Ready To Workout: Starting A Fitness Routine

If you’re ready to workout, then its time to jump on a routine!

The New Year is almost upon us! A few more months and it’ll be 2020, crazy right? This is the time to get ahead of the game and decide that, in this new decade, you’re ready to workout.

Daunting as the idea may be, it’s great to start thinking of how much time you can dedicate to loving your body, even if it’s 10 minutes a day. Don’t think of this as a punishment, think of this as loving yourself so much that you want to commit some designated time to sweat.

Where to begin?

You’re determined to get your perspiration on, congratulations, friend! Here are a few beginner steps to take to get you started on your new fitness routine.

First, forget everything you’ve been told about going to the gym. The problem with most of the advice we’re given is that it’s too overwhelming. They say, “go to the gym 3 times a week,” “stop eating processed food,” “exercise for an hour,” and “lower your calorie intake.” These are all things we know we should do, but let’s be real, that’s asking too much at the beginning.

If you’re anything like me, you hear all of this and just feel overwhelmed. Then you decide to open the fridge, treat yourself to something that’s fairly unhealthy, and tell yourself that you’ll start next week. It’s a vicious cycle.

First, ask yourself how much time you want to spend at the gym, not how much time you can spend at the gym. You could probably spend an hour, but do you really want to spend an hour? Probably not.

Let’s say you want to dedicate 15 minutes to working out - great, that’s a start.

What kind of workouts should you do?

Before you go to the gym, you need to think about what your intended goal is. Do you want to lose weight? Tone? Gain muscle? Lift weights? Once you’ve decided what you want to do, hop on your smartphone and do a little research on two to three exercises for your intended goal.

There are a lot of examples on Instagram for you to research. Just put in a hashtag like #absworkout or #buttworkout (cause booty gains), and you’ll find thousands of videos on different exercises to try. Save your top three.

Now, head to the gym! If you don’t have a gym membership, you can find at-home options too. Once you’re at the gym, find the stretching area (if you’re not using a machine or free weights) and bust out your phone to try out one of the saved exercise videos. Don’t forget to stretch first!

Try mimicking the exercise while being mindful of your form. If you can find a mat and do the exercise in front of the mirror, even better! Do 1-2 sets of 10-12 reps each. See how you feel and repeat that for the other two exercises you chose. 

That’s it! If you feel like you want to stay a little longer, repeat the sequence. Don’t overwhelm yourself with thinking you need to stay at the gym for a full hour. Don’t beat yourself up. 

What kind of foods should you eat?

Don’t stress about what you should or shouldn’t eat just yet. First, build the habit of going to the gym once a week, then add another day after a month. There’s no reason you should try and add a strenuous routine, then feel like you’re failing because you can’t keep up with it. Be kind to yourself while you build your new healthy habits. 

Once you’ve learned to be consistent, you’ll start loving the gym. Don’t expect results right away, and that’s okay! First, work on the consistency and then you can start making additional changes as you take on this new fitness journey.

Helpful Resources

When you’re ready to start making changes to your food intake, take a look at some of these helpful resources to get you started.

This article by Forbes is a great place to start. You can incorporate these simple steps to start eating healthy.

Healthline has a great beginner’s guide to healthy eating.

Nerd Fitness provides this humorous guide to eating food without being miserable.

Remember when you’re ready to workout, start with small changes. These incremental changes will make a huge difference in the long haul. Try to enjoy the journey. It’ll get easier, I promise. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t go to the gym for a few weeks. Just jump back into it. This isn’t a race; it’s a lifestyle journey that you should embrace and love.