Why being bad at something new is good for you

Mind · 7 minute read

Most of us stop doing things we’re bad at once work and kids arrive, and it costs us. Being a beginner again does real good for your brain and your mood.

The last thing most of us learnt from scratch was installing the car seat, and only because we had to. You’ve still got the knack. The spare hour to be bad in is what’s gone, because your kids and your work need you to be the one who knows what she’s doing. So the class you’ve been curious about stays on the list.

What a new skill does to your brain

Your brain still rewires at 40, and it rewires most when you’re bad at something. Older adults who spent three months learning to quilt or to work a digital camera improved their memory in one trial, and the ones who spent the same hours chatting or doing easy puzzles gained much less. You don’t have their hours. The point is that being bad at it was what made the difference.

The same goes for physical skills. People in their 60s who were taught to juggle grew the part of the brain that tracks movement. They never got as good as the 20-year-olds in the same study, and their brains changed anyway.

Why the lift after a class is bigger when you’re new

Part of that lift is plain exercise. Moving eases low mood and anxiety by what researchers call a medium-sized amount, which in this kind of research is a lot, and that comes from the biggest look at the evidence there is. The rest is the newness. Brain scans show the cells that release dopamine fire hardest for something new, and dopamine is what makes you want to do the thing again. It’s a plausible story more than a settled one, and it fits what people describe: a mild dread on the drive there, and a lift on the drive home out of proportion to what you did.

Book a class

How confidence gets built

You’re waiting to feel confident before you book, and it works the other way round. The thing that best predicts whether a woman keeps coming to a class is whether she believes she can do it, ahead of how much she enjoys it or who she knows there. That belief gets built in the room, so in our experience the second and third classes matter more than the first. At 40 with a family the hard part is hours, and a strength or spin class gives you 45 minutes with someone else in charge and your phone in your bag.

Doing it in a room with other people

At the first class you’re a visitor. By the fifth you’re someone who does boxing, and she’s a much easier person to get out the door on a cold night. The groups we belong to become part of how we see ourselves, which is one explanation researchers give for why a group is easier to stick with than a program you do alone.

How much movement to aim for

The national guideline asks for some strength work on two days a week and some mobility and balance work on three, on top of moving most days. A strength class and a yoga class covers most of it, and nearly three in four of us aren’t doing the strength part, so if a kettlebell is new to you, you’re in good company.

Choosing your first class

Pick the one you’re curious about, and if two appeal, pick the one that scares you less.

• Reformer Pilates. Everyone in the class does the same session, so pick a beginners class off the timetable and the whole room is starting out.
• Yoga. Flow is the moving one, poses linked by your breath. Yin is the still one, mostly on the floor in long, supported stretches.
• Strength. Strength Foundations is where you start if you haven’t lifted before, and technique comes before load.
• Boxing. Gloves on and combinations on the pads taught step by step, with no sparring and no contact.
• Spin. 45 minutes on a bike riding intervals the instructor calls. You set how hard it is with the dial on the bike, and there’s nothing to memorise.

If you’re new to All for One, the Intro Pass at Yarraville and Hampton East is the way in: five classes from the studio timetable plus two infrared sauna sessions over 14 days. Physio-led classes such as Clinical Pilates are booked separately, and Kensington has physio, Clinical Pilates and massage but no studio classes.

Your first class, step by step

1. 1Say it’s your first timeTell the teacher at the door and ask where to set up, and the room just got smaller.
2. 2Set the bar at finishingTake the easier option when the teacher offers one and stay to the end.
3. 3Book the second one before you leaveDo it in the app while it’s fresh, and tell the teacher you’ll see them next week.

The takeaway

Being bad at something new is uncomfortable, and that discomfort is your brain learning something. The only way to feel confident about a class is to have done a few, so pick the one you’ve been circling and give yourself three or four sessions before you decide anything.