I noticed at my gym we get people who start but give up after a few days because they are pushed to the same expectations as people who have been working out for years. It’s like there is a mindset that you have to start at the same level as everyone else then push yourself to a breaking point to become stronger, when the reality is you’re more likely to hurt yourself.
If someone was hospitalized for six months in a bed, their physical therapy would allow them to gently rebuild atrophied muscles. Those who are stuck in sedentary jobs or lifestyles should have the same opportunities to rebuild their bodies at a slower, safer pace without feeling pushed to go too far or shamed for not being able to keep up.
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There are plenty of great resources and influencers who promote just that, but it doesn’t get the same engagement as the gym bros
The problem is that the knowledge is out there but there SOOOO much of it, and it’s often contradictory. As someone who has been losing weight but not working out, I can tell you that I’m extremely confused, intimidated, and disheartened at the prospect of working out just from the sheer magnitude of what I don’t know or understand about it.
As a physical therapist, this is not unpopular
Yes should definitely start slow and increase as you feel stronger
I hope this isnt an unpopular opinion…
For someone out of shape, getting into the gym is the most daunting task! The fact that they’re even in there is such a feat. Pushing them in the same manner as an experienced gym goer seems silly.
In what world is someone who just starts working out pushed by the expectations of others with years of progress?
Actually, since when are they anything other than ignored and let alone?
Idk what pathology makes people imagine that everyone is watching them and caring about them, or expecting great things, or caring at all how that person’s workout goes, but it’s not normal to think this.
This is just objectively true, the problem is when people start a workout routine they are usually excited and impatient wanting immediate results.
This isn’t an unpopular opinion. I don’t know what kind of personal trainers you have at your gym but they sound like amateurs who shouldn’t be giving advice. The entire reason most gyms insist on setting up new members with a personal trainer is to avoid them hurting themselves or getting discouraged trying to imitate others.
Its always mediocre shape trainers pushing some 230lb guy to failure on his first or second day. It’s like, stop trying to get this guy a six pack in 4 weeks, his physique is not going to change overnight. Get him in the habit of enjoying his workouts, so he actually does them. That almost certainly means mild and occasionally moderate intensity.
No you should be treated as a beginner and someone out of shape. Physical therapy is something else usually aimed towards a weaker link in a system that’s functional either due to injury or just poor habit.
Your coach or trainer should understand your limitations and push you more and more slowly as you build confidence. Most beginners will underestimate how capable they are.
You don’t even have to work out to lose weight. You need a deficit in calories. Your body naturally burns calories. Figure out how much it does and take in fewer. It’s a very slow process to do it this way. But it will have results.
So true! Treating beginner workouts like physical therapy would help people build strength safely without burnout or injury. Everyone deserves a pace that fits their starting point, no shame or pressure needed
Yup, and for like the first month you aren’t really gaining so much as relearning.
This is why I started out solo at home again. With a shoulder injury I can only laterally raise about 5lbs. Don’t feel like ripping the 3lb plates at the public gym.
What? No one pushes anyone too far.
I got workout advice from a personal trainer that caused me to tear my abs and cost me $17,500 in surgery so I agree with this. His response was that it was the workouts that he does…
Older and not as applicable but two a days sports practice right after summer always hit hard af, and it was every single day until the weekend each week.
So like, everyone should get a good personal trainer? I agree with that
I think the initial hurdle is more mental than physical.
It is all about that mindset that you are working out no matter what. Tired? Raining? Cold out? Hung over? Doesn’t matter, get moving.
I remember when I started running. I’d run to the stop sign by my house and then run back. It was about a quarter of a mile to the stop sign.
Day 1 I ran there and walked back. When I got to the house I felt like I was going to pass out. It literally felt like I was dying. My vision was blurred and I was seeing spots. I couldn’t catch my breath my whole body felt like it was in pain.
Day 2 I walked to the stop sign and ran back. This time feeling much better but still feeling it.
Day 3 I was able to run there and run back and still feel decent when I got back.
Each day got progressively easier to do and after 2 weeks I was able to run there, run back and require no recovery time outside of just getting some water.
2 months into it I could do 4 miles and still require no recovery time.
You got to take it slow. Working out is not a steep mountain. It’s a soft hill that you need to take at your own pace. Even if you’re only getting the most miniscule amount better each day, as long as you’re getting better each day, you will eventually be where you want to be.
So go to physical therapy to begin safely and with personalized feedback. Why not?
100% agreed and totally accurate. Not only are they pushed to do the same as people who are already fit, they’re pushed to do even more. It’s the metabolic equivalent to a normal person at a healthy weight deciding to run two marathons a week. Of course they’re going to be exhausted, het sick, and give up. You’re supposed to move in increments of 10% more effort every 6 weeks.
Don’t let ignorant strangers shame you out of doing what makes your body actually feel better and work better. If you can feel it working, that means it’s working!!
