After procrastinating since January, you’ve finally decided to start working out. Since you haven’t exercised in a long time, if ever, you’re unsure how to get started. If you’re an exercise beginner, consider the following 5 tips to help you get fit fast.
5 Tips for Exercise Beginners to Get Fit Fast
Develop Fitness Goals
The first step in your journey to get fit fast is to develop fitness goals. After all, how will you know you’re succeeding if you don’t set benchmarks to guide your progress? When creating objectives, you need to think both short-term and long-term. For instance, a short-term goal might be to fit into a smaller pair of jeans while a long-term aspiration may be to run a marathon. While you should make your objectives challenging, they should also be realistic.
Join a Gym
One of the best things an exercise beginner can do to increase the odds of success is to join a gym. Gyms offer fitness newbies a plethora of advantages such as:
- A variety of both cardio and strength-training workout equipment
- The opportunity to work with personal trainers
- An array of group fitness classes
- Many opportunities for social interaction with other gym patrons
- A comfortable, dry place to workout in when the weather is brutal outside
In addition to these benefits, joining a gym might provide you with the accountability you need to start working out regularly. After investing your finances in a gym membership, you will probably increase your likelihood of sticking to a fitness program.
Don’t Forget Your Diet
If you desire to lose weight and gain a svelte figure, you must burn more calories than you consume each day. Certainly, exercising regularly will help you incinerate excess calories. However, working out alone likely won’t be enough to help you reach your goals. You need to concentrate on your diet as well. Strive to eat a balanced diet filled with delicious:
- Lean proteins
- Whole grains
- Vegetables
- Fruits
- Nuts
- Seeds
- Low-fat dairy products
Also, be vigilant about portion sizes. For instance, nuts are a great source of protein, fiber, monounsaturated fat, and polyunsaturated fat. Unfortunately, they are relatively calorie dense. So, instead of eating a whole can of walnuts at the time, eat a handful.
Nuts, and other healthy sources of protein make great post-workout snacks. After completing a vigorous session at the gym, you should eat something within an hour. While exercising, your body expends nutrients. So, when you finish working out, you need to replace these lost nutrients. Eating also helps your muscles, bones, and joints recover from the stress received during your workout.
Learn from Your Slipups
If you’re an exercise beginner, you’re bound to make a few mistakes along the way. Whenever you a slipup happens, shrug it off. More importantly, learn from it. For example, you might constantly catch yourself snacking on unhealthy foods during the mid-morning hours. To end this unhealthy habit, you might decide to eat a more substantial breakfast complete with excellent sources of fiber and lean protein. Or, you may conclude you need to bring a healthy, mid-morning snack to the office.
Schedule Some Rest Days
Some exercise newbies make the mistake of trying to work out every day of the week. While striving to visit the gym every day is admirable, it isn’t advisable. Working out too much too soon will likely lead to exercise burnout. Even worse, you might succumb to painful injuries. To improve your odds of long-term, fitness success, always schedule some rest days into your week.
If you’ve made the decision to begin exercising, congratulations. You are doing something that will probably enhance both your physical and emotional health for years to come. If you’re an exercise beginner, think about incorporating the aforementioned 5 tips into your fitness routine. You might see results faster and stick with your exercise journey longer.
