When you’ve been lazing around all your life, spending most days on an office chair or your couch, it’s not really all that easy to suddenly do regular workouts. But you can do it, especially when you finally realize that exercising is crucial for your health.
With the right exercises, you can maintain or lose your weight. You can improve your cardiovascular health, which matters a lot especially with how heart disease is a very common cause of death these days. The right exercises can make you better at sports or just make you stronger. It even helps with your social life, since being fit makes you look more attractive in general.
So, how do you get started? Here are some steps you can take:
Start with a Visit to Your Doctor
It’s important that you get your health checked by your doctor before you start working out. That’s because your doctor can then make sure that you don’t have any current health issues that you haven’t addressed yet. You’ll have to deal with any serious health issues first.
Your workout can also help you optimize your workout. When you know your current health and fitness status, you’ll be aware of your limitations. You’ll also have a better idea of which fitness goals to go for.
Reasonable Goals
What exactly do you want to achieve with your workout? It can be a simple matter of doing enough cardio as your doctor suggests.
If you’re trying to lose weight, then you have to make your goals reasonable. If you’re 100 pounds overweight, then you can’t expect to lose all that excess weight within a week, or even within a month. It’s more reasonable to aim for maybe 1 or 2 pounds gone each week, and that’s 4 to 8 pounds a month.
The same goes for building bigger muscles. That will also take time, and most people can’t just aim to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime. And don’t be tempted to try shortcuts like anabolic steroids. Those come with more problems than benefits, which is why they’re banned in most sports leagues.
Warm Up
Before each workout, warm up properly. A good warmup boosts your flexibility and will reduce soreness afterwards. It will also improve your performance, and reduces the risk of injury.
For your warmup, you can do walking lunges, leg kicks, and arm swings. Or you can do easier versions of what you’re planning for the workout of the day. If the plan is to go jogging, then a brisk walk for a few minutes can warm you up nicely.
Cool Down
Once you’re done working out, you should also cool down properly. You can do some stretches after lifting weights, or some light walking after a run.
This will help you get back to a more normal breathing pattern, and it may also help reduce soreness afterwards.
Sample Weekly Workout Schedule
Here’s a nice workout schedule you can try out at home. It’s also adjustable to suit your current fitness level.
Monday
A brisk walk or a jog at a moderate pace for 40 minutes. This gets you started slowly.
Tuesday
Take a break
Wednesday
A brisk walk for 10 minutes, but that’s just the start.
Next, complete a circuit of 3 sets. Each set has you doing 10 lunges (alternating with each leg), 10 pushups, and 10 sit-ups. Rest for 60 seconds after each set.
Then there’s a second circuit of another 3 sets. This time, you need to do 10 chair dips, 10 jumping jacks, and 10 air squats. Again, rest for a full minute after each set.
This entire workout actually won’t take too long. It may take about 45 minutes. Don’t forget to stretch afterwards.
Thursday
It’s another rest day.
Friday
You can go for a moderate-pace jog or a bike ride for 30 minutes.
Saturday
Rest again.
Sunday
A long walk or jog for 40 minutes.
Final Words
It’s probably best if you can find a gym like Blink Fitness, which offers personal trainers to help guide you throughout the whole workout process. The trainer can help you set reasonable goals, plan a workout schedule, and exercise without hurting yourself. They may also help motivate you, which is another main issue with workout newbies. Without the proper motivation, quitting becomes all too likely!