don’t get caught up in the things that others can do- think of YOUR limits. How far YOU can stretch, swim, run. How much YOU can lift. Don’t pay attention to other people’s limits because you could seriously hurt yourself trying to “out do” others.

Concentrate on your form. You can do 30 crunches but if you’re not doing them correctly then you won’t see results.

That’s a good start! Don’t go hard core, start out slowly like twice a week then move on to 3x a week etc. It’s best if you have a trainer to oversee if you’re doing everything properly b/c if you don’t, you might hurt yourself. Good luck!

Don’t be self-conscious. Everyone at the gym is worried about their own work out–they’re focused on themselves, not the people around them. Realizing this was a gym breakthrough for me!

Bring a towel! I know that seems so basic, but so many people don’t bring one. You can use it to cover the display, wipe down machines, and lay down on benches.

Honestly if you’re a gym virgin, I would veto the personal trainer. It’s really tough to just bust into it all of a sudden, although it might be nice to just go with a friend who’s familiar with how all the equipment works. I really think personal trainers are for certain type of people.

My strategy to start off is 10 minutes cardio, then 15 minutes of stretching/lunges/weights. Then do another 10 minutes of cardio. Continue… this way, you don’t want to DIE after only 10 minutes of cardio and feel like a wuss! Also, pilates stretches REALLY gets rid of cellulite and you barely break a sweat!

^ I used to live on 7th and attended Yoga to the People. It kicked my butt, needless to say, but gave me a really great and intense work out. I’m more of a long-distance runner/cardio person, but I’m trying to up the weight-training workout because I’m in some dire need of strength and muscles!

If you have a gym in your apt/facility, I would start out there. You get a lot more privacy and can work at your own pace, take your time, not feel self-conscious, get a true feel for a personal regimen.

Also, if you’re doing cardio at the gym (the most dreaded of all exercises for a lot of people), don’t worry about running at high speeds for a long period of time. It’s good to change-up your heart-rate during cardio anyway, so sprint for 30 seconds, then speedwalk, then sprint at high speed again, then jog, etc. In doing this, you won’t be discouraged by lack of stamina. An ironically, easing into this style of cardio isn’t so dreadful, and you get the most benefits of cardio at the same time. Of course it goes without saying that the intensity will have to increase as you get used to exercising in order to get a real workout, as the hard part is doing this for at least 30-40 mins. Baby steps though! Hope that helps, good luck!