How to Feel Confident in the Gym as a Beginner (Simple Workout Plan for Women 35+)

Hey ladies, welcome back to the Body Recomposition podcast. This is Robin and today we are going to talk all about how to actually start working out. Whether you're a beginner or you haven't worked out forever and you're trying to implement a new workout regimen into your life. If you're trying to change your identity into somebody who lives and somebody who works out, whatever that workout might be, it is a real, real struggle for women to actually start working out. And that is what I have discovered just in my own experience, in my experience working with women.

And recently we had our, what I call RAC Roundtable, where all my clients get on a FaceTime and we kind of just chitchat. And one of the biggest issues is the anxiety that women feel going into a gym for the very first time or even just going into their home gym for the first time or for the first time in a long time and starting to actually lift. And the reasons my rack ladies cited as being what makes this so difficult? They make sense to me. They are things I experienced a long time ago when I started lifting, and then things I experienced when I started lifting again after I had a few kids.

And I totally resonated with them. It had been a while since I thought about those feelings, those that anxious feeling I would get walking into the gym because I haven't had it in so long, to be honest. But I remembered it and I resonated with it, and I think a lot of women can resonate with that feeling of just not wanting to do it because you're uncomfortable, because you're anxious, because you feel I'll equipped in some capacity. So today that's what we're talking about. We are talking about actually starting a new lifting program, a new workout regimen in your home gym or at a public gym or at a private gym, whatever it may be.

We're digging into that today. I'm going to start with my own personal story about gym anxiety and what that felt like for me. So I started lifting at a gym I think when I was 18 or 19 and I had no idea what I was doing. I had lifted a couple times at our local YMCA, but I just felt like what the heck? Like what are people going to be looking at me? What do I wear? I am, I look like an idiot and everybody is looking at me look like an idiot and you know what? What are they going to do? Throw things at me?

I don't know. I have no idea why I was so concerned. Looking back, it seems silly, but it is so real. And I remember pulling into the parking lot and I would just sit there. I would sit there and listen to music. I would take my pre workout. I would do all the things except actually go into the gym. And then when I did, sometimes my mental, my imagination would get so intense that I would just leave after a moment. And then the next time I went in, it got a little easier. But I had a client kind of semi recently and she I always refer to this story because I think it's so cute.

She had such a block getting into her actual gym that I would call her on her way. And it came down to me saying you're going to walk into the gym and just touch a dumbbell and then you can leave. And then you have permission to go. But you do have to get there. You have to go in and you have to touch a dumbbell and then you can leave. In reality, my hope was that she would actually work out a little bit and I think she did after a few days. But I pretty sure she did go in there and touch a dumbbell and leave at least once or twice.

OK, so today you are going to learn how to start lifting after age 35 without feeling lost and without feeling judged. And you might be thinking, why do I need to lift? Can't I just start running? And you can run, I guess. But you have to have muscle. You have to have muscle, especially after age 35, because muscle is what increases your metabolism. Muscle is what determines your metabolism. And you cannot, you cannot drop fat and gain muscle without getting your butt into a gym. Whether whether that's out of the house or in the house.

So if you're above 35, even if you're below, you have to lift. That's just, that's just the brakes. So you are going to have a plan. You're going to have a plan for when you're going to do your workouts and how you are going to get yourself out of any mental funks that might arise leading up to those workouts. OK. Because without a plan, you can plan to fail. That's the reality of it. You have to have a plan. I experience that all the time. Whenever I'm lacking a plan, I don't achieve what I set out to achieve.

You know, whether it's meal prepping, whether it's getting my butt to the gym, whether it's cleaning the house. I have to have a plan for when I'm going to do it. And you are going to need that as well. My rack ladies and I had our roundtable discussion, which is a FaceTime, and we talk about whatever. And we were talking about the anxieties we all experience getting to the gym for the first time. Because all of my ladies are at different points in their fitness journeys, their health journeys, whatever you want to call it.

They're all getting their butts to the gym. And even though they are getting to the gym, they are still battling the anxiety that they have getting there. Some of them are more seasoned, and some of them are fresh beginners, just little puppies wandering around, not exactly knowing what to do or how to do it. But that anxiety is not random. That anxiety is not random, especially for women who are, who are our age, 35 and above. There's actual science behind it because when you are at our age, the cognitive load is higher.

A lot of you have kids, a lot of you are working, you have mental tabs, so many mental tabs in your brain going at all time. And that leads to decision fatigue. You're making decisions all day, every day. Going to the gym feels huge, but it also feels insignificant at the same time. Like what is the gym when you have to bring two kids to two different sports? You have a meeting online at six, you have to make dinner for everybody. You have a bunch of laundry that's been stacked up for six days. You need to get in touch with your mom, who's I'll, whatever it may be.

