How To Start Working Out

Whether you’re starting for the first time or you’ve been on a lengthy break, starting a new workout routine can be overwhelming. So, how to start working out (again)?

Between work, family, and social obligations, it’s easy to let the stress of “where exercise fits into your schedule” keep you stuck between the couch cushions.

You know that you should workout, and you should eat better.  But you also know if you don’t take action, you’ll probably just should all over yourself.

So if you’ve decided it’s time to take action, this post is all about how to start working out.

Find Exercise You Enjoy

You don’t want to select a type of exercise you don’t enjoy.  The truth is most exercise is effective… if you actually do it.

If you hate running, joining a running club will only be slightly more productive than talking politics at Thanksgiving dinner. 

Does riding an exercise bike make you want to Google relief for chronic ass pain?  Spin classes might not be for you. 

The point is to find the exercises or the group you enjoy and your chances of staying consistent increase dramatically.

Just hate burpees? So do the rest of us. Suck it up and keep reading.

Pick a Good Location

One of the biggest reasons people don’t stay consistent with their workouts is choosing the wrong location. You’ll want to find the best environment for you . Whether it’s a traditional gym, personal training studio, or a garage gym. 

This can be a struggle for people trying to workout at home because they choose a room they associate with relaxation. 

If you’ve developed a meaningful relationship with your couch, it’s unlikely you’ll break that bond and workout in that room . This is why garage gyms are so popular with people committed to working out from home.

If you choose a fitness studio that’s 30 minutes out of your way because your friends go there, you may find that you quickly start to dread the commute.

Many people looking at how to start working out “feel like” their chances of success and consistency are better by recruiting friends.

Although this sounds great in theory, it’s probably the reason Planet Fitness gives out doughnuts because it’s the only way you’ll show up.

If you’re seeking an accountability partner, look for someone who is currently working out consistently, and your chances for success will skyrocket.

Chances are you can find an accountability partner at a location that is convenient for your life. When you find a workout buddy at an inconvenient location, you’ll probably burn most of your calories making excuses.

Start Small, and Set Activity Goals…Not Just Outcome Goals  

It’s easy to get frustrated if you don’t set goals for the activities necessary to reach the desired outcome. Losing 10 lbs might be your outcome goal, but what activities are you going to do to get there.

If you haven’t worked out in the last decade, planning to workout 5 days a week probably won’t end the way you hope. 

It’s shocking how many people go from not training to overtraining , and back to not training. 

Don’t make this mistake and give people a chance to say I told you so. 

Start small with 2 or 3 shorter workouts per week, and slowly increase your frequency and activity level once you’ve built some confidence.

Keep Gym Clothes Accessible

If you’re going to the gym after work, keep a gym bag with a back-up set of clothes & shoes in your car. 

Working out early before going to the office?  Lay your clothes out the night before.  While it seems silly, this lame excuse has derailed more good intentions than Girl Scout cookies.

You Need Both Strength Training and Cardio  

At least 5 times a day someone will put down 10lb dumbbells and tell me they need more cardio. 

Typically speaking, women believe they need more cardio. They worry if they pick up anything heavier than their purse they’re going to get bigger , and possibly recruited for a role in a superhero movie.

Conversely, men tend to focus heavily on strength training and ignore cardio because well…it sucks. (And it does.) But we need cardio. Allegedly.  It’s kind of like broccoli in exercise form. 

Most people prefer one or the other, but we need both cardio and strength training in our weekly routine.

Work With a Personal Trainer

Another reason people don’t stay consistent with working out is not knowing what exercises to do. Nobody wants to feel stupid in a room full of people.

This is one of the reasons busy adults work with personal trainers and avoid traditional gyms. They’re busy, and don’t want to spend the time researching and planning the exercises, sets and reps for their workouts.

High Intensity Interval Training is also great option for people looking for fast and effective workouts that can fit any schedule. HIIT sessions can be a more economical way to work with personal trainers.

Make Your Plan

If you’re planning to workout at a traditional or garage gym, you’ll need to design a program, and what exercises you’ll do.  Keep your goals in mind so you don’t struggle with the balance between progress and variety.

You’ll want to focus on more than just one body part , even if your goal is to have the world’s greatest booty. 

Unless you’re absolutely certain your schedule will permanently accommodate 3 or more strength training sessions per week, you’ll likely benefit from a full body workout rather than a split routine.

