12 Workout Tips For Beginners

12 Workout Tips For Beginners

So you're wanting to start working out? Let me be the first to tell you that I'm proud of you, and I too, know what it's like to begin a fitness journey. It can be exciting and frustrating. Jumping in with both feet can have you throwing the towel in before week two, so I'm glad you're here to learn the best ways to begin your journey.

Getting fit is doable, but trying to do everything, right away will overwhelm you before you ever had the opportunity to see your body react to your efforts. Laying down a strong foundation is vital to your weight loss success. No matter what you do, do it consistently! Consistency is the number one piece of advice I can give you.

So let's jump in because I'm excited for you to get started!

1-Why Are You Working Out?

Knowing your why is critical when starting a workout program. Why do you want to get fit? Do you want a better body? Do you want to feel better? Try to dig a little deeper and uncover some real reasons why you need to work out. When you get serious about why you need to change, your motivation will stay with you throughout the process.

2-Patience

I know you've heard this a million times, but patience goes a long way, especially when you want to transform your body. Exercising for a few days, and not seeing a difference derails many. We're human, and we want what we want, right now. However, the body needs your patience to work its magic. Your body will mold the way you want it, but you have to trust the process and avoid tearing yourself apart.

3-Schedule

Be realistic about your schedule. If you decide to exercise three days a week, be sure to put it on your calendar. However, if you're super busy with work and kids, don't set your goal to work out five days a week. You'll only set yourself up for disappointment. In the beginning, start minimal to see how it gels with your daily routine. Once you get started, you'll quickly see where you can add more days to your fitness regimen.

4-Avoid the Scale

If I could shout this from the mountain tops, I would! Stay away from the scale when you begin to workout! Your body will retain extra fluid in the beginning, as your body is experiencing tiny micro-tears in the muscles. Your body recognizes this as an injury; therefore, it will retain water to repair itself. Micro-tears are good when it comes to sculpting your muscles. With retaining more fluid, the scale will go up. Most fall prey to this occurrence and begin thinking they're doing it all wrong. Your body will eventually release the extra fluid, and the scale will go down.

5-Start Small

Please don't think you need to work out every single day to get fit. Even the fittest of fit, don't work out every day. You also don't need to exercise for an entire hour. Start small by doing a short circuit, three times around. End your session with a ten to fifteen-minute walk. If you overdo it, you'll be miserable and finding excuses to avoid it altogether. You build from the short circuit every passing week. Remember, you want a strong foundation, and taking baby steps is the key to your success.

6-Get Geared Up

Be sure to invest in a high-quality shoe that fit your foot and your workout style. Do your research and find the shoe that helps prevent you from injuries and back pain. You want to feel comfortable while working out, so be sure to buy some nice exercise clothes that let the body breath and stretches with you. Besides that, who doesn't look forward to having something cute and new to wear to work out in?

7-Proper Form

I cannot stress this enough; you must learn the proper form when it comes to exercise. Injuries can lead to long-term issues, and yes, derail you from all your goals. Squats, lunges, and engaging your abs are exercises that require a proper form. Do your research or ask a fitness professional to guide you doing these movements correctly. Doing these exercise movements improperly will only add pain to your game!

8-Take Active Rest Days

Active rest days are days in which you take a break from your usual fitness regimen, but keep your body moving, doing things you enjoy. Not only does your body need a break from the daily grind of your life, but mentally we need to recharge to keep us moving forward and inspired to work towards our goals. Active rest days allow you to check out, relax, but keep your body on a routine. Hiking, biking, yoga, swimming, skiing, and a simple walk are just a few options. Pick something that you look forward too and invite loved ones to join you. You never know who you may inspire to live a healthy life!

9-Warmup And Cool Down

I know you want to get your workout in and over with so you can move on with your day. However, allowing yourself adequate time to warm up and cool down will only further your fitness abilities. Warm-up by slowly walking on a treadmill or take a short, brisk walk. Do a few jumping jacks or mountain climbers. Cooldown by stretching the muscles that are nice and warm from your workout. By utilizing a warm-up and a cool-down, you're helping the body prevent injuries, and lengthening those muscles.

10-Prepare The Night Before

Always layout all of your workout clothes, shoes, and your headphones the night before. It never fails, we wake up early, intending to exercise, and we rush around trying to find something to put on or where did we lay our headphones? Before we know it, the time has passed, and we no longer have the hour we had planned to get our workout in. Laying out everything, even down to your socks, keeps us from using any excuse to forgo our exercises for the day. Meals need to be prepped, packed, and ready to grab so we stick with our goals!

11-Set Rewards

We all love to have something to look forward too. When there is a light at the end of the tunnel, we can push through the tough things. Set up a reward system to keep you motivated and pushing forward. You can do daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals, or yearly goals. Use only the rewards you absolutely love to keep you working hard. Books, massages, your favorite meal, movie night, or travel are just a few things you can put as your rewards.

12-Be Kind

I saved this for last, as I feel as it is the most important one! Be kind to yourself. Fitness is not flawless, and we are all far from perfect. Tearing yourself apart for not working out hard enough, or for long enough, or dropping pounds fast enough is no way to keep yourself wanting to stick with your goals. Think about how you would encourage your loved ones to accomplish goals in life. You wouldn't shame them for having a bad day. You wouldn't tell them how awful they were. Of course not, you'd say to them to keep it up and cheer them on, as you should for yourself.

Starting out in fitness will test your patience and perseverance. You have to fight to stick with it. Motivation will not find you; you must find motivation. You'll have to dig deep on days you feel like quitting. However, the rewards your body will give you are worth every bit of it, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Patience and consistency will lead to success, and you must believe that. Our bodies react the way it wants to and how fast it wants to. Don't miss out on the small victories your body shows you daily. The scale won't be your best friend in this journey, and you must learn to recognize progress without it.

Take note of how you feel because as much as we want to look better, the whole notion of working out is to feel better. We have nothing without our health, so remind yourself of that when you're heading off to exercise. It's a process, but your health depends on it!

If you need some fun, simple ways to keep you on track and inspired, please sign up below to be on the inside loop of tricks and tools to fast track you to all of your goals. I'd love to be a guiding light on your path too greatness.

Aimee Schwinabart is the founder of The Purely Fit—online workouts, nutrition, and fitness coaching that actually work! She specializes in short (super effective) daily workouts combined with customized nutrition plans to help real people shed excess fat to reveal toned, lean muscles. The Purely Fit approach to looking and feeling great prioritizes small, steady, super efficient workouts and nutrition upgrades to help you stay with it once and for all!