New to Working Out?
Congratulations on your first step to living a healthier lifestyle! Maybe you’ve done a quick Google, Youtube, or worse TikTok search and you’re overwhelmed with the amount of information out there? Don’t stress, here are some basic principles to help you.
1. Don’t Overdo It
You know the old tortoise and the hare story; slow and steady wins the race. Don’t feel like you have to go all out, even better you probably shouldn’t go all out when you first start. Here’s why:
Going too hard too fast will cause you to burn out both mentally and physically. Your body needs to rest and recover from workouts. Otherwise you’re just overtraining.
Overtraining is a problem. Whether your goals are too lean out, build muscle, or just be healthy overtraining will prohibit you from hitting your goals. Overtraining leads to injury, which will only set you back to the beginning. Overtraining can also cause bad sleep! Guess what, sleep is part of your recovery! Long story short, don’t overdo it. You’re just going to hurt yourself. It’s tempting to try and do more when you first start out because we’re impatient, but don’t. Trust the process and stay consistent and you’ll get the results you want.
2. Something Is Better Than Nothing
Something is better than nothing. Get in the gym, that is the hardest part.
Everybody has bad days, nobody is 100% every single day and that’s okay. Hopefully you have a workout partner or someone holding you accountable to this new adventure, but if not that’s okay too. Just get in the gym and do something.
A short workout, a workout at 50%, or just a session on a treadmill, bike, or any other machine is likely better than the alternative. Don’t forget that and don’t beat yourself on those occasional days when you can’t give it your all because you had a rough couple of days, stressed from work, not feeling good, don’t have time, whatever it is. Something is always better than nothing, just stay consistent and show up.
3. Eat Right
I’m not telling you to go buy a subscription to a macro counter or to even necessarily count your macros right off the bat. It may not be necessary for you at this time. The biggest concern when you’re starting should be, what you are eating.
Eat what supports your goals. If you’re trying to get leaner, don’t keep eating pizza and McDonald’s every day. Fast food is only going to counteract what you’re doing in the gym. Think about the time you’ve spent in the gym and the time you’re going to spend there, do you really want to offset all that work?
Of course, I’m not telling you to go get on a super strict diet, but I am telling you that you should replace some of the bad with some good. Like I said before, don’t overdo it. If you go super strict on a diet right off the bat, you’re going to hate your life and you’ll never adhere to it in the long run. Slow and steady wins the race.
Go from this:
To This:
You Can Do This!
You can do this, don’t worry about all the noise. Remember these 3 things to help you while you’re getting started. It might get tough and discouraging at times, but you got this.
Take progress pictures, measurements, whatever you need to so you can see progress and know you’re doing the right things and staying on track. Good luck!