If you keep missing leg days, and starting over with upper body days, you increase your chances of ending up on a fitness meme.

We recommend including exercises for all the basic human movements (push, pull, hinge, squat, lunge, rotation and loaded carries).

Don’t be afraid to add kettlebell swings and ab exercises to spice up your workouts.

After you’ve selected your exercises, you’ll need to determine the sets and reps for your workouts.

Once you’ve determined your sets and reps, you’ll be able to select the right weights for those exercises. We recommend warming-up with weights for strength training, and if you’re one of those that likes to jump right into the workout, you may want to program your warm-up sets.

You may encounter people and internet articles recommending training to failure (inability to perform another rep). Here are the 3 reasons we don’t advocate this approach.

Schedule Y our Workouts

“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing and that’s why we recommend it daily.”  – Zig Ziglar

Still wondering how to start working out? I saved this one for last because it’s the most important. If you plan to workout when you feel like it, you’ve already lost.

You can do everything above but if you miss this step, things typically go wrong sooner rather than later.

Treat your workouts like they’re appointments with yourself, and remember that Bosses Don’t Cancel. Don’t negotiate with your “inner bitch” when she wants to reschedule.

You only get 1 body to live in, so treat it better than your house or your car.

Conclusion

Follow these recommendations and you’ll be well on your way to finding a  consistent fitness routine.

Stay mindful of the 80/20 Rule,  as it applies here as well.

If you would like assistance with how to start working out, or finding the best plan for you, click on the button below and apply for our 30 Day Trial.

The post How To Start Working Out appeared first on No Limits Fitness.

About No Limits

No Limits Fitness provides step-by-step programs to help busy adults get the body they’ve always wanted, without restrictive diets or time-consuming workouts, so they can lead more fulfilling lives. Life is a much better experience in a strong, healthy body!

Recent Posts

The Single Biggest Predictor of Success With Your Fitness

By Juan Perez • 03 May, 2024
Every year millions of people make the resolution to improve their fitness. It’s not exactly a secret that the majority of these good intentions will quickly turn into empty promises. When you first get started, your excitement and energy are high and it’s easy to feel like you’re in control and that your will power alone will help you through the difficult days ahead. The reality is that you’ll probably have more days when you don’t “feel” like training. This is the reason we preach Standards Over Feelings because we understand how fundamental this is for human behavior. There have been several studies on human behavior that have helped identify the single biggest predictor of success when it comes to long-term consistency with your fitness. It’s not keeping a gym bag ready and with you at all times…although this helps. Setting your gym clothes out the night before is a great idea…but it’s still not the determining factor. Surprisingly it’s not even having an accountability partner. Schedule in advance when and where you’ll do your training. Everything else is simply in support of this habit. Being accountable to someone you don’t want to disappoint is incredibly helpful, but if you haven’t taken that first step, accountability falls short. Having been that accountability piece for hundreds of people, I’ve been ignored and ghosted more times than I can count. Even my sister stopped responding to text messages and phone calls at one point. (I called our mother but apparently you can’t put an adult on restriction). Scheduling in advance WHEN and WHERE you’ll workout is the single most important step to developing consistency with your fitness. This helps you develop integrity with yourself…if you say you’ll do something, that thing gets done. Period. Show up like a boss and bosses don’t cancel. Your training is time on your calendar dedicated to getting better. The workouts on your calendar become non-negotiable. You don’t wake up and see how you “feel” because you already know there will be days you don’t “feel” like it. In advance, you schedule your training where it best fits into your life with your responsibilities. Once you’ve planned your work, you show up and work the plan. If you fail to plan the work, you’re significantly increasing the likelihood of failure. Ask someone that has been remarkably consistent with their fitness if they know when and where they’ll workout.  This has already been decided. Their feelings aren’t involved in the process. If you truly want to be consistent with your fitness, this habit is a must: Schedule in advance when and where you’ll workout.