What is the gym ultimately when you have a million things going on? So when it comes down to it and you're driving home from work or you're getting out of bed in the morning and you have this decision to make of do I start my list? Do I start closing my tabs or do I go to the gym? Of course, gym does not seem to be a priority, but it is and it has to be. It has to be if you want to be the person that you're spriting to be. You have to change your identity and your identity has the gym within it.

Your identity has lifting weights within it. Unless your identity is to be skinny fat and out of shape. Otherwise, going to the gym is now part of your identity and just apart from all the mental tabs we have going at all times at this phase in life, your body's different, my body's different. Everybody's body is different after age 35. It just is. A lot of us have had kids at this point and our hormones are different, our testosterone is dipping, our everything is fluctuating and that creates a different body composition.

And a lot of us, the majority of us, have not figured out how to combat those physiological changes that are happening at our age because it's real. It's not in your head. There's a reason why you feel squishier and why you can eat the same thing that you ate before, but now you're putting on a pound every other week. There's a real reason for that and that different body that you now have that in and of itself kind of creates a complex for a lot of women when you're going into the gym because it's like, oh, what am I doing here?

You know, I don't look like any of these people. And you have it in this your head that someone's looking at you and thinking that when truly, I promise you, I promise you they are not. They are not. I have been an avid gym goer for over 15 years. I have never once looked at a woman in any size or shape and thought why is she here? The only time I've ever thought that's was when gym Bros are yelling really obnoxiously while they're benting just over the top. And even that I don't think much of it most of the time.

And last thing that I feel like is a major contributor to the anxieties women have starting their gym journey. It's just the way we grew up. You know, like the past diet culture, everyone talked about gym being a way to burn off calories. So maybe you had some cake at lunch. Now you have to go to the gym and burn that. And that's not reality. That is the skinny fat reality where we are taking less space or we are eating less, where we are doing more. That's not going to give you any sort of body composition change because now as we're understanding, as science is becoming more widespread knowledge, you know that you go to the gym to build muscle.

We also have a cardio component that's secondary primary goal when you go to the gym is to build muscle. And I know that statement of building muscle to you who has never lifted before sounds overwhelming and that's giving you anxiety. It's so easy. I promise you, it is so easy, especially if you're a newbie. You're just going to go to the gym and move a few dumbbells around and I promise you, you will have what's called newbie gains and then you're going to get addicted. So you just have to jump over the first mental hurdle, which is yourself and these anxieties that have been conjured up due to whatever and get over it because you are the only person stopping you from going to the gym.

You have to choose to abandon all the things that you might be harboring, all your anxieties, all your fears, all your preconceived notions of what is going to happen to your body if you do start lifting or what people might think of you while you're there. None of that matters. You have to put that in a box and then kick the box to the curb because what matters is your lean muscle mass. That is one of the top indicators of longevity. So it's going to determine how long you live, if you care about that and you care about the way that you physically look.

Let's be honest. That's why a lot of women build muscles, because we do care about the way we look. I don't think there's any shame in admitting that. Then you need to lift and you need to abandon the anxieties. There's no way around it. You just have to start. And I know that sounds a little bit frank, but to be honest, when I was planning this episode out, I was writing down all these little things about why we have gym and anxiety and and why you might have had it from your past or, you know, maybe you experience.

Ultimately, I just was getting more frustrated because I don't understand why our culture has to continuously dredge up things that make us unsettled or make us embarrassed or make us feel like our trauma is going to dictate our future. When you have control over your future, you have the power to ignore the anxieties that are inundating you. When you stay. Just get control over your thoughts. It's really not as hard as women, men, whoever make it out to be. It's imagine when you're in school and you have to do a speech.

You want to throw up, you want to do anything but get in front of the class and do that speech because you have anxiety. But are you able to weasel your way out of maybe, maybe most of you weren't. You just had to swallow your pride, kick your anxieties to the curb, get up there and do it. And if you had to keep doing speeches every single week, it would get easier. You didn't have a way out. You just had to get it done. And that's exactly the mindset you need to have going into a new routine of getting to the gym.

And I mean this with the utmost care and concern. But your feelings don't matter. What does matter is your health. What does matter is your goals and your why and the real reasons why you want to change. That is what matters. Your feelings are just feelings. Kick them. Kick them to the curb. Doesn't matter. Action is what matters. O start taking action. And now we're going to talk about how you start doing that. And the first thing is you need to have a plan. You need to have a plan. And as I said earlier, if you don't have a plan, you can plan to fail.

So go grab a marker, go grab a piece of notebook paper or a piece of white paper from your printer, or you can use your phone. But there's just something about having a writing utensil and an actual piece of paper that to me makes it real because I'm going to use my hand and write these words on a piece of paper. I'm going to actually take the time to do this, and then I'm going to tape it up somewhere where I see it every day. So go get your paper, get your pen or your marker and write down which three days you are going to work out and what time that workout is going to take place.

