As a newb to fitness, it can feel overwhelming but it doesn’t have to be. Trust me! As a newb, working towards a simple and manageable process will build your confidence and consistency. Let’s get into a little outline of 7 simple and effective fitness tips to help you ease into your new growth and journey.
1. Start Small and Be Consistent
One of the biggest mistakes newbs make is doing too much too soon. It’s easy to want to jump into longer and more intense workouts, but that’s not the best option right now. Instead, start small. It could be 20 minutes of walking, light stretching, or even bodyweight exercises. The most important thing is that you create and stick to it until it becomes a habit and rolls into your lifestyle.
What can you do consistently? If you can only work out 2-3 times a week to start with that’s perfect. You’ll build up to being able to train several times a week. Do you see yourself adding more exercise days or even increasing your workouts? This requires a commitment to creating a routine, the consistency of the first part of this tip will always be more important than the intensity of your workouts to start with.
2. Set Realistic Goals
Setting specific goals will give you a big boost to stick to it. Those goals must be realistic and specific. Doing things like, “I want to get fit,” or, “I want to lose weight,” are too vague. Breaking that down to small, measurable goals like working out 3 times a week or being able to run for 10 minutes without stopping by the end of the month is much more useful.
When you set goals you can achieve you’ll be motivated and can see progress along the way to your goals. This will also give you a sense of accomplishment for achieving your smaller goals.
3. Learn the Form First
Before you try to lift weights or do more complex exercises learn the form first. This is a big deal if you’re trying new exercises like the squat, lunge, or deadlift, good form helps you engage the right muscles and avoid injuries.
If you’re unsure how to do an exercise, look up tutorial videos online or ask a trainer at the gym. You can try bodyweight progressions before adding resistance or weights if you’re unsure how much weight to start with. Either way, solidify repetitions over resistance—meaning focus on the movement quality first and then the reps or weight or height of the movement second or third.
4. Incorporate Strength Training
Many first-time movements will be predominately aerobic based because they are relatively easy. However, strength training is where significantly better results will occur. Strength training allows action-based muscle development to occur allowing more muscle mass increasing metabolism and therefore everyday functionality. Also, it gives your body a more toned look and a better posture.
If you’re a beginner to strength training, start with bodyweight movements like squats, push-ups, and basic holds like plank. You certainly do not need to purchase all the latest gadgets to get started with strength training based on bodyweight exercises.
Once comfortable with the last suggestion, if interested you can progress to weights or resistance bands. Aim to do strength training two to three times a week.
As a beginner or first-time strength trainer, this is one better way to develop in the sequential progression areas at each session. Additionally, it is okay to use light weights until your body adapts to strength training.
5. Mix Up Your Workouts
Doing the same workout day in and day out can bore you to death—and that’s when motivation drops. To keep everything fresh and keep your body guessing, change up your routines. Try a different focus of exercise, whether it is cardio, strength, or something else entirely like yoga, swimming, or any form of exercise.
Variety usually not only keeps you engaged but will also work different muscle groups while keeping plateaus away. On Monday, you may do a strength workout; on Wednesday, jog; on Friday, do yoga. Changing things up will help make sure your body gets stronger and it will make it more enjoyable!
6. Monitor Your Body
As a beginner, you need to observe your body. To observe your body is more than just stopping when you feel pain. It’s needed to observe when you’ve gone too far or need a break which is different from engaging and challenging your body this is pushing too far.
It’s normal to feel sore after a workout; assessments of annoying was an expected experience. If you feel sharp or constant pain after an exercise, you should either stop that exercise or pause; learn what feels annoying and can go on or not.
As a beginner, you need to accept that you will need time to feel fresh for your next physical activity. Your muscles need time to recover after an anaerobic or aerobic intense activity.
Also, monitor how you feel during your workout. If anything feels uncomfortable as you go through an exercise, stop what you’re doing and go back to the previous exercise. Follow, even if you need to adjust or reduce the intensity of the exercise. As you go through your fitness journey, it’s lifelong and should build in risk for you as little as possible, especially from the very beginning of growing towards fitness.
7. Proper Nutrition-A Must for Your Physical Training
Working out is half the whole package. Choosing the right food is equally important if not more so especially when you want to feel good and see good results after physical activity. Just remember to take a balanced diet rich in nutrients that will boost your performance and recover after intense exercises.
This means a lot of real food such as lean protein, fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats. Such foods will give you enough energy to fuel your workouts and recover your muscles after. Also, don’t forget to drink enough fluids, especially water because it’s essential while exercising.
Don’t cut down food to almost anything or fast for a day or two. All that has been done from the exercises, the body will amusingly consume itself to perform well, yes one can eat less and the body will compensate by getting energy from the muscles which will make one weak and slow in terms of recovery and may lead to muscle wastage as well. Only eating less will get you far, focus on what you’re ingesting to get ahead in your fitness goals.
Find a Workout Buddy
For those who are easily discouraged, exercise with a friend or family member is the best solution. Be it a friend, a family member, or even a colleague, exercising with other people helps with accountability and makes all exercises more fun. And it’s only human nature to honor our commitment when we know someone else is watching us
Keeping in mind that, a fitness journey is possibly uncomplicated, regarding the choosing to keep informed about your body, whether it raises issues or not.
if you remain relatively consistent up to the specifications of your movement and notice your fatigue for your body’s well-being, you may — permanently be taking out some endured misery of physical fitness; or utilize that form as the fresh and invigorating feeling of physical fitness.
