The hardest part of training is the first two months, and the workouts are rarely what makes it hard. What wears people down is walking into a room where you don’t know what you’re doing and feeling like everyone can tell.
The numbers on this are rough. One study followed more than 5,000 members of a fitness center over twelve months and found that 63 percent stopped before the third month, and fewer than 4 percent kept going past a year (1). That was a gym where people trained on their own, in one city, so I wouldn’t treat the exact numbers as universal. But anyone who has worked in this industry recognizes the shape of that curve. January fills up, and by March the room looks like it did in December.
The usual explanation is motivation, the idea that people didn’t want it badly enough. I don’t buy it. Most of the people who quit early wanted it plenty, and what they ran into was a set of problems the gym created for them. Most of those problems are fixable.
Feeling watched
The single biggest thing that keeps new people out of training, or pushes them out early, is the feeling of being the least capable person in the room. For someone who hasn’t trained in years, or ever, walking into a gym can feel like being on display. At the point where someone decides to start, that feeling often outweighs price, and it lingers well past the first session.
Big rooms make it worse, especially with mirrors on every wall and music loud enough that you can’t ask a question. Some of that is unavoidable in a large gym, and a lot of it comes down to how the space is set up.
Motive is a small studio, and that’s part of the answer. Fewer people in the room means fewer people to feel watched by, and more of the coach’s attention on you.
The first-session problem
A lot of first sessions are built to impress, with a hard circuit and a “you killed it” at the end. The idea is that a tough first workout proves the trainer knows their stuff and makes the client feel like they got their money’s worth.
For a beginner it usually backfires. They leave wrecked and can’t walk down stairs for three days, and training gets tied to dread before they’ve done it twice. Some never come back for a second session, and the ones who do are often bracing for it.
A first session should leave someone thinking “I can do this.” That means finishing with something left in the tank and understanding what each exercise was for. It also means the coach learns how that person moves before asking them to move hard. That’s what our approach to personal training is built around, starting with an assessment before anything gets loaded.
Soreness, confusion, and no sign of progress
After the first session, a few things tend to drive people out over the next several weeks.
Soreness is the obvious one. Some soreness is normal when you start, but a beginner who’s sore all the time starts to feel like training is something that happens to them. Managing volume early, so soreness stays mild and settles quickly, matters more than squeezing the most out of each session.
Confusion is quieter. A lot of beginners go through weeks of workouts without understanding why they’re doing any of it. They follow along, but nothing connects, and when life gets busy, a routine that never made sense to them is the first thing to go. Explaining the why in plain language, without jargon, is part of the coaching.
Then there’s the lack of visible progress. Most beginners judge progress by the scale or the mirror, both of which move slowly and inconsistently. Meanwhile the real progress is happening in places they’re not watching, like weights that go up week to week and stairs that stop feeling like a project. Pointing that out on purpose, and showing people how to tell they’re getting stronger before anything visible changes, keeps them going through the stretch where the mirror hasn’t caught up yet.
What a first eight weeks built for staying looks like
If the goal is to still be training a year from now, the first eight weeks should look different from what most beginners get.
The first few sessions should be about learning how you move and where you’re restricted. Intensity can wait, and starting a little easier than you could have costs you almost nothing.
The plan should come with an explanation. Each piece should have a reason you can repeat back, and that reason should be about your body and your goals.
The schedule has to fit your actual life. Two sessions a week that you keep is better than four that you abandon by week five. Building the habit comes first, which is something we wrote about in creating better habits.
Progress should also be measured in ways that move in the first few weeks, like strength, range, and how daily life feels. The scale can come along later.
For the person reading this who has quit before
If you’ve started and stopped a few times, you’re in the majority, and it probably says less about you than you think. Most of the reasons people quit early trace back to how training gets introduced to them.
If you’re thinking about trying again, look for a setup that solves the problems above, especially a coach who explains things plainly and a first session that leaves you wanting a second. Our guide to personal training for beginners goes through what to look for, and getting the most out of a personal trainer covers what to ask once you’ve found one.
When you’re ready, come see us. We’ll make the first session easier than you expect, on purpose.
References
Written by
Brian Murray, FRA, FRSC
Founder of Motive Training
Motive Training is a coaching studio in South Austin built around assessment, joint health, and strength you can use. Train with us in the studio, come to a KINSTRETCH class, or work through the progressions in KINSTRETCH Online.