Write down your three days and write down your time. Now, if you're more of an intermediate person who or whatever, you know, however many days you want to commit to do that. If it's two days, commit to that. Actually set the bar low. Set the bar low because then you're not dropping it. If you set the bar too high, they won't. Yeah, I'm going to start with six. No, you're not. Just pick a low bar expectation. Write it at the top of your page. I am going to the gym two days this week and below that Monday at 4:30 PM, Thursday at 6:00 AM.

Sign your name at the bottom. Put your name on it and take some ownership to it. Now boom, you have your plan and again, it does not have to be two days. You can do three days, you can do four days, you can do five days. That makes me nervous if you haven't been to the gym for a while because obviously that bar might be a little high for you. So there's nothing wrong with lowering it. Lower the bar. We don't want to drop the bar. So just make your expectation of yourself a little bit lower and that way you can feel success.

And when you feel that success, we're going to grab on to it. It's going to make it easier the next week and maybe after a couple weeks can raise it to 2. Two gym sessions a week. Whatever it is, write down what days you're going to work out what time and put your name on the bottom. Boom, OK, now you have the plan. We need a protocol. A protocol for when you get there. And I didn't read about this anywhere. A lot of times I do research and try to back everything with research, but not for this episode.

This episode is purely based on my own experience in the gym over the last 15 years and my clients, my time working with women and men. So if you have your plan, you do need a protocol. You need to have a protocol for when you get there. Otherwise you're going to walk around nervously and and touch the dumbbell and leave, which is OK, that's OK. But let's have a little function once we arrive at our destination. So you have your plan of what days you're going. Now you need your protocol. Step number one, get out of your car.

And I always tell my ladies, amp up some music that makes you excited. Get some caffeine in your system. There's actually a lot of research coming out about how caffeine is really beneficial for us. We'll get into that in a different episode, but get some caffeine in your system. I use lifetime pre workout, the caffeinated one. There's a caffeine free one too for at night, but I love that one. It doesn't make me too jittery. It's just perfect. Get your pre workout in you. If that scares and you have no idea what it is, ignore me.

Have some coffee, get out on the gym floor and your step number one is let's warm up. So either go to the elliptical or go to the treadmill and just walk. Just walk. OK, we're going to do that for 5 minutes. And this is a beginner, A beginner friendly plan. So get to the gym, get your music on, get your blood pumping and get to some sort of cardio equipment just to get your body moving, comfortable in your surroundings. Please don't look around. It's just going to make you feel uncomfortable. We don't need that right now.

You're focusing on you. You can stay at your phone too. Full permission now for your very entry level gym person. First time you're going, pick a machine. Pick a machine for your legs, whatever it might be. Leg press, leg extension, seated leg curl, lying leg curl, hip abduction, whatever it is, go find a lower body machine and do it and just do 10 reps. You might be saying, how much weight do I put on? Put on barely anything. OK, put that little whatever it is, peg all the way to the top. Because right now your primary concern is just moving your body and making this a foundational habit.

OK, You're going to do 8 to 10 reps on that leg machine, and then you're going to wait a minute in between each of those sets and you're going to do three sets. Check. Now go find another machine of your choice, hopefully maybe another lower body exercise movement so you can pack in an upper body day earlier this week. But it doesn't matter because your primary goal when you're at the gym is to just explore, get comfortable with the equipment, to get comfortable with your surroundings, and if you start feeling some kind of way, leave before your head starts taking control of your body.

So we just want to have this be a positive experience when you start. We don't want to let our feelings run amok and drive us out of the exact place we need to be to get where we want to go. Day #1 is just you kind of experiencing, experimenting with the machines. So start with a lower body machine, fiddle with it, play with it look it up on your phone go on YouTube, type in the name of it. I am always researching how to best perform movements on equipment if I'm in a new space or just at my gym and I'm like, is this like actually how?

Let me look it up. No shame. I, I don't know what I'm doing a lot of times that's why I research the answers. I want to know what I'm doing. I want to know what I'm doing so that I am doing it most efficiently and most effectively. There is no shame in looking things up on your phone. Although I, I do remember back when I started lifting and I really did feel embarrassed for not knowing what I was doing. And my heart is with anybody who's experiencing that because it does suck. You don't want to feel unsure of yourself.

It's not a settling feeling. But believe me, after just a week, you're going to be a new person in that environment. You're, you're going to be a new person and you might even start to really like it. Or you could become obsessed like everybody else who makes it a habit. Because when you're a newbie in the gym and you have those newbie gains, and that's a real thing, maybe not a real scientific term, but you will have newbie games, You will drop fat and gain a little bit of muscle. If you are brand new to the gym and you start doing just a few things a couple times a week, it's miraculous.

