I had never trained in my life: how to start from scratch, Angela’s story
Angela has followed me since 2016.
Nine years.
Nine years of reading posts, watching videos, thinking “I’ll start one of these days”. Then she actually started.
Ten months later she had lost 7 kg (1st 1lb), without ever setting foot in a gym.
And this is the part of her story that interests me far more than any physical change. Because if you are reading this, there is a good chance you are exactly where Angela was: you have followed me for a while, you already know what I do, you have thought about trying more than once, and you have never begun.
It is not laziness. It almost never is.
In Angela’s case the reasons were these, in her own words:
“I always wanted to go to a gym but I don’t have time and there’s nobody to look after the children, because we live far from family.”
Two children, aged one and eight. No family nearby. No space in the day.
Here is the important part: none of those obstacles went away. Angela still has two small children, still lives far from her family, and nobody handed her any extra time.
The only thing that changed is that she stopped waiting for them to change.
Never trained before in my life
This is what she wrote to me, and I want you to read it exactly as it is:
“Never trained before in my life.”
Not “I hadn’t trained for a while”. Not “I gave up after the pregnancies”.
Never. In her life.
If that is your starting point too, you are starting from the best possible place, and here is why.
Someone who has never trained has no bad habits to unlearn. No compensations built up over years of badly done gym work, no breathing pattern to correct, no expectation that it only counts if you sweat.
She has a body that responds quickly because nothing has ever been asked of it before.
It is why women starting from nothing often see changes faster than women who have trained for years. Not because they are better at it: because there is more room to move.
What she did
Angela followed the intermediate Pilates Linfodrenante® programme.
I want to be straight with you about this, because it is useful. Normally, for someone who has never trained, I recommend starting with the two months of Pilates Linfodrenante® Beginners: you build the foundations, you learn to breathe, you activate the deep muscles without asking too much of the body all at once.
Angela started at intermediate and it worked for her. That happens, and it is completely fine.
But if you are about to start and you are unsure which to choose, my advice stands: begin with Beginners. It is not lost time, it is the time that makes everything else sustainable. And above all it is the route that reduces the chance of you giving up in the first three weeks, which is the only thing that really matters at the start.
After the challenge, which in her words she “absolutely loved”, she moved on to the Reformer.
The physical result, in her own words
“Even before my pregnancies I never had abs like this.”
Even before.
Angela has two children, aged one and eight. And she has a better midsection now than she had before becoming a mother, having only started training recently.
Let me explain why that is less surprising than it sounds.
Abdominal work in Pilates Linfodrenante® does not go through crunches.
It goes through the deep muscles, particularly the transverse abdominis, which acts as a natural corset and is activated through the breath.
Almost nobody trains it.
Most people train only the surface muscles, the ones visible in the mirror, and completely ignore the deep layer. The result is a stomach that pushes outwards even without excess fat.
Angela had never trained either layer.
She started directly with the deep muscles, which are the ones that change the shape.
That is why her midsection today is better than it was at twenty, when she was not training at all.
But the real result is something else
And here we come to the reason I wanted to write this article.
“Aside from the aesthetic side, I can’t do without training now. It’s my appointment, my moment for myself. I feel like I’m doing something just for me and that makes me feel good.”
My appointment.
Not “my workout”. Not “my routine”. My appointment.
Something written into the diary with herself, carrying the same weight as a commitment made to someone else. Which is exactly the leap almost no woman allows herself, because we are raised with the idea that the only thing you can move is the thing that concerns you.
And then this:
“After 2 pregnancies I can finally say I’ve gained self-esteem I maybe never had.”
Maybe never had.
Not recovered after the pregnancies. Gained for the first time, in her forties, after two children.
If you are waiting for the right moment to start, the one thing I want you to take from this article is that the moment does not arrive. The decision does, and that is a different thing.
The 4 obstacles Angela got past without solving
This is the practical part, and it is built on exactly the things she describes.
Nobody to look after the children
You do not need anyone. You train at home, with the children in the same room. It is not the ideal condition, but it is a possible one, and it is infinitely better than the alternative, which is never training at all.
No time
Angela has two small children. The time was not there and it did not appear. What changed is the size of the ask: fifteen or thirty minutes fits into a day where an hour never would.
No experience
None. Never trained before. It is the most common starting point among the women who write to me, and it is also the one that responds fastest.
No gym within reach
She lives far from family, with nobody to lean on. A gym was not an option. A mat in the living room was.
Not one of those four problems was solved. They were worked around.
How to actually start, when you have been thinking about it for years
If you recognise yourself in Angela’s nine years, here is what I recommend.
- Choose the day, not the right moment. You do not need a symbolic Monday or the first of January. You need any ordinary day on which you decide.
- Start at the right level, not the one that sounds more serious. If you have never trained, the two months of Beginners are the choice that gets you to month three.
- Put it in the diary as an appointment. Give it a time. An activity with no time attached is the first thing to be dropped.
- Begin with fifteen minutes. Not an hour. The session you actually do is worth infinitely more than the perfect one you postpone.
- Accept that the first few days feel awkward. Not only physically. The hard part is giving yourself permission to take up that space.
Where to start
f you have never trained, the starting point is Pilates Linfodrenante® Beginners: two months to build the foundations.
If you are short on time or have small children at home, Pilates Linfodrenante® Express: fifteen minutes a day.
When you are ready for the next step, the full 9-month programme to tone, drain and debloat.
If you have given birth recently, the starting point is Pilates Diastasis & Postpartum.
Frequently asked questions
How do you start exercising if you have never done it in your life?
By starting with a programme designed for people beginning from nothing, rather than with the level that sounds more serious. Pilates Linfodrenante® Beginners runs for two months and builds the foundations: breathing, activating the deep muscles, controlling the movement. It needs no preparation, no experience and no equipment beyond a mat. Angela started having never trained before in her life.
Can you do Pilates with no experience at all?
Yes, and it is in fact one of the best approaches for a complete beginner, because it is low impact, works on the deep muscles, and requires no coordination or baseline strength. Someone who has never trained also has an often underrated advantage: no incorrect habits to correct, so the body responds faster.
How do you find time to exercise with small children?
By shrinking the size of the ask. An hour a day is unrealistic with small children; fifteen or thirty minutes is not. The sessions are done at home, including with the children in the same room, and no equipment is needed. Angela has two children aged one and eight, lives far from her family and has nobody to look after them.
How long does it take to see the first results starting from nothing?
The first sensations, meaning less bloating and lighter legs, often arrive within one to two weeks. Visible changes in how clothes fit between the third and fourth week. A clear change in photographs generally between the sixth and eighth. Complete beginners tend to see results faster than people who have trained for years, because there is more room for improvement.
Should you start with Beginners or with the intermediate programme?
If you have never trained, start with Beginners. Angela began at intermediate and it worked for her, but the Beginners programme substantially reduces the chance of giving up in the first few weeks, which is the only variable that really matters at the start. Two months of foundations are not lost time: they are what makes everything afterwards sustainable.
Can you do all of it at home, without equipment?
Yes. You need a mat. Some classes use a ball or a resistance band, and in the no-mat section you do not even need that. No gym membership and nobody to look after the children.
If you have been thinking about starting for years, the only thing missing is the day.