The only time I tried to work out in public, I was at the Y and tried a zumba class. I figured I could stay in the back and move at my own pace. I have arthritis and a couple of slipped disks, and I know my limits. I wasn’t in the room for 5 minutes when I was singled out by the leader and told I wasn’t trying hard enough and then went on to try to force me to gyrate about. I walked out and never went back. I work out at home at my own pace. Gyms aren’t for everyone.
oh hard agree!! but my insurance doesnt cover anything related to obesity so that wouldnt fly sadly. i guess the closet thing would be getting a personal trainer but that doesnt have the benefit of insurance pitching in
It’s not a bad idea. But the only problem is that therapy patients are limited by their condition. So they’ll stop when they’re told to stop. Sedentary people are too stubborn to stop and they’ll keep going until they get hurt… basically because of what you mentioned with feeling ashamed for not being able to keep up.
You probably need some really good physical trainers to ensure these people keep a very consistent routine. Because it’s gotta be a little frustrating and demotivating to tell someone to lift a 1lb weight 10 times and walk 20 steps on the treadmill and then come back in 2 days and this time we MIGHT do 30 steps.
When I injured my knee and had nearly ZERO strength in my leg they had me kicking a balloon for the first 3 weeks. And I couldn’t really protest because that’s the best I could do at the time. But ask me to do that when my problem is just too many cheeseburgers and I might not be back for another session.
Obese person here, I wanna start going to a gym but I see all these videos where the “gym bros” come over to the fat person at the gym to help them on their workout or technique or whatever and I don’t like that. I don’t wanna go to a gym just to be some Chad’s “ego stroke”.
Every time I have gotten into a fitness program either class or trainer format I have gotten rhabdo to the point I can barely sit on the toilet to pee for days. I do toughen up after about a month but damn I feel like it probably would knock a lot of people out. At my age I won’t do it again for fear of injury.
I purposely learned easy, low impact workouts because I hate the feeling of starting back up in the gym. When people ask me about fitness, I definitely tell them to start as light as possible because the worst thing you can do is go try to max out and go hard.
>It’s like there is a mindset that you have to start at the same level as everyone else then push yourself to a breaking point to become stronger, when the reality is you’re more likely to hurt yourself.
I don’t think any actual professionals believe that. In fact, I would argue that real professionals encourage progress within reasonable limits.
I feel like people quit because they haven’t really thought about the mental aspect of exercising. It takes patience. If you’ve never exercised before, the first week will be absolute torture. Some people are just not prepared for that.
Gotta start slow and ease into it otherwise you’ll get too sore to want to go back. Especially if you don’t enjoy the act of exercising yet.
Consistency is everything
Gotta say this shouldn’t be unpopular if I had done it this way instead of “oh I did this a intense workout a few years ago” I probably wouldn’t have given myself rhambdomyolysis and that was 5 days in the hospital
It is therapy. Who told you it wasn’t?
Well yeah, its labour and most people are lazy because they’ve never had to perform it in their life and when they do they opt not too
Thanks for saying that. I haven’t been to a gym in 15 years for that very reason. Now… I really am in PT for lack of exercise as I age. I hope younger people read this and don’t end up where I am. Good on you!
I agree with this.
I always tell people who ask me about working out to do research and start slow while you figure out what you like to do. People who are obese need to just start with walking not running. Or lifting small weight with higher reps while they learn proper techniques and form. Unfortunately I see alot of people who are trying to get into shape do the opposite then develop hating exercise when they never allowed the process to work for them. An example is a buddy of mine I went to high school with. He let himself go bad and asked me to help him out. He kept getting frustrated because I was lifting more or I was able to run more than half a mile. I kept telling him not to worry or compare himself to others. If you stay consistent progress will come fuck what others look like or say just figure out what works for you. Well he gave up because he wasn’t loosing weight fast enough and went on Ozempic.
TLDR: learn the fundamentals accept that progress is slow and figure out what exercises you actually enjoy.
Completely agree. My opinion is that personal trainers who deal with unfit / overweight clients should not be people who have always been super fit and healthy. They should be people who have been fat and unfit and have managed to get themselves in better shape, so they actually know what it’s like to try and do a push up when you weigh 120 kgs and sit behind a computer all day.
The first 3 months of personal training for fat people should literally just be going on walks.
I am super unfit (my fault entirely) and every time I’ve started going to a gym and taken on a personal trainer, they’ve just put me in so much pain in the first few sessions that I quit. It is not sustainable.
People should definitely take the slow and steady approach when starting their fitness journey. It is more sustainable if it is gradual and repeatable – no crash diets (terrible for metabolism), and start with easy stuff such walking on an incline and learning the proper technique for the basic weight training exercises.
Part of the problem is that many obese/out of shape people will sign up for a package with a trainer that works at the facility, but the hiring standards for trainers at a lot of places aren’t particularly high (many just have a personal trainer certificate and whatever standard it takes to obtain it; rather than an undergraduate or advanced Degree). Far too often I have seen new obese people working with a trainer and the trainer is having them do dynamics, explosives, unilateral, and other stuff that requires coordination and balance to perform safely; and sadly, you can just tell that it isn’t right for them.