Every Gym Journey Starts With Day One

Everyone has a day one, right?

I sat down with Dom at The Gym Group in Altrincham to talk about something that matters: how do you actually get started at the gym when everything about it feels impossible?

Everyone has a day one, right? Everyone has to start somewhere. But knowing that and actually walking through those doors are two very different things.

The 10-15 Club

Dom remembers what she calls her “10-15 lot” – a group of older members who’ve become something special at the Altrincham gym.

“It all started off with the yoga class that I used to do,” Dom tells me. “It used to be one or two people, Susan and Nat. And then gradually week by week more and more people came until there was kind of 25, 30-ish people.”

What began as a really low intensity stretching class evolved into something bigger.

Dom started educating them on the importance of strength training as we get older, the functionality of it. They started bringing their friends. Their granddaughters would come along. But it was always the same core group of people.

“It is like a family and friends thing,” Dom says. “Now there’s a lovely group WhatsApp and they all go out – they went out last night for dinner. It started off as just going to the gym to do something. And it’s just kind of become long lasting friendships and a real community.”

From yoga to WhatsApp groups to dinner dates.  That’s what happens when you break down those barriers and help people have their first day.

When You Think You Can’t

Dom tells me about Sophie, a woman who’s actually in a wheelchair.

“She rang the buzzer up the front and I came out and we got her into the gym, showed her around. It’s obvious gyms are accessible now – we offer lifts in sites where there’s two floors. We’re here thankfully just on one floor.”

They walked around the gym, worked out the accessibility points, figured out if there needed to be any different adjustments. Sophie started coming in. She’d always come to the office, have a bit of a chat. Then she started doing the classes. Then she started doing personal training.

“And then now she works with a team out in Liverpool but she’s still in a wheelchair but she now goes around a bit more on crutches,” Dom says. “So she has completely transformed her life.”

The gym has members who’ve had heart attacks outside the gym and then come back to work on their fitness. Members with hip replacements. “You’ve literally got absolutely everything here,” Dom says.

It’s never too late. That’s what Dom keeps coming back to.

“If you’ve got anything like a health condition, it’s easy to kind of be like, okay, that’s it now. Like I can’t go and run a race. I can’t go and lift the weights. Well, actually you can. You just need those first steps and the education around it.”

The Soundtrack Question

This week we’re celebrating the Whitney Houston musical, The Bodyguard, which is coming to the Palace Theatre. So I had to ask Dom: what kind of songs do people listen to at the gym?

“It is completely down to the individual,” she says. “I mean, I will listen to anything. I’ve listened to classical music. I’ve listened to like the sea waves.”

Sea waves? Really?

“Yeah, but sometimes I just need something to take me out of it. Or I’m going all the way to like EDM, old school rock. Like, it’s just whatever gets you in the mood on that day.”

There’s something reassuring about that, isn’t there?

Even the people who work in gyms don’t have it all figured out. They’re not listening to some special workout playlist while crushing their fitness goals.

They’re listening to whatever helps them through that particular session – whether that’s classical music, crashing waves, or old school rock.

Breaking Those Barriers Down

That’s what Dom’s job really is: breaking those barriers down so everyone can have their first day.

Because the barriers are real. The intimidation is real. The feeling that gyms aren’t for people like you is real.

But so is the 10-15 club going out for dinner after becoming friends through a yoga class.

So is Sophie working with a team in Liverpool and getting around on crutches when she couldn’t imagine being in a gym at all.

So is the member with a hip replacement who shows up anyway.
It’s about taking those first steps. Getting the education you need. Having someone show you that actually, you can do this.

And it starts with just asking. Ringing the buzzer. Having a chat. Working out what you need to make it work.

Everyone has a day one. The question is: when’s yours?