10 Ways to Avoid Looking Like a Beginner in the Gym

Get an Experienced Workout Partner

The easiest way to avoid looking like a novice is to surround yourself with experienced partners. They’ll teach you the unwritten rules of gym etiquette, how to get a great workout in, and how to get results.

If you’re brand new to fitness (or afraid of looking like a hopeless rookie), enlist the help of an experienced friend. 

Talk with the Staff

Talk with the people at the front desk, snack bar, trainers and managers. Building relationships with the staff gives you instant credibility and can even lead to lasting friendships. It also makes trainers more likely to give you free diet tips or workout advice.

Don’t make it hard on yourself—talk with the people who are paid to talk to you. 

Wear Gym Clothes

You don’t need a workout ensemble worth hundreds of dollars, but you do need appropriate clothing for exercise. Leave the hiking boots, cargo shorts, sunglasses, jean shorts, and snowboarding goggles (yes, I’ve seen this) at home.

Instead, wear a comfortable top, athletic shorts and sneakers. Also, ditch the high-rise white socks. These, for whatever reason, make you look like a newbie. 

Ditch the Squat Pad

The squat pad is the calling card of the newbie: it prevents lifters from feeling and controlling the barbell and coddles your upper-back muscles. If you’re doing back squats, carry the barbell on the meaty part between your shoulders.

Although it will feel uncomfortable at first, you’ll quickly get used to the pressure.

Get Off Your Phone

If you’re on your phone for most of the time at the gym, your workout is too damn easy. Get real results and really push yourself to lift more, sweat more, and rest a little less.

You can fill any idle time with activation exercises like hip bridges, band pull-aparts, or even a plank. 

Have a Plan

Avoid aimlessly walking through a gym looking for things to do—you’ll never get a great workout, waste time and look like a newbie. Instead, plan your workout before you get to the gym.

You’ll save time, move confidently between exercises, and get the most results from your workouts. 

Diversify Your Exercises

If you’re a scrawny guy who stands by the mirror and does five different kinds of arm exercises, you’re probably a newbie.

Instead, do heavy, multi-joint exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench presses and rows to strengthen a lot of muscle groups at once—that’s the best way to build a lot of muscle, boost your strength and transform your body.

You’ll rarely see a newbie in a power rack doing squats. Be that guy. Don’t be surprised if a veteran walks by and compliments you. 

Be Hygienic

Although cleanliness is great, newbies will place their towel on everything—even if it interferes with their exercise or is unnecessary.

For example, they’ll grip a barbell by wrapping a towel around it, place a towel on their traps before back squats, or place it on the ground and do pushups on them.

Use your towel to stay dry, not as protection from foreign surfaces. 

Don’t Squat Backwards

When you squat, never set up to the barbell by looking away from it. That mistake forces you to un-rack the barbell by walking forward and, thus, re-rack it by walking backward. That’s just dangerous. How can you possibly re-rack the weight if you can’t see the pins?

Always squat in a direction that allows you to put the weight back by walking forward. 

Don’t Read the Labels

Newbies read the labels on all the machines. Although it’s nice that they want to learn how to exercise properly, they’ll never master a movement by studying it a few seconds beforehand.

I highly recommend investing in a few personal training sessions. Just one or two workouts with a knowledgeable trainer will outdo anything you’ve done before (especially if you’re a newbie), save you valuable time, and teach you the basics you’ll use for the rest of your life.