Why am I feeling lost at the gym and what to do about it?

In this blog post, we explore the common feeling of being lost at the gym, a problem often faced by beginners. I’ll delve into the reasons behind this confusion, primarily the lack of a clear fitness goal and a structured workout plan. You'll learn how to overcome this gym anxiety by setting goals and creating a well-defined workout routine, ensuring a more focused and effective fitness journey. Don't let gym uncertainty hold you back; discover the path to success!

Introduction

If you're new at the gym or working out in general, I can imagine that going to the gym all alone can be overwhelming or give you a feeling of being lost.

That's especially the case if you don't have anybody who can guide you.

Ideally, a personal trainer or siblings and friends with more lifting experience can tell you what exercise to do or motivate you to go to the gym.

But if you're a beginner and can't afford a personal trainer and have nobody in your social circle who can guide you, how do you prevent feeling lost at the gym?

To summarize what I will tell you in this article... it all comes down to purpose.

Ask yourself this:

With a purpose and goal, you can prepare yourself.

Let's see how knowing your purpose, or rather, goal is usually the missing piece that results in you feeling lost and overwhelmed at the gym, and what you can do to prevent feeling lost!

Why you are feeling lost at the gym

You probably feel lost at the gym because you don't know what to do.

You might know how to do most exercises (after all, it's not that hard, and most machines have illustrations placed on them that showcase how to do the exercise), but why are you doing each specific exercise?

From a broader perspective, how does each exercise fit into your general goal?

More importantly, what IS your general goal in fitness?

For most people feeling overwhelmed at the gym, the above question is the main reason they're feeling so.

You have no clear goal

If you don't have a goal, you can't focus on something specifically.

You'll jump from one thing to the next, or you find yourself you don't know where to begin, leaving you in a dilemma in which you don't know which exercise to do due to all of the options available (which is the paradox of choice).

The most important thing that prevents feeling overwhelmed or lost at the gym is having a goal.

That's why all personal trainers first ask you what your goal is when you hire them before they develop a fitness plan for you.

Your goal determines your plan, and your plan defines what you will do at the gym.

If your goal is losing body weight, your plan to achieve that goal will differ significantly from a goal of gaining lean muscle mass.

The same holds for a plan for strength training individually: a weightlifter's plan will differ significantly from that of a powerlifter's plan.

You have no plan

As mentioned above, you can stop feeling last at the gym by having a goal first, which determines your plan.

Having a goal but no plan is basically a recipe for disaster: you'll feel lost at the gym in no time!.

Your plan tells you everything you need to know to make your time at the gym as productive as possible.

With a solid plan, you will know what to do even before you take a step in the gym.

Your plan will tell you how many times a week you should exercise, which muscle groups to exercise per training, which exercises to do, how many sets and reps to do for each exercise, and even how much weight to select for each set.

Your plan also entails what you should eat.

A solid plan also involves making a weekly schedule, not only for your gym days but also with respect to your work and other activities.

A plan, in general, basically defines your whole week and can be broken down into a plan or schedule regarding work and family time, a nutrition plan, and a workout plan.

How to not feel lost at the gym

Well, first of all, I'm a firm believer that you can achieve anything (really anything!) that you want to achieve, as long as you're willing to work hard for it and have a plan to follow.

But besides strong willpower and lots of motivation you also need to have a goal to work toward.

1 . Set a goal

The first thing you need to do, if you haven't already, is to set a goal (and believe me, this is slightly harder than you think).

It helps to ask yourself why you want to go to the gym.

If you've never given much thought to this, I advise you to take your time, for example, a couple of days, to really think deep down inside what it is that you want to achieve in fitness and health in general.

But what goals are worth going after, and what goals aren't? How do you know if a goal you've set for yourself is actually worth going after?

Aspects of a good goal

The second thing you need to do to determine whether a goal is worth achieving is to break down that goal and analyze different aspects of it.

So, which aspects do you need to consider? If you have a good goal in mind, you can describe it in the following aspects to a stranger:

I. Specificity of your goal

The more specific your goal is, the easier it will be to work towards that goal. A goal of 'losing weight' is too generic, but a goal such as 'I want to lose 10 pounds' is more specific and, thus, better.

The more specific your goal is, the better it is.

II. How you measure your progress

You need to be able to measure your progress. Why?

Because progress measurement tells you how you are doing and whether you need to adjust your plan or not.

Also, seeing progress visually (for example, seeing your bodyweight numbers going down in case of a goal such as 'losing 10 pounds') works wonders for your motivation: you literally see the scale's display showing lower and lower numbers of time... signaling that you are making progress and everything is paying off!

III. How attainable your goal is

Someone obese and looking to achieve six-pack abs is perfectly possible.

But it's impossible to achieve that result in 1 or 2 months for that person. Instead, it's a multi-year plan that will give that result to that person.

Also, it must be attainable to go after your goal. You can't promise yourself to work out 2 times a day for 5 days while also working full time, having a commute, and a family to take care of.

