How to start fitness?

Almost everyone agrees that regular exercise or fitness is good for your health, but it's really difficult to stick to it all the time. It's not easy to make and stick to a fitness plan. Fortunately, there are some tips that can help you. Set easy fitness goals. Even if you don't see the effect immediately, you won't be discouraged. You still insist on fitness 2-3 times a week, 20-30 minutes each time.

Set clear goals

1. Consult your doctor before starting a fitness program. If you are new to fitness, it's best to ask your doctor what items are not suitable for you, especially if you have a chronic disease or disability.

• If you are a man over the age of 45 or a woman over the age of 55, don't start a fitness plan without authorization. Be sure to consult a doctor first.
• The doctor may be able to recommend some safe exercise for you.

2. Choose a fitness goal and schedule for completion. Everyone has different goals. Maybe you want to gain muscle, lose weight, or just want to keep healthy. Having a clear goal can give you the motivation to stick to it when you want to be lazy. It's best to be specific, such as running a half marathon in 6 months or 30 push ups in 1 minute in 3 weeks.

• Think about what you want to improve. Maybe you don't need to lose weight or reduce your waist circumference, but if you want to run 5K, it's OK.
• Many people work out to lose weight. Do you want to successfully reduce your waist by 10cm before summer? Lose 7kg in six months? Lose 5% body fat by next year?
• Set health goals. Don't think about losing a lot of weight in a short time. If you are not sure whether your fitness or weight loss goals are healthy, consult your doctor.

3. Give priority to fitness time. Leisure time is easy to be arranged to do other activities other than fitness. In order to avoid this situation, give priority to daily or weekly fitness time, and arrange other unimportant activities for the rest of the time. Put fitness first and ensure that fitness time is not compressed by monotonous and onerous obligations. 

• For example, you can set the alarm clock to ring one hour early every morning, so that you can have time to exercise in the gym before going to work. Or tell your friends that you need to work out after work and can't drink with them.
• Don't indulge in fitness too much, or give up socializing for the sake of fitness. In addition to fitness, other activities need to be interspersed in life, so as to help maintain motivation.

Choose your own fitness style

1. If you like the combination of strength training and aerobic exercise, you can go to the gym. The advantage of the gym is very convenient. There are all kinds of equipment, such as aerobic fitness equipment, weight lifting equipment and free weight. If your main goal is to improve your heart rate, lose weight or gain muscle, it's best to start working out in the gym. 

• Don't worry about being scared by other fitness people. Most people only focus on doing their own things and are very helpful.
• The average membership fee of the gym ranges from tens to hundreds of yuan a month. If you can't afford it, pay attention to the gym with discount activities. Some gyms have less equipment, but the charge will be cheaper.

2. If you want to do low impact exercise, try yoga. Yoga is very suitable for inclusion in aerobic exercise and helps relax the body and mind. If you want to stay focused and calm while stretching and exercising muscle tension, try yoga.

• Yoga tutorials are available on many video websites. You can also take yoga classes at a nearby gym.

3. Take group classes to increase motivation. It's a very interesting experience to have a group of people around you doing the same exercise with you. You are motivated to keep up with everyone, and you can make new friends. You can also find your favorite sports, and then further understand and learn. 

• Most gyms and exercise facilities offer courses at all levels. If you want to try a new sport, such as spinning or yoga, you can take a look at the beginner course.

4. If you need one-on-one coaching, find a personal trainer. Coaches can help you familiarize yourself with the gym, demonstrate the use of fitness equipment, and answer fitness related questions. Even if you don't plan to accept one-on-one guidance for a long time, just taking 2-3 classes is enough to let you understand different types of sports and find out which one you like. 

• Some gyms offer new members a free personal trainer one-on-one training course.
• After the end of the free course, each one-to-one course after that needs to pay hundreds of dollars. If you want to save money, you can only take group classes.
• You can also invite a personal trainer to your home for classes. Of course, the cost will be more expensive.

5. If you don't have time or money, work out at home. No time or money to pay gym membership fees? You can exercise easily at home! You can buy some small dumbbells, do some simple exercises in bed, or carry a heavy object with you in your daily life. 

• You can buy dumbbells or barbells at your local sporting goods store. If you prefer aerobic exercise, you can buy rope skipping for 15-20 minutes a day.

6. Focus on basic strength training. No one starts with a bending lift of 40kg or a supine push of 90kg. Start with simple and reliable strength training to effectively shape muscles. Do 4-8 different exercises to exercise different muscle groups. Don't start with a large weight. It's better to lift a smaller weight in the right position. Good weight lifts include:

• Do squats and lunges, hard lifts and step climbing exercises to exercise the lower body. 
• Do push ups, pull ups, exercise your upper body with a rowing machine and free weight.
• Do plate support and sit ups to exercise your core muscles.
• Take measures to avoid muscle soreness.

7. Use the fitness app to record progress. If you have a smartphone or tablet, you can download one or two fitness tracking apps to record your progress and monitor your progress every week. By recording calories, steps, sleep cycles and other information related to exercise and health, you will be more motivated to stick to it.
Try out apps like:

• The MyFitnesspal app allows you to record the calories of the food you eat, as well as the step counting function.
• The Swarkit app provides many fitness videos that demonstrate more than 200 exercise steps.
• The MapMyRun app helps you plan multiple route choices in your area according to the distance and duration you want to run.