Crunch-Free Zone: 5 Exercises For Stronger Abs

By Will Matthiessen • 19 Apr, 2024
Crunches.  The go-to core exercise for a lot of gym goers. Yet, it’s one of the worst ab exercises you can do. Shocking, I know. You’re probably wondering why it’s one of the worst. Crunches put force on your spine and oftentimes strain on your neck. They force your spine into flexion, which is generally what people are told not to do in order to protect their back. Aside from the pressure it puts on your spine, crunches don’t activate your core muscles to the extent that a lot of other dynamic core exercises do. If your goal is to have sculpted abs like a lifeguard on Baywatch, crunches are not your solution. Aside from the aesthetic aspect, a strong core is important for your body’s balance and stability, posture, and reduction of back pain and other injuries. If you want to develop a rock hard core, here is a list of exercises better than the old fashioned crunches that you can start incorporating into your workouts: The Hard Style Plank Put your forearms on the ground and your arms set shoulder width apart. Your arms should be parallel to your body. Once you’re up in the plank, imagine squeezing your elbows to your knees and your knees to your elbows. Don’t be surprised if you start shaking like a leaf as soon as you create that tension. Dead Bugs Lie on your back with your arms straight up and your hands above your shoulders. Bend your legs at a 90-degree angle with your toes facing up at the ceiling. Imagine pushing your belly button into the ground and keeping your body tight enough to where if someone was pulling on your limbs, you’d be able to resist it. Next extend your right arm and left leg at the same time, without touching the ground. Keep pushing your belly button into the ground to avoid arching your back. The right leg that is still bent should stay completely still while the other leg is in motion. Bring your arm and leg back into the start position and then switch sides. When it comes to Dead Bugs, one of our favorite sayings applies: “Slowly is holy. Faster is disaster.” If you want to increase the intensity, add a kettlebell to the stationary arm. If you want to significantly increase the intensity, press the kettlebell once you’ve reached the fully extended position. Reverse Crunches Lie down flat with your back on the floor and your legs straight down, toes pointed up. Press your lower back into the floor and pull in your belly button as you lift your legs together up off the floor. Push your heels through the ceiling at the top and slowly lower them back to the ground. Fun, right? Double Kettlebell March Hold two heavy kettlebells in the racked position. Pull your belly button to your knees and your knees to your belly button to find max tension in your core. Once you feel that tension, slowly lift one knee up 90 degrees and then switch legs. Hollow Rocks I’ve saved the worst (I mean best) for last. Lay down on the ground with your legs a little bit off of the ground as well as your shoulder blades and head. With arms extended over your head, rock back and forth like a banana rocking back and forth on a counter. Or a see-saw…take your pick. Alright, now that I’ve given you the secret sauce to getting rock hard abs, it’s time to get to work people!

How To Lose Weight Without Counting Calories

By Juan Perez • 05 Apr, 2024
One of the first recommendations you’ll hear for someone wanting to lose weight is to begin by counting calories. Although weighing your food and counting calories does work for some people, the reality is that this approach to weight loss has an astonishingly high failure rate. If this strategy is “based in science”, why does it fail more than 95% of the time? The Top 3 Issues With Counting Calories The number of calories in the foods you eat are estimates. This is where the concept of counting calories being “based in science” can be misleading. The FDA allows companies to use 5 different formulas to estimate calories and a standard deviation up to 20% is acceptable. This means that something listed as 150 calories exists on a range between 120 calories and 180 calories. How ripe is your banana? The ripeness affects caloric availability. The second issue is that as individuals we each absorb a different amount of the calories from the food we consume. Thirdly, Americans are notoriously bad at determining healthy portion sizes. Our super-sized culture has heavily influenced our concept of a normal sized portion. The good news is that there is another way to lose weight without counting calories. The Three Pillars of Nutrition Whether or not you’re a card-carrying member of Camp Calorie Counters, the foundation of your nutrition is built upon three pillars: Food Quality, Food Quantity and Food Timing. Food Quality All calories are not created equal. The popular 100 calorie snack bags do not offer the same nutritional value as 100 calories from fruits or vegetables. When the majority of your meals are composed of minimally processed single ingredient whole foods (lean protein, fruits and vegetables), you’re more likely to get the micronutrients your body needs to thrive. Food Quantity As mentioned earlier, Americans aren’t known for our skills at eyeballing healthy portion sizes. Although using a food scale to determine portion sizes can be helpful, it isn’t always practical. This is the reason we recommend learning to use your hand as a guide to determine portion sizes. You can’t take a food scale with you everywhere you go but you’re always allowed to bring your hands!
Show More
Share by: