8 Things You Should Know As a New Bluprint Athlete

1. Everyone Was New Once
Joining a new gym is scary. Especially if it’s your first experience with the journey of health & fitness. Bluprint Fitness provides EVERYTHING you need to succeed. And you WILL succeed! From unlimited information, to peer support, the Bluprint community is here to stand by you along the way. Every athlete in the gym was new once, just like you. Embracing our culture of positivity and hard work will create YOUR path to many conquered GOALS.

2. Support Is EVERYTHING
Bluprint Fitness is a community full of people who genuinely like working out with each other. This support is invigorating, inspirational, and fun to be around. With this, you WILL NOT be stopped from reaching your goals! Get to know your coaches/peers and you’ll have an army of support by your side at ALL times.

3. You MUST Earn Speed & Weight
As a new athlete, you should have two main goals in mind. 1) Getting RESULTS and 2) Moving Properly. Building a strong foundation of movement mechanics and work capacity will set you up for long-term SUCCESS. You have the rest of your life to train and Bluprint will teach you how to do this in a fun, safe, effective manner! Your muscles and work capacity will adapt fast; your joints and nervous system will adapt much slower. When we make weight/rep suggestions it’s not because we think you can’t do it; it’s because our knowledge and experience suggests smarter progression. TRAINING SMARTER is at the core the Bluprint philosophy. Stay consistent, ask questions, and show up. You’ll thank yourself later.

4. Learn YOUR Gears
Coach Chris brought up a great point of learning your “gears” from the start. Let’s say you start with 3 gears. Gear 1 is warm-up pace (something you can maintain while talking leisurely), gear 2 is revving up the engine to a brisk, sustainable pace, and gear 3 is sprinting as hard as you can. It’s important to learn how YOUR body works during workouts. Keep these gears in mind when we are doing the WOD. The more experienced you become, the more gears you’ll add, and the more efficient you’ll be at a wide array of workouts.

5. Be Able to Laugh At Yourself
My first attempt at an overhead squat was comical. I was fresh out of college, could back squat 400+ pounds and was at the “top” of my workout game. Little did I know, my mobility sucked and squatting with a bar overhead was much harder than it looked. I couldn’t overhead squat 45 pounds! I had to laugh! At the beginning of your training career, you’ll have many instances like this. Best way to get better is to laugh at it, work hard to conquer it, and then laugh at it again in retrospect.

6. Olympic Lifts Can Take Years To Perfect
Yes, Olympic lifts are sexy. But care must be taken to learn the basic movement mechanics prior to jumping into heavy Olympic lifts. IF you listen to your coaches, take educated suggestions seriously, stay consistent, and practice patience; you’ll conquer these lifts both safely and efficiently!

7. IF You Don’t Record It…It Never Happened
Monitoring progress is a big key to your success. Using gym software has made this accessible from anywhere on your phone or on the computer. Make it a point to keep track of your workouts as this will help keep you motivated by seeing the results YOU earned!

8. Acronyms ARE Your Friend
A.N.=As Needed
AMRAP=As Many Reps/Rounds As Possible
BW=Bodyweight
DB/KB/BB=Dumbbell/Kettlebell/Barbell
DL= Deadlift
DU=Double Under
EMOTM=Every Minute On The Minute
GL=Gym Lap/Gym Length
HBD=Heavy But Doable (Not Happy Birthday)
KBS= Kettlebell Swing
MB=Medicine Ball
METCON=Metabolic Conditioning
OHS=Overhead Squat
P1/P2=Player 1/Player 2
PT=Pass Through
RDL=Romanian Deadlift
RFT=Rounds For Time
Rx+=Prescribed
Rx=Prescribed
S=Scaled
TGU=Turkish Get-Up
WOD=Workout of the Day