It’s that time of the year again! With three months til summer, we know that a bunch of you are going to be making up for lost time and hitting the gym in hopes of getting that beach body you sorely desire.
Hopefully, some of you are already in good shape, but those gym newbies out there have a special place in our hearts.
If this is your first time working out or you haven’t worked out in a while, we feel for you. In the midst of buying workout clothes and meticulously planning your schedule, you might have forgotten one tiny thing. And that is the exercise part.
Yes, that’s right, you will actually be doing some physical labor. Those of you who have overestimated your strength, you are not alone.
Here are 10 stages you go through when working out for the first time:
Before the workout
You’re pumped; your hair is tied, sweats fabulous, and are jogging in place. Let’s do this.
During the warm up
“Oh this is not bad at all”
You’re surprised at how well you are doing the workouts and keep happening to glimpse at yourself in the mirror just to see what an amazing job you’re doing. I mean, obviously you’re in better shape than you thought, right? Must be all the walking you do.
The weights
The trainer tells you to pick up the weights for some exercises. This ain’t no walk to the fridge for a fudgesicle and extra chocolate syrup no more. But its okay, you got this. You can still ee some light at the end of the tunnel!
Repeat the set three times
Okay well, that light? Gone. Any sign of sunshine and rainbows is replaced with your life flashing before your eyes and the persistent feeling of someone punching you in the stomach. Oh, and that feeling that your eyes are literally going to pop out won’t seem to go away. The struggle is definitely real.
When the trainer is yelling at you to push yourself
At this point you have the sudden urge to throw a dumbbell at him and are cursing the day you decided to put yourself through this agony while you could be in bed right now. The vision of a perfect, toned body is gradually fading.
Rock Bottom
That instant you cant do anymore and the façade you were keeping up to show the others that you could keep up, no longer matters. You now see the error of your ways and are perfectly content with being that fat guy on the banana boat that needs two life jackets to stay afloat.
When You Pretend
You are now hiding behind people and only when the trainer walks by do you pretend that you are doing the exercises.
Stretches
You made it through. You feel like you just took on Mount Everest and are on top of the world. The stretching puts you at ease and you’re finally starting to feel that “high” that people talk about. Life’s great.
The walk to the car
You’re limbs are wobbly and you look like you just crawled out of a hole but you’re still glad you did this and could not be prouder of yourself.
The morning after
Holy Hell. You feel paralyzed. You can’t walk, can’t sit, can’t stand, can’t reach for the salt and are sore in muscles you never even knew you had. No matter what you do the pain just won’t go away.
That plan you had to work out every other day is clearly not going to happen because every move you make is a journey. This goes on for a good five days and you are permanently scarred from going to the gym ever again.
WE SAID THIS: Don’t miss 28 Things Everyone Tells Themself When Working Out at the Gym.