It can be overwhelming, what should you do if you don’t know where to start?

Sitting there watching the opening match of the season, my friend turns to me and asks what gym I go to. He continues on to tell me how he wants to start going to the gym. I say what gym I go to and he says oh, that’s the same one he’s signed up to, but he doesn’t go because he doesn’t know where to start.

He went on to tell me how he went once months ago with some friends. Aside from the soreness on the days following his session, it felt so good. The energy he had afterwards was amazing and he wants that feeling again. Of course, my first response was then just go. Stop thinking about it and just do it.

The only way to feel that feeling again that he remembers, or to get stronger, fitter, and healthier is if he does go and puts in the work. That is really it. The work has to be done and not knowing where to start shouldn’t be reason enough to stop you.

I know that’s not a very sympathetic or even necessarily helpful response. It probably even comes off as judgmental. And the truth is I actually want to help him start training, the same as I always promote fitness because I think it’s an incredible tool with which to improve oneself and one’s life with so many benefits. So I added, you’re signed up to the same gym as me so just come and train at the same time as me and I’ll help you figure it out. 

I know many people feel the same way as my friend here. So many people say that not knowing where to start, stops them from making a start. So, of course, I am unable to extend the same offer of come and train with me to others as I could with my friend. This is why there is a longer response to this problem that my friend and many others are having.

The simple truth of it all is that most of us start not knowing anything. God knows, I knew nothing when I started. I ran on my family’s home treadmill for a while before I even signed up to the gym. And even after I signed up, I still had no idea. I basically knew what push ups, chin ups, and sit ups were and maybe the basics. Rep ranges, sets, how to diversify my sessions, this knowledge only came with time, asking fellow gym goers, some research, and a really basic program from a professional.

There was no YouTube back then. It was a few years before the time and popularity of social media and Instagram. The first gym I signed up to was this small gym with a small dumbbell rack, a few bars, maybe ten to fifteen other machines, and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s book on the desk. Nowadays there’s knowledge everywhere and a choice of gyms that have tons of equipment, often for the same price as a takeaway.

I do understand, however, that it is also a possibility that the access to this amount of information actually may have an adverse effect. It may actually add to the issue and overwhelm the individual further. Aside from the fact that there are so many videos online, there are many influencers doing all sorts of advanced exercises. Each one saying, don’t do this, do that. So many different opinions.

This is actually one of the reasons I founded LIFE ON FITNESS as a place for one to come and find programs directly from fitness professionals who they like and that can help them actually progress. It’s not just a mass of content or a den for content creators. But enough of that as the important point that I want to get across here is that not knowing where to start shouldn’t stop you from starting. Just start and figure it out as you go.

Anyway, back to my friend. He messages me a day or two later about going to the gym. It so happened that the gym was closed for a few days to do it’s annual health and safety maintenance. I told him that and we laughed as it’s just his luck when he wants to start going that it will be closed. He hasn’t messaged me about it since though. 

You know what actually, I think I’ll finish writing this and send him a message reminding him about our conversation and see if he still wants to go.