If you are new to the world of fitness and want to know how to hit the gym properly, continue reading this article. Fitness Channel will guide you through the basic and important steps so you can have a strong start in exercising at the gym.

Going to the gym is not just about going to the gym, signing up for a workout package and then jumping on any machine at the gym that can help you achieve your goals, to gain muscle quickly, or lose weight effectively. It depends on how well you prepare your gym knowledge, and this article is the place to help you have the most general overview of going to the gym in the right way.
Learning how to exercise properly at the gym from the beginning will help you a lot later
One thing that many people don’t know is that if you start exercising the wrong way, and when you do that wrong exercise, it will be very difficult for you to return to exercising properly and this will make it difficult for you to achieve your goals. spend more. Once you get into the groove, you will easily achieve your goals.
Step 1: Determine your workout location
The first thing to do to exercise properly is to determine whether you will exercise at home or exercise at the gym? Why must we determine where to practice first?
If you exercise at home, you will need to buy home gym equipment such as weights and exercise mats. The cost of exercising at home can range from a few hundred to several tens of millions. Normally, exercising at home will Just invest once and you can use it for a long time.


If you work out at a gym, you will need to search for gyms near your home and see if they have full equipment and amenities. Working out at a gym usually costs money. for monthly from a few hundred to a few million.
After you have determined where you will practice, we will start with the next step.
Step 2: Make a workout plan
One of the biggest mistakes that makes many people easily give up midway is not having a specific exercise schedule for each day.
Setting up a specific training schedule for each day is very important, in addition to knowing what you will practice that day, it also helps your muscles have reasonable rest time.
To exercise properly at the gym, take some time to divide your training schedule and if you don’t know how to divide your training schedule, you can immediately read this guide to dividing your training schedule professionally like a coach.
There are many different ways to divide the gym schedule, but for those new to the gym, we will have a few ways to divide the gym schedule as follows.
Type 1: Upper body, lower body, rest
This is the most popular type of calendar division and it is also highly effective for gym beginners. And the calendar it will look like this:
- Second: Upper body
- Third: Lower body
- Wednesday: Rest
- Thursday: Upper body
- Friday: Lower body
- Saturday – Sunday: Rest
The advantage of this type of workout is that you will work all muscle groups over the course of a week while your muscles still have plenty of time to rest and recover before the next workout.


Type 2: Push, Pull, Leg
In a proper and effective gym program, the Push, Pull, Leg split is quite popular. You will practice pushing days (muscle groups such as chest, triceps, shoulders) with pulling days (back, biceps, forearms) and separate leg days.
The workout schedule will look like this
- Second: Push
- Third: Pull
- Wednesday: Legs
- Thursday: Push
- Friday: Scissors
- Saturday: Legs
- Sunday: Rest
The advantage of this split is that it optimizes the muscle groups’ rest time while still ensuring they have enough tension to develop each week.
Type 3: One muscle group per day
This way of dividing your gym schedule is often not recommended for beginners, but you can still try it if you like. The training schedule will be as follows:
- Second: Chest
- Third: Back
- Wednesday: Legs
- Thursday: Shoulders
- Friday: Arms
- Rest on the weekend
The main advantage of this gym split is the intensity you can achieve each day. Since you’ll only be training each muscle group once a week, you can increase the volume and work to exhaustion until the last rep.
Why don’t we see abdominal training days in the above splits?
I’m pretty sure you’re wondering this, right? Not including abs on training days is because your abdominal muscles are already involved in your training days, you don’t need to add it to your training schedule.
However, if you want, you can combine 2 more abdominal training sessions on any 2 days in your training schedule, just be careful to set aside at least 24-48 hours to give your abdominal muscles time to rest. .
How many exercises and how many sets should each muscle group do?
To exercise effectively at the gym, you must know how many sets and how many repetitions each exercise should be performed. The number of sets and repetitions will usually depend on your goals
- If you are focusing on fat loss, the number of repetitions will usually be 15-20 repetitions and the number of sets will be 4-5 sets.
- If you want to gain muscle, the number of repetitions is usually about 8-12 times, the number of sets is about 3-4 times.
- Finally, if you focus on strength, the number of repetitions is usually 1-5 times and the number of sets is 1-2 times.
For the number of exercises for each muscle group, you should determine the main muscle group and secondary muscle group first. The main muscle group is the muscle group you want to focus on developing, usually large muscle groups such as chest, back, buttocks, femoral. Secondary muscle groups will be muscle groups such as arms, shoulders, calves, and abdomen.
For the main muscle group, you can choose 3-4 exercises and 1-2 exercises for the secondary muscle group is fine.
At this point, you almost have a complete and standard exercise program so you can start right away. However, let’s continue to the next important step in learning how to hit the gym today, which is nutrition.
Step 3: What should you eat when exercising at the gym to gain muscle and lose fat?
Besides exercise, to achieve the goal of gaining muscle or losing fat, nutrition plays an equally important part. Many people often ignore eating and only focus on exercising. This is really a serious mistake when you go to the gym.

