10 Things I’ve Learned By Going to the Gym

I am just going to say the quiet part loud: getting healthy is hard. Most of the time, it’s not fun, feels like a chore, and it’s a fight we have to/get to face daily.

Yes, we get chances every day to stay healthy while others don’t have that luxury. As someone who is truly grateful for her health and strength, please allow me to share with you the “real talk” realities of getting healthy for a moment.

The actual part of squeezing in a gym session and/or a few hours of meal prepping into an already busy schedule, the consistency to stay the course, the battling of the mind, and for some, physically getting dressed, getting into the car, and driving in traffic to get to the gym – it truly is an uphill battle to steward the one place we have been blessed to live.

A few weeks ago, my personal trainer and I were talking about when I first started going to his gym. It took some calculating and searching Instagram archives as we both realized it had been a lot longer than we remembered, ha!

And after attending sweat sessions for nearly a decade, I thought I’d share with you ten things (along with some truths) I’ve learned by going to the gym in hopes to inspire you to stay/get active.

SHOWING UP IS THE FIRST STEP

Going to the gym can be so intimidating and scary. The many machines we don’t know how to use or even what part of the body it’s for, the good-looking people going from station to station who know what they’re doing, and feeling watched by said good-looking people were all my personal reasons not to sign up.

When I first met my personal trainer at a young adult event, he shared with me details about his private gym, how long he’s been an owner, etc. I didn’t think to ask him about classes or anything as 1) I was already taking a bootcamp style class on Saturdays with my besties and 2) I was nervous.

When I saw him again at church soon after, he invited me (and my best friend) to take a class of his for free.

Not going to lie, I was scared.

In a large group setting, I can hide. Not at a private gym. However, I knew I had to take the first step to get out of my comfort zone, so I said yes. And as they say, the rest is history!

YOU CAN’T OUT WORKOUT WHAT YOU EAT

My best friend and I have discussed this over the years where she’d ask me if it’s easier to work out than it is to eat healthy. I told her that when I was in high school I ate like crap and got away with it because I had a high metabolism, stayed active through intense cardio (dance) for several hours a day, five sometimes six days a week, and I felt like I slept more then than I do now. I will preface and I say that I ate healthy quite a bit growing up so it evened out, haha!

During this time, I worked off what I ate because I worked out more than what I ate in calories as well.

Now? Not so much, ha! It’s definitely much easier to work out than to eat healthy. And as I get older, I just cannot work off what I eat fast enough. Factor in aging, a sedentary work-from-home job where I sit a LOT, terrible sleep quality, it’s just the painful truth that I can’t out workout what I eat.

GOING TO THE GYM IS HARD…AT FIRST

Going to your first sweat session is hard. However, the truth is, going a second, third, and fourth time is harder.

Personally, it took me between one to two years for going to the gym to become “easy” to me.

YOUR BODY WILL FOLLOW WHAT YOUR MINDSET ALLOWS

Did you know that when you have an impulse to do something (like working out for instance) and you don’t take physical action to move in that direction to make it happen within FIVE SECONDS, your brain kills it?

Yep! You read that right. Why is that? Because your brain doesn’t want to do anything that’s difficult!

I’ve learned that mindset is everything especially if you want to be consistent at going to the gym. Your body will keep going. However, it’s your mind that will want you to stop. Strengthen your mind! I strengthen my mind by being very careful/selective of what I read, listen to, and watch.

Change your way of thinking if you want to become successful at staying active. Become that person who works out to stay strong instead of conforming to what the rest of the world is doing which celebrates doing nothing/weakness.

You can refer to Romans 12:2 if you want to understand this from a spiritual perspective.

CONSISTENCY COMPOUNDS MORE THAN YOU THINK

Even after all these years, sometimes I feel like I’m not making any progress. Some days, I can lift a barbell over my head. Other days, two 15 pound dumbbells feel extremely heavy.

Then I see my friend (who had a stroke October 2024) make great and amazing strides. She went from laying in bed/having a hard time walking to lifting eight pound dumbbells to lifting and using a gym yoke today! She’s hardcore proof that consistency compounds more than we think!

PEPTIDES CAN HELP

While I’m new to the peptide world, I must say the peptides derived from nature that I’ve been using for about a year now is a great support to the work I’m putting in at the gym!

I will share in future articles as I learn more about peptides so stay tuned!

ALWAYS TRY TO DO ONE MORE REP

As an overachiever, when my trainers tell me to do a certain amount of reps, I will always try to do one more rep than what they tell me.

Personally, I do it to strengthen my mind and reinforce to myself that I can always “do one more” when it comes to doing hard things. It’s kind of like a “See? I told you that you could do it!” thing I do for me.

SOMEONE IS ALWAYS WATCHING YOU

It wasn’t until recently that I realized that others were watching me in class.

What I mean by that is, I’m the one setting the standard. If I’m choosing heavier weights, so will some of them. And that’s a big deal for me as I’m now a role model even if it’s unintentional on my end. And what I’ve noticed is that people don’t do it because they’re like, “Well, you’re doing it so I feel like I need/have to,” — it’s more so from a “I need to be challenged too” perspective that I’m seeing.

As much as I joke with my trainers about being pushed above what I think I can do, I also love seeing people get outside of their comfort zone too. It’s truly uplifting to witness!

YOUR HEALTH IS TRULY A GIFT

After seeing my friend go through a stroke, it truly woke me up to the fact that health is truly a gift.

The ability to do basic things such as walking, sitting, standing, bending over, lifting, pushing and pulling is such a gift.

If you’ve been going to the gym and lose that ability, I know you’d miss it like my friend did. In fact, while in PT sessions, the physical therapist even told my friend that her working out years prior to the stroke is part of what saved her life!

Sometimes working out can feel like a chore in the moment, but it’s truly a gift that keeps giving especially when you need it most!

GOING TO THE GYM WILL BECOME A LIFESTYLE YOU WON’T THINK TWICE ABOUT

I know this is crazy to say, but if you go to the gym enough times, it eventually becomes a “second nature” type of lifestyle. The best analogy I can use is that it’s very similar to driving somewhere and then not remembering how you got there (and if you used turned signals, lol)!

After many years, I can proudly say that even after a long work day, I can get ready for the gym without “fighting the feeling” like I have in the past. And my gym is about a 15 minute drive without traffic and 30 minutes at minimum with traffic!

Are there days where I don’t want to go? Of course, but I always ask myself, “Do you really not want to go because you’re feeling lazy or because you really need to rest?” From there, I make a decision for my well-being.

Remember, you don’t have to go to the gym to live a healthy lifestyle. If you love pilates, running, walking, hiking, boxing, etc. instead of going to the gym, do it! The key is to 1) do something you love so you can stay consistent and 2) mix it up to keep yourself from getting bored.

I hope you enjoyed this article and that it inspires you to get moving/helps you stay active in your own life!

WHAT ARE SOME THINGS YOU’VE LEARNED BY GOING TO THE GYM/STAYING ACTIVE?