Starting a Fitness Regime for Beginners

My last post discussed how important a healthy diet is for weight loss, more important than exercise. But that doesn’t mean exercise isn’t important too. Exercising will help speed up your results, it’ll give you more energy, it’ll make you happier, it will help you burn more calories (muscle burns more calories than fat), and it’ll make you look healthy and toned, instead of lanky.

Some people, myself included, are far too embarrassed to exercise in front of anyone in the beginning. This means that the gym is a no-go, but there are other options.

There are hundreds of workout DVDs available, and even more free videos on YouTube. Just do a quick search for “home workout for beginners” and you’ll see what I’m talking about. If you’d like to start with something a little more structured, you can subscribe to many different fitness plans that tell you exactly what to do and when to do it. Check out my reviews on the Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guide to get a good understanding of exactly what these plans are and how they work.

Whatever you decide to do, it’s important to get a combination of weight training and cardio in. A good 20 to 30 minute weight session 3 times a week, and 2 or 3 20 to 30 minute cardio sessions will set you on a great path to fitness and weight loss.

Until you’ve learnt a bit about exercise and weight training, I suggest you start with a guide, like a DVD or YouTube videos. Otherwise you’ll end up doing what I did, which was flail around unproductively.

Cardio is pretty easy to figure out, you run. But some people don’t enjoy running, so luckily there’s heaps of other options!

• Fast walking
• Swimming
• Dancing
• Even sex!

So, to get yourself organised, make a workout schedule! Monday to Sunday, give yourself 1 or 2 rest days, and then alternate the other days with weight training and cardio. Think ahead to when in the day you’ll get your workouts done, and make sure you’ve got your equipment ready, like a water bottle, towel, yoga mat, and maybe some hand weights depending on what workouts you’ll be doing. Then get moving!!