While on your hunt for the best beginner workout you want to keep in mind that getting in shape is a long term goal. When I was first starting out, I would’ve loved a few workout tips for beginners to get me going on the right track.
There are definitely some incredibly helpful tips that can make a huge difference while you head out on your journey to physical fitness.
Some things I found to be a little more helpful than others over the years. Especially starting out.
I got a lot of advice when I was first starting out trying to get into shape. And a lot of that advice was garbage.
If you’ve struggled to find your fitness groove, you probably know exactly what I’m talking about.
Maybe one of your buddies gave you a tip about losing weight, or your brother explained a technique for building a bigger back, or maybe your phys ed teacher put you on a routine to build up your cardio.
But none of it seems to be working. None of it worked back then and it’s still not working today.
Well, hopefully I’ll be able to pass along some tips that I’ve picked up over the years that you’ll find helpful and get you started on the right foot.
In addition to being helpful, these should make your workouts somewhat more enjoyable and have you looking forward to continuing with your fitness regimen.
I say somewhat more enjoyable because let’s be honest, it’s still work. But if all goes well, eventually, it might even be fun.
OK, let’s not lose our minds over this.
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So one of the best workout tips for beginners that I got many years ago but didn’t take to heart right away is that…
1. It’s Not A Competition
Remember this one? I bet you do! Everybody got this tidbit from somebody in their life at one point or another. Usually during a competition.
Granted, you might be looking to improve your physical fitness for the purpose of competing someday in a marathon or UFC fight or maybe the U.S. Open.
At some point, you might actually be competing against some other people for something. That’s all well and good.
But getting started with getting into shape is not a competition. Don’t look at other people and what they’ve done with their own physical fitness and think you have to be there tomorrow.
That would be crazy. It takes time, patience and drive. You can get there, you just have to give yourself a chance.
When I started out, there were a lot of athletes around me who trained for years.
I made the mistake of comparing myself to them and wondering how long it was going to take before I got anywhere near their levels of fitness.
Despite being told that it’s not a competition, I thought it was starting out. Also, I have a bit of a competitive nature.
So of course, I couldn’t do anything fast enough. I was always rushing. And, I didn’t have any focus.
All those things resulted in my not moving forward and just getting frustrated.
Realize that by deciding to get in shape, you are heading out on a journey that is yours alone. There’s nobody you need to compare yourself to in the beginning.
Do things the right way and when the day comes that you’re actually going to compete in some athletic venture… you’ll be ready. You’ll be ready because you did things the right way from day one.
2. Take Your Time
This workout tip goes nicely with the first. Do not rush.
As I mentioned, I was in a hurry. I suppose everybody always wants results yesterday.
The truth is, getting the results you want is going to take some time.
I can remember rushing into the gym early on and trying to lift the heaviest weights possible for every exercise.
This is of course, a huge waste of time. Your body simply doesn’t work that way.
In fact, if you’re just getting started with strength training, you’re probably better off beginning with just bodyweight exercises.
Believe me. When those kinds of exercises are done right, it can be a killer workout. It also happens to be great for beginners.
Related Article: Best At Home Workout For Beginners To Start Today
If you absolutely feel like you have to be lifting weights right out of the gate, there’s a good way to begin.
I’d also strongly recommend when working out with weights as a beginner you always have a spotter. That’s somebody else there with you to help you lift if it’s too heavy and you can’t complete a rep.
So here’s an idea with how to figure out your starting range for lifting weights.
Put on enough weight so that you can complete one repetition but would struggle to complete a second. That’s why you’ll need a spotter.
This is called your one rep maximum. Then, take that amount and subtract one third of it. What you’re left with should be a good starting weight for that exercise. Shoot for 8 to 10 repetitions at that weight, 3 to 4 sets.
But honestly, just starting out, you’ll really have all that you can handle with bodyweight exercises. After mastering those, you can move on to include weight training.
Trust me, you’ll want to keep the bodyweight exercises as part of your routine forever.
But again, don’t rush. Give yourself time to get where you want to be. Speaking of which, you’ll want to…
3. Figure Out Your Fitness Goal
So you’ve decided you want to get in shape. Or you want to run a marathon. Maybe you want to play in a neighborhood baseball league.
Whatever it is you want to do, think about what kind of fitness regimen will get you there.
If you’re thinking about becoming a runner, there’s a huge community out there. Lots of tips and tricks to get in shape. Mostly, you’ll be focusing on improving your cardio and endurance.
Perhaps you’re just looking to alleviate stress and become more focused. In which case you might want to focus more on yoga and meditation. This will improve your ability to concentrate and your flexibility. Another great community with tons of resources.
Or, you may simply want to get stronger, burn fat and try to lose some weight. Then you’ll want resistance training and an improved diet.
