Start Sweating! A Beginner’s Guide to Beginning Exercise

Starting an exercise routine can feel intimidating, especially if you’ve never exercised consistently before. As someone who went from a couch potato to fitness junkie, I’ve picked up plenty of tips for beginners just starting on their fitness journey.

Implementing just a few of these strategies makes easing into regular workouts totally doable. Read on to learn how you can start exercising in a way that’s effective yet sustainable.

Set Achievable Goals

Jumping straight into a 6 day per week hardcore training regimen is a surefire way to burn out fast. Avoid arbitrarily picking challenging fitness goals without considering your current abilities.

Here’s a smarter goal setting approach:

Define your “why.” What exactly do you want from adding regular exercise? Improved health? Weight loss? Increased energy? Identifying your motivations allows picking workouts efficiently targeting your aims.

Make S.M.A.R.T. goals. That means Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-based. For example, “I will walk briskly for 30 minutes 5 days per week for the next 3 months to improve cardiovascular health.”

Focus on consistency first. Sweating buckets or going full throttle every session isn’t necessary, especially early on. Just develop the habit of actually doing some form of movement daily. Intensity expands naturally as your fitness improves.

Pick Enjoyable Activities

Finding exercises you truly relish doing increases chances of sticking to the routine long-term. If you despise or dread the activity, it’s near impossible to motivate consistently.

• Experiment with types of movement that seem appealing, from dance and martial arts to hiking and cycling. Discover options matching your interests.
• Focus on fun. For those newer to working out, performance should be secondary to enjoyment. Play lively music or watch a show while walking on the treadmill, for example.
• Do group classes if competition and camaraderie helps you push harder. Yoga studios, boutique spin chains and CrossFit boxes build community while coaching proper form.

The goal is choosing sustainable, engaging workouts you eagerly look forward to versus simply force yourself through.

Start Slowly and Build Up

Blasting at maximum intensity from your first sweat sesh is a sure path to painful muscle soreness causing days long recovery. Slow ramp ups prevent burnout.

• Begin with lighter resistance on any weights, lower intensity cardio intervals, or simpler modifications of moves during classes. You can always increase later.
• Start with shorter durations even just 10-15 minutes of walking or basic bodyweight circuits. Gradually add minutes week-to-week.
• Take proper rest days especially starting out. Muscles and minds need time to recover and repair between session to grow stronger.

With this conservative approach, your fitness improves steadily without the rollercoaster of rapid post-workout recoveries.

Make Exercise a Habit

Motivation inevitably fluctuates day to day. Developing the habit of exercising helps power through off days where you feel less inspired. Here’s how:

• Schedule workouts at consistent times, on your calendar treating them as seriously as other obligations. Mornings often work well.
• Tie workouts to an existing habit. Do them immediately after your coffee each morning or getting home from work, for example, to integrate them into your routine.
• Find a workout buddy to join you, even if virtually. Accountability to someone else and added camaraderie makes it harder to skip sessions.

On days you really don’t feel like exercising, promise yourself to just suit up and show up. Usually just getting moving energizes you to complete the full session.

Invest in Proper Gear

Wearing unsupportive shoes for running or attempting jumping jacks without a sports bra both spell pain and problems. Investing in the right gear makes exercising more effective and comfortable.

Shoes matter most. Get properly fitted for workout specific athletic shoes at specialty stores catering to your chosen activities like running, court sports or cross-training.

Moisture wicking clothes keep you cool and dry during sweat sessions. Seek fabrics like polyester blends. Thick cottons become sweaty dead weight.

Prep accessories like water bottles, towels, training gloves, hats, and shades to have essentials at the ready.

While pricey initially, quality gear protects from injury and makes exercising feel great.

Stretch and Warm Up

Tight muscles sore easily and straining cold fibers risks tears. Well executed warmups and flexibility training prevents these issues.

• Do light dynamic stretches before exercise as warm up. Shoulder rolls, bodyweight squats, jumping jacks to get blood flowing into muscles.
• Static stretching after workouts when muscles are still warm increases range of motion safely. Hold gentle stretches like quad pulls and calf stretches for 30 seconds.
• Yoga improves functional flexibility. Try beginner friendly Hatha or Yin sequences 1-2 times per week to move through fuller ranges of motion.

Fuel Your Body Properly

No workout fuels exist matching proper nutrition and hydration. Attempting exercise depleted or dehydrated diminishes performance fast.

• Hydrate well starting hours before and continuing during and after workouts. Water is best, but electrolyte drinks replenish salts sweated out.
• Eat protein and complex carbs 1-2 hours pre-workout for sustained energy. Think oatmeal, eggs, peanut butter toast or chicken and rice.
• Allow digestion before intense cardio. Eat smaller snacks if moving soon after meals. The blood diverted to muscles during exercise reduces available oxygen for digesting large amounts of food.

With the right habits around activity preparation, recovery techniques and smart progression, starting exercise no longer needs to terrify beginners. Implement some of these tips to cut through the overwhelm. Then gradually build up your routine in ways that optimize enjoyment and long-term consistency.

You’ve totally got this! Here’s to your new journey toward improved fitness and health.