The most effective way to exercise is to balance exercise and diet. If you exercise too much but eat poorly, it will be difficult for you to gain muscle. Conversely, if you do not exercise enough but eat too much, you will easily gain muscle. get fatter.
So what is eating properly?
When talking about eating, you need to pay attention to the two most important issues: total daily calories (TDEE) and macros.
TDEE can be understood as the daily energy you need to maintain life. Each person will have a different TDEE level. You can easily calculate your TDEE based on the TDEE calculator here.
Once you have the TDEE number (for example, 2000 calories), you will move on to calculating macros. Macros are simply the nutritional ratio of Protein, Carb and Fat. These are the 3 main sources of nutrients that provide calories for your body.
You may not know: 1g protein/carb provides 4 calories, 1g fat provides 9 calories
There are many different ways to divide macros depending on each person’s constitution and training goals, but basically you can refer to the Protein/Carb/Fat ratio (in %) as follows.
- Muscle gain: 40/40/20
- Fat loss: 50/20/30
- Stamina increase: 35/40/25
- Maintenance: 40/30/30
So, if you need 2000 calories a day and your goal is to gain muscle, calculate the amount of food you need to eat as follows:
- Protein = 800 (calories) / 4 = 200g
- Carb = 800 (calories) / 4 = 200g
- Fat = 400 (calories) / 9 = ~45g
Note: The above ratio is for reference only, you will need to adjust the ratio of each type of nutrition to best suit your body.
What foods are rich in Protein, Carb, and Fat?
After calculating the amount of protein, carbs, and fat you need to eat each day, you will need to determine which foods to eat these sources from.
- Protein: Eggs, all types of meat, milk, cheese, beans, yogurt and especially Whey protein… (see details here)
- Carb: Rice, pho, vermicelli, pasta, fruits, vegetables, beans… (see details here and here)
- Fats: Fish oil, olive oil, flaxseed oil, almonds, walnuts… (see details here)
Well, to know how many grams of protein the above foods contain, you can download the Ebook Food Nutrition Facts Table here to see. Or simply search on Google and you will get results: For example “chicken breast + Nutrition”.


You will receive a detailed list of nutritional ingredients in chicken breast. The number you need to see here is that 100g of chicken breast has 31g of protein.


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Step 4: Rest
Last but not least, when exercising properly at the gym, you must let your body rest, specifically getting enough sleep for at least 7-8 hours continuously every day.


After a workout session, your body will break down a lot of muscles. Sleeping at night is when your body repairs these muscles, strengthens them and makes them bigger. than. So it can be said that the time you sleep is the time your muscles grow bigger, not the time you exercise at the gym.
You just need to make sure you sleep well for 7-8 hours continuously every night, that’s enough for your muscles to recover well, that’s a simple task.
For more details, read the article on the importance of sleep for gym goers
Some frequently asked questions about exercising properly at the gym
What to do if you have muscle pain while exercising?
Muscle pain after exercising is normal, it is not a serious problem, especially for those who have not exercised for a long time. Your body will gradually adjust and after about 1-2 weeks your body will almost certainly feel less pain after exercise.
During the first few weeks, you can help reduce muscle pain by stretching 5-10 minutes after exercise. Supplement adequate protein, my advice is to use Whey protein and bring it with you when you go to practice. After training, drink 1 spoon of Whey immediately to help your muscles recover better as well as increase the effectiveness of muscle gain and loss. fat.
Tip for you: Using whey with a little fruit or cake will be more effective.
What do you need to prepare to go to the gym?
Normally, if you exercise at the gym, you just need to wear comfortable clothes, wear suitable gym shoes and, if possible, prepare your own towel to wipe sweat or dry your body after showering at the room. Please practice. Oh, remember to buy a gym shaker to bring drinking water and whey after your workout. See more things to prepare when going to the gym here.
Is exercising at home or at the gym more effective?
This question depends on how you measure your own effectiveness. In general, if your needs are not too high, you only need to exercise at a moderate level in a healthy style, then practicing at home may be enough. effective, if your needs are higher then going to the gym is something you should consider.
Do I need to hire a coach?
Yes, if possible, hire a coach to guide you. Hiring a coach will save you a lot of time. However, be careful when hiring a coach because not everyone is qualified. levels to guide you in correct technique. Please refer to the article on how to choose a coach here to make a decision before spending money.
I exercise to lose weight, but my weight increases, what should I do?
Gaining weight when exercising at the gym, while the goal is to lose weight, often happens because you are not eating properly. Please carefully check what you eat during the week and recalculate the number of calories you eat, as a rule. The basic way to lose weight is to eat less than your TDEE and you will lose weight.
Conclusion
The above ways to exercise for beginners are the most basic things you need to know when going to the gym. To be able to exercise properly you will need to learn continuously through training days, don’t forget to visit the gym. Fitness Channel’s fitness knowledge is updated daily with the latest standard gym instructions.
Joe Lamp is an American businessman in the beauty industry. He has a loose writing style and is an expert in the beauty industry on Hair and Nail Style. He has many years of working with celebrities in the fashion and lifestyle industry.
