{"id":3320,"date":"2018-11-26T20:45:59","date_gmt":"2018-11-26T20:45:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goldsgym.com\/blog\/how-to-start-working-out\/"},"modified":"2025-05-12T20:16:17","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T20:16:17","slug":"how-to-start-working-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goldsgym.com\/blog\/how-to-start-working-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Every Journey Starts With a Day One"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The 2019 Gold\u2019s Gym Challenge<\/a> is here! Your commitment and perseverance over the next 12 weeks will change your life. 2018 Challenge winner Emily Chavez<\/a> reached her fitness goals last year, and she understands the emotions you might have at the beginning of your journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI remember exactly what was going through my mind on day one \u2014 \u2018What did I get into?\u2019\u201d Chavez says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There will be ups and downs along the way, she says, but the first thing to do is conquer arguably the biggest hurdle: getting started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day one: What to expect and how to start working out <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, try not to over hype it in your own head, Chavez says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI stressed about what I would wear to the gym, how much exercise I\u2019d be able to do and whether I would be judged by people in better shape,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some quick tips that helped her get started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Turn up some tunes.<\/strong> \u201cI literally put on my headphones and drowned out those thoughts with music while I got ready,\u201d Chavez says. \u201cIt [helped me win the] mental battle just to get out of the front door.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Remember everyone is working toward a goal.<\/strong> \u201cWhat helped is I realized that everyone has a day one. The fittest person in the gym didn\u2019t wake up looking like that; they had to start somewhere to get there, too.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Start with five minutes.<\/strong> \u201cIf your goal for the first day is to do five minutes on the treadmill, do those five minutes and feel great about it,\u201d she says. \u201cThen come back and try to do more.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Find a workout buddy.<\/strong> \u201cHaving my trainer as my accountability partner helped. I was eager to show him what I could accomplish every week.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Recovering her strength and mobility<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Chavez\u2019s motivation to start working out stemmed from the long-term effects of childbirth one year earlier. After she delivered her daughter via emergency C-section, she had complications with her surgery incision. Two months passed before she fully healed, during which time she completely lost core strength in her abdomen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cIt hurt to get out of bed,\u201d Chavez says. \u201cI was hunched over all the time; I couldn\u2019t even pick up my daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Doctors told her that she would likely never have the strength she had before her pregnancy and would struggle with pain for the rest of her life. Chavez could not accept that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cI don\u2019t want my daughter to have a mom on the sidelines,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    That\u2019s when she decided to join the 2018 Gold\u2019s Gym Challenge to learn how to start working out again. Chavez explained her physical limitations to her trainer, who developed an exercise plan to regain her strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cIt was a rep-by-rep process,\u201d Chavez says. \u201cI got a little bit stronger every day. Being able to do just one more every time meant more to me than what the scale said or being a certain size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cHolding and playing with my daughter without pain is the true victory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    See more Challenge winners and try a beginner-level workout to kick off your 12-week journey:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    2018 Gold\u2019s Gym Challenge National Winners<\/b><\/a>
    \n    3 Moves to Start Your Journey<\/b><\/a>
    \n    Join the Gold\u2019s Gym Challenge group on Facebook.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    <p>The 2019 Gold\u2019s Gym Challenge is here! Your commitment and perseverance over the next 12 weeks will change your life. 2018 Challenge winner Emily Chavez reached her fitness goals last year, and she understands the emotions you might have at the beginning of your journey. \u201cI remember exactly what was going through my mind on […]<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":6423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[168],"tags":[204,103,79,117,146,118,88,215,92,95,119],"class_list":["post-3320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-success-stories","tag-12-weeks","tag-community","tag-exercise","tag-goal-setting","tag-golds-gym-challenge","tag-guidance","tag-healthy-habits","tag-music","tag-overall-health","tag-tips","tag-transformation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goldsgym.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goldsgym.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goldsgym.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goldsgym.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goldsgym.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3320"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.goldsgym.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9656,"href":"https:\/\/www.goldsgym.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3320\/revisions\/9656"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goldsgym.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goldsgym.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goldsgym.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goldsgym.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}