Makes me very jealous. So you have your two machines done, you've done your three sets of eight to 10 reps and now go walk over to the dumbbells and pick two of them up. Now do something easy like lay on your back on a on a bench and just press those dumbbells to the ceiling a few times. And or if you don't want to lay down, just sit on the bench and just put those dumbbells to the ceiling. Again, do a shoulder press, whatever it is. Your goal here is not to perform these movements with 100% accuracy.

Your goal is to just get comfortable being there. Know the feel of those dumbbells in your hand. Know the way that your body is going to physically feel, balancing them in whatever way you're putting them. But you do need to have a plan. So if you're a newbie, I cannot express this enough. You need to have a plan or a protocol that you're going to follow when you get there. And it does not need to be over the top. It can be as simple and as short and as silly as you can imagine. The goal is to get there and get comfortable and leave on a high note.

Leave on a high note. I've mentioned quite often that I was a public school teacher for over 10 years in the past, and sometimes that's working with special education students or general education students. And when we have a behavior we want to take place or encourage, we need a behavior chart. We need a behavior chart because there is something really rewarding about having a visual representation that you completed a wanted behavior, that you completed a task that is bringing you closer to the person you are aspiring to be.

So for you, an adult, not a child in my class, that behavior chart essentially is the piece of paper I told you to get out in the beginning where you are taking that piece of paper out, you are writing down which three days you're going the day and the time, and then you're signing your name at the bottom. You're committing to it now. Tape that piece of paper on your bathroom mirror. You are there every single day looking at yourself. Tape it on your bathroom mirror. And after you complete that first workout, whatever day and time that is, put a little :) next to it.

And after you complete that second workout, put a little :) next to that one. It's really rewarding. I know it sounds silly, but it truly is something about seeing that you completed the task and tactile, tactilely, whatever, using your pencil or your pen to check off that you did it. And then reward yourself not with a calorie ridden food, whatever it is, go get a facial or a massage or what, whatever. Get yourself some new workout clothes that make you feel more confident. That's my recommendation.

Reward yourself with some new workout clothes. They make you feel more confident because that right there is a huge, huge factor in making your gym experience a +1. And I want to wrap up this little episode with the importance of community when you're starting something new like this. So if this is a new thing for you and you are just now beginning your lifting journey at the gym, the power of community is. I can't even explain what that does for both men and women In my group. We have a text group and I also have an app where we, you know, throw ideas and thoughts and struggles and strengths and all the things out there.

And it's a judgement free zone, my heart every time I read the things these women put out there and how supported they are by the other women in the group are who are experiencing the same things or have experienced it. And they share how they navigated getting through it. That right there is so powerful. And just to see how they support each other during all these new shifts that we're going through together. It's it's really, really incredible. And community doesn't have to be something you pay for.

It doesn't have to be buying a, a coach or subscribing to a, an app like mine and what I do for my work. It doesn't have to be that you can go on Instagram or Facebook. Facebook has great groups that you just join and you know, lifting for beginners or moms who lift. There's a bunch of different groups that can give you that sense of community and accountability. So to recap, we all have those anxieties, those feelings that are holding us back from doing what we need to do. Ignore them. They do not matter.

And I can't express that enough. I know it's going to maybe ruffle some feathers to hear that, but your feelings matter in all a lot of other capacities. But when it comes to your physical fitness, less is more. Baby action is everything. So kick your feelings to the curb. Secondly, have a plan. Plan out which days you're going to work out. Write down the day and the time and sign your name, OK? And have a protocol. Know exactly what you're going to do when you get there. If you want a simple one treadmill, throw around a couple weights, leave on a high note and caffeine is everything.

OK? Thank you for listening, ladies, and I look forward to hearing from you and how you've been going on your newbie lifting. I've gotten some Instagram messages from ladies who are just getting started in the gym. I want to hear back from you. I want to hear how it's going. Let me see your behavior chart. I want to see your smiley faces. I'll show you mine because I've made a couple and I still use them from time to time when I'm tracking my macros. So if you do want to touch base with me, you can always e-mail me.

I do macro formulations. I I have coaching spots available. Maybe in the future, not right now. My e-mail is [email protected] and my Instagram is RAC Fitness under Dash. RAC Fitness under Dash. I primarily use my Instagram to post fun little videos or tools that coincide with other episodes that I've published. But if you're not into Instagram and you do Facebook, I have a Facebook page as well. It's called the body recomposition revolution and they they are tied together technologically.

So if I post on Instagram, it goes on Facebook. You're not missing anything. All right, ladies, thanks again for tuning in and you will hear from me next week.

How to Feel Confident in the Gym as a Beginner (Simple Workout Plan for Women 35+)

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