Perhaps you’re pursuing all these things to a certain degree.
Whatever your goal, start with the health and fitness regimen best suited for what it is you’re looking to achieve.
You probably won’t want to spend hours in a gym on a universal weight machine if you’re interested in becoming a long distance runner.
Start with the right tools to get your particular job done.
That being said, don’t be afraid to…
4. Mix Things Up From Time To Time
As focused as you may get in pursuing your physical fitness goals, don’t be afraid to mix it up now and again. This is in my opinion, one of the best workout tips for beginners you’ll find.
The American College of Sports Medicine guidelines recommends a varied training program made up of resistance, flexibility and cardio respiratory exercises.
This is going to be real important as time goes on. Trust me, you don’t want to bore yourself with your training.
If you get bored, that’s an easy road to giving up and walking away. You want to make sure you don’t get discouraged.
The best way to do that is to keep it interesting.
If you’re into running, maybe one day instead of running put yourself through a high intensity interval training session.
You still get great cardio and if done right, you’re building strength that will help you on your runs with balance and agility.
Maybe you’re looking to build muscle and get stronger. There’s lots of ways to mix it up in that case.
Related Article: 5 Great Yoga Poses For Beginners
You can vary the weight, the kinds of exercises you do, there’s all kinds of mixing and matching that is critical to getting the best results from a resistance training workout.
But what you might want to consider once in a while is a yoga session to work on your flexibility. It’s great for making the weight training easier and helps reduce your likelihood of injury.
Most of all, by mixing it up, you’re giving yourself a thorough workout that touches on numerous key ingredients to getting into shape: strength, flexibility and endurance.
Putting these things together will give you a great training regimen and more importantly, keep it from getting boring.
5. Don’t Forget Your Warm Up (Critical in the world of warm up tips)
This is one that I was constantly forgetting about. I’d attribute it to the fact that I was impatient.
In the rush always to get going with the workout I would often skip any kind of warm up.
This is never a good idea.
By taking some time to warm up you loosen up your joints and make your muscles more pliable.
According to the National Center For Biotechnology Information performing warm-ups increases muscle temperature and blood flow, which contributes to improved exercise performance and reduced risk of injuries to muscles and tendons.
This will also help you with flexibility and range of motion. Both of which are incredibly important with any kind of workout.
If your muscles and joints are tight, you lose out on getting the most out of each movement.
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One of the great workout tips I got a while back was to actually hold off on stretching until after warming up.
This tends to make the stretching more effective as opposed to doing it while the muscles are still cold.
You’ll probably find the stretching much easier this way as well.
This is especially helpful on days you’re kicking your workout up a notch.
You want to stay nicely warmed up on days you’re lifting more weight or running an extra few miles.
6. Give Your Body A Chance To Recover (Most Overlooked of The Workout Tips)
This is a classic mistake that I made along with so many other folks starting out.
When I was playing sports competitively in school, we trained every day. I mean EVERY day. A violation of one of the best workout tips for beginners.
The idea was that if we worked harder than the other teams that would put us in a stronger position.
We would do bodyweight exercises one day, wind sprint routines the next and weights every other day.
When we weren’t running any of those workouts (which we did almost all the time) we were running game play drills.
As you can imagine, injuries were common. Mostly because we were stupid and working our bodies too rigorously without giving ourselves time to recover.
Even if you don’t work the exact same muscle group the day following a workout, there’s a good chance that muscle group will still be assisting the next workout in some way.
It is critical to give your body a chance to recover and repair itself after whatever workout you put it through. That’s a big part of how you reap the benefits from the exercise.
According to Dr. Adam Rivadeneyra, MD a sports medicine physician with the Hoag Orthopedic Institute and the Orthopaedic Specialty Institute, exercise causes damage to the body that forces the immune system to repair it while you are allowing your body to recover. After the repair, your body’s fitness improves.
Also, when properly rested, you’ll be able to progress forward with your training, making it easier to break through your next fitness plateau.
So always give yourself rest days. Your body is doing amazing things during that time.
The Wrap Up
These are without question some of the most important workout tips for beginners. I wish I had followed them more closely when starting out. It would have made my journey much easier out of the gate.
Along with these tips, I can’t stress enough the importance of eating properly.
The right food is the fuel of your fitness journey. I won’t go too in depth here about food and fitness because you can read extensively about it…
Here: How To Lose Belly Fat Fast And Start Feeling Great
and Here: 5 High Protein Foods For Muscle And Fitness
Following these tips along with the right diet will put you on track to hitting your fitness goals and keep you moving forward.
Hope you found these workout tips helpful and made your exercise routine a little more enjoyable.
Good tips for me
Glad you found it helpful Salma and thanks for visiting!