8.Find a little partner who works out together and urge each other. It's easy for a person to feel exhausted and lose enthusiasm. In order to avoid this fatigue, you might as well find a little partner to exercise together. Ask them if they would like to go to the gym with you every two weeks or run every day. Having 1-2 small partners working out together helps to push yourself and ensure that you follow your schedule. 

• If a friend already has the habit of fitness, ask if you can join them.

Implement feasible fitness plan

1. Decide when and when you can work out. This helps form habits. You need to put fitness first and integrate it into your lifestyle.  Set aside at least a few days a week for exercise. For example, plan to run for an hour at 7 a.m. every day, or go to the gym from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. every Monday.

• The first step is always the hardest. Only when you are in a good mood can you keep fit occasionally. You can't develop effective habits.

2. Start with simple exercise. If there is no special fitness goal, it is best to make a comprehensive exercise plan. After finding out your favorite sports, you can make exercise plans and goals. Start by focusing on strength training and aerobic exercise. 

• Try to incorporate aerobic exercise into your fitness program. Just start doing some simple aerobic exercise, such as jogging or running outdoors or on a treadmill. Do it 3-5 times a week for 20 minutes each time. 
• Incorporate strength training into your weekly fitness program, whether using free weight or weight lifting equipment. Exercise all major muscle groups at least 2-3 times a week, including chest, arm, leg and core muscles. 

3. Make a list of songs suitable for listening to during fitness. Hearing energetic music, you will be more motivated to start and keep exercising. Pick some fast-paced rock, pop or hip-hop music and make an hour long song list. Listening to music and exercising can make you forget your muscle pain and inspire you to develop your potential. 

• If you don't have time to make your own song lists, you can find prefabricated song lists on streaming music platforms such as Netease cloud, iTunes and sound breaking sky.

4. Do some small exercises from time to time all day. You don't have to work out in the gym. During the day, whether in the company or at home, you can do many short but effective small exercises. You can sit at your office or desk and do some aerobic exercise without leaving the office.

• For example, if you work in an office building, you can take a 20 minute walk at lunch or jog up and down the stairs for 15 minutes to improve your heart rate.
• You can also rest for 10 minutes every 2 hours and do 30 push ups and sit ups respectively.

5. Don't burn yourself out at the beginning of exercise. At the beginning, you must find out your abilities and pay more attention to the signals sent by your body. Once you find yourself short of breath, weak or shaky legs, stop running immediately. If your arms tremble and you're worried that the dumbbell won't hold steady and hit you, stop lifting weights immediately.

• When you feel pain, shortness of breath, dizziness or nausea, stop and have a rest. You may be pushing yourself too hard.

6. Give your body time to recover after each workout. Let the body rest for 1 day after each exercise. Although you can't work out the next day, you can go further in the long run. Don't exercise the same muscle group for two consecutive days, because the muscles will basically tear during exercise, and then need to rebuild, grow and become stronger in self-healing. 

• After each strength training, be sure to give muscles 24-48 hours of rest to repair themselves. Give the muscles time to recover. If your muscles are still sore after 1 day, take another day off for safety.

Form new habits

1. Develop appropriate new goals as your health improves. Reassess your health when appropriate. If you have achieved your weight loss goal, you can decide whether to lose more weight or practice beautiful muscle lines instead. If your previous goal was to push 110kg on your back, you can raise the goal to 125kg and continue to practice.

• The goal of later expansion does not need to be limited to the gym. The old hiking route is getting easier and easier, and there are almost no challenges? Then try a more difficult route.
• You can also extend your exercise time. Exercise twice a week, 20 minutes each time, increased to 4 times a week, 30 minutes each time.
• If you are satisfied with your current body shape and muscle tone, you can set a new goal to maintain your current fitness and appearance.

2. Try different types of motion. Maybe your fitness plan covers activities such as walking, cycling or boating. If you want to try more types of exercise, don't stop there. Go hiking with your family on weekends, or take a night out to dance in the ballroom. 

• As you explore more and more activities, you are likely to have a strong interest in some activities. Is swing dancing surprisingly interesting? Great, schedule an extra hour a week to swing yourself!

3. Increase the motion frequency. As you progress, you will find that the original exercise plan is too simple. Don't be satisfied with this, dare to break through yourself. For example, it's a good choice to work out twice a week at the beginning. After 6 months, increase to fitness 3 times a week. After one month, exercise 4-5 times a week. 

• You can also alternate between different types of exercise. For example, go to the gym on Tuesday and Thursday and run on Monday and Wednesday.
• If you run 5K at home five days a week, you might as well move to outdoor exercise. Change a new route, run at night, or increase to 7km. If not enough, you can completely change a new sport. Do you usually practice yoga? Change to Pilates this time. Always wanted to try free fighting? Then take action!

Tips

• If your goal is to lose weight, know that 0.45 kg is equal to 3500 calories. You need to reduