Hitting the Gym for 1 Month ? Here’s what I’ve learned.

1 month and a few weeks at the Gym! This is my little blog on my experience hitting the gym for 5 weeks. My future self would look back thank this dude for taking the step and putting in the work. In the past few weeks, I’ve learnt a lot, I’ve developed new skills, I’ve become more disciplined.

Week 1
First day at the gym. You lift dumbbells', do bench press, cable rows, name it. You basically meet and test all your shiny new friends. But nothing is to prepare you for the pain of the next few days. What is it they say ? “No pain, No gain”. I couldn’t properly move my upper body for almost 3 days after my first day at the gym. My hands, back, shoulders, chest were all hurting. It was hell. Is this the pain body builders face daily ? I asked myself.
A few days after the pain, I found myself back at the gym lifting weights and the rest is history.

Workout Plan
As a noob, for my first month I optimized for upper body, biceps & triceps. This meant doing chest day about 2/3 times a week. Biceps & triceps about 3 times a week. Shoulders about 3 times, same for other upper body parts.

I typically hit the gym around 6PM to 9, 5/6 times a week.

Body Gains
For the first month, the true measure of growth for me was friends making comments about little changes. There’s some satisfaction in knowing that you’re making progress. You can see yourself in the mirror, can you recognize the beast you’re becoming ?

Gains
There were some trial and errors for my first month at the gym, this included what time works for me. Some people prefer hitting the gym early in the morning, some prefer evenings.. I tried both, mornings didn’t quite work well for me particularly because of my job.
They’re a plethora of equipment's at the gym, some targeting the same body area. Another trial and error was getting to know which equipment I preferred using, which metal was going to be my friend for life.
The gym is about 2km from my house, another trial and error was choosing to jog the distance or use some form of transportation.

They’re a couple of trials and errors, these are just a few.

Nutrition
I don’t think anyone gets nutrition right in their first month. Definitely not me. I did improve my nutrition tho, increased my daily protein intake, reduced sugar and alcohols although I don’t drink often. I also had to learn about nutrition. Macronutrients, micronutrients etc There’s a ton of information online.

Mindset
There’s a lot the gym does for you in terms of mindset. You can achieve anything if you set your mind to it. Hitting the gym consistently has helped me improve my routine. My discipline has improved. My consistency has improved. Many more.

Discoveries and Goals
I’ve come to understand patience. It would take time and pain to build that dream body. Not being patient would mean quitting when you haven’t seen significant progress after some months. I’ve come to understand that I am to fall in love with the process, with the pain. The dream is just the byproduct of the process. The goal is to be ripped, fit and healthy. The goal is to adopt hitting the gym as a lifestyle.

Eat that Iron!