Your first month at the gym: a simple beginner’s plan

Before your first session

• Bring: closed training shoes, a towel, a water bottle — and your ID or passport if you’re signing up.
• Eat something light one to three hours before, so you’re not training hungry or too full.
• Tell the team you’re new. At Solis, reception will show you around and a coach can walk you through the machines.
• Check with your doctor first if you have a heart or other medical condition, an injury, are pregnant, or haven’t been active for a long time.

How often to train

Public-health guidelines for adults recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week — brisk walking counts — plus muscle-strengthening activity on at least two days that works all the major muscle groups. They also stress that some activity is better than none, and that you don’t have to do it all at once.

For your first month, that translates into something simple: two or three full-body gym sessions a week, on days that aren’t back to back (for example Monday, Wednesday and Friday), plus a walk on a couple of the other days.

What a beginner session looks like

Plan on 45 to 60 minutes:

1. Warm up (5–10 minutes): easy cardio until you’re warm and breathing a little harder, then a light first set of your first exercise.
2. Five or six exercises that cover the main movements: a leg movement (leg press or goblet squat), a hip hinge (hip thrust or dumbbell Romanian deadlift), a push (chest press), a pull (seated row or lat pulldown), an overhead press, and a core exercise like a plank. Machines are a great place to start because they guide the movement.
3. Two sets of 10–12 reps per exercise, with a weight that leaves you two or three reps “in the tank” at the end of each set. Rest about a minute or two between sets.
4. Cool down (5 minutes): easy cardio or gentle stretching.

How to progress safely

• Add reps first, then weight. When you reach the top of the rep range on every set, go up by the smallest jump available.
• Technique before load. If your form changes to finish a rep, the weight is too heavy for now. A coach on the floor can check your form in a minute.
• Expect some soreness, not pain. Stiff muscles a day or two after a new workout are normal at the start. Sharp pain or pain in a joint isn’t — stop that exercise and ask for help.
• Write it down. Note your weights and reps in your phone. Seeing the numbers move is the best motivation there is.

Feeling out of place? Read this

Almost everyone feels it at the start — and almost everyone in the gym is focused on their own workout, not yours. A few things help:

• Arrive with a plan (this one works), so you always know what’s next.
• Ask reception when it’s usually quieter if you’d rather start with more space around you.
• Learn the etiquette: re-rack your weights, wipe down equipment and let people work in between sets. That’s really all there is to it — see the Solis gym rules.
• Ask. Coaches would much rather show you a machine than watch you guess.

Food, sleep and the heat

You don’t need an extreme diet to start. Build most meals around a source of protein, plenty of vegetables or fruit, and whole-food carbs — and keep it up for the long run rather than for a week. Most adults need at least seven hours of sleep; that’s when your body does much of its recovering.

St. Maarten is hot all year, so drink regularly through the day and take it easier when it’s very warm. Our guide to training in the heat covers hydration and the warning signs to know.

Want a plan built just for you? Personal training takes the guesswork out — and the Solis Smoothie Bar is there for a protein shake on the way out.

This guide is general information, not medical advice.

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