You might sustain that for a week or three or four, but it will break you up sooner or later, and you risk getting burned out.

You have to take other aspects of your life into consideration when analyzing your goal if you want to make a realistic plan for it.

IV. Relevancy of the plan to your goal

This aspect is always the fun aspect of choosing a goal: making a plan for achieving that goal.

In this aspect, you need to include the things and activities that you plan to do to help you achieve your goal.

These can be simple things (for example, exercising and doing strength training to gain muscle mass), but they can also be very subtle (for example, including periodization in your training, focussing on the negatives, working on explosiveness, and including light days or rest days for a goal of increasing the 1RM or working toward a new PR for a specific exercise).

V. When do you want to achieve your goal?

This is the easiest: when do you want to have achieved your goal?

Set a concrete date. This is your deadline. At that date, you've either achieved your goal... or you have not.

A goal without a deadline is nothing but a dream.

2. Make a plan

So now you have a goal; it's time to make a plan for it. This is the fun part.

With a 'plan', I don't mean only to have a workout plan, but basically a plan for your whole day!

The plan I talk about can be broken down into multiple aspects, or smaller plans, which take into consideration:

• Your training or workouts.
• Your nutrition.
• Your social life, love life, and family time.
• Your work (or school).

When you're making a plan, you need to consider time for ALL of the above aspects.

Lots of beginners who want to go to the gym only consider a workout plan, but working out is only one small aspect of your life.

You have other obligations, just like everybody else. You might even have a family to take care of, a lover that needs your attention and love, a full-time job, and friends and family that also require your time.

This means you need to schedule your week accordingly.

I. Your workout plan

Your workout plan is the most straightforward plan to create or to get, and together with your nutrition plan, it is the most concrete plan regarding your fitness goal.

A good workout plan tells you at least the following aspects:

• The frequency of training.
• Training volume.
• Types of exercises.
• The intensity or load per exercise.

A solid workout plan usually spans multiple months and is put together correctly and takes into consideration progressive overloading, periodization (optionally), hypertrophy training, cardiovascular training and stretching, and rest and light days.

II. Your nutrition plan

Your nutrition plan tells you what to eat every day for the whole week.

It contains your macros (the amount of protein, fats, and carbohydrates you need to consume) as well as your micros (the vitamins and minerals), but it's more complex than it initially seems: your macros, and thus your total daily kcals, depend on your TDEE, which itself depends on different other aspects of your body.

Luckily, you don't necessarily have to figure out the above all by yourself. Most people get on a nutrition plan that's made by personal trainers and customize it according to their own preferences.

I'll put up different nutrition plans online in the future for you to choose from, which you can, of course, adjust so that it fits your needs.

III. Work, family, study, and social activities

Here comes the more difficult part: fitting your workout plan and your nutrition plan into your life.

When making a workout plan, consider the free time you have in which you can work out. It's no use to get on a perfectly set up workout plan with a frequency of 5 times a week when you only have time for 3 workouts per week.

IV. Practical things to consider in your plan

• Do not neglect time for changing into workout clothing and commuting to the gym, and going back home (and showering afterwards). This can easily take up to 30 minutes per workout (15 minutes for going to the gym and 15 minutes to return home).
• You need to cook your own food if you want to commit to your nutrition plan. It's easier if you are alone and you're the only one you need to cook for than when you have a family to feed. In the latter case, it means cooking will take more time since you have to make separate meals and have more dishes to do afterward.
• Do not thoroughly plan your day to the last minute. Leave some time for mental rest. Otherwise, you'll feel rushed and stressed all the time and get mentally burned out. Do not take more than you can handle.

3. Commit to your plan

You have a goal... you have a plan... now all that's left is to actually follow your plan consistently and commit to it.

This is the hard part, and here is how it will go:

At first, you'll be very excited for the first few weeks or months.

But slowly but surely, you want to see results faster despite doing everything according to your plan. You'll also become more bored going to the gym and doing the same thing over and over again.

And that's perfectly normal, but what separates the ones who achieve their goals vs. the ones who don't is that the former group pushes on and continues to put in the work no matter what setbacks they get or what problems they stumble upon.

You will have days feeling tired. You will have days needing to overwork or get stuck in traffic. You will have days where you've caught a cold and don't feel too well to work out.

The point is... no matter what setbacks you will have, you must pick yourself back up and continue your journey.

That is what separates the ones who achieve their goals vs. the ones who don't.

Do not give up. Believe in yourself, and put in the work that's required.

Conclusion

As you see, feeling lost or embarrassed at the gym is usually due to unpreparedness and not knowing what to do and why you're there in the first place.

If you know what you want to achieve and why, it's much easier to stay focused and do concrete things to achieve your goals.

Having a plan helps significantly in that aspect!

So, if you haven't already, pick a goal first... one that you really, really want to achieve. After that, it's time to get a plan to achieve your goal. If you have trouble creating a plan, please get in touch with me, and I can guide you in your training and nutrition.

How many times have you dealt with feeling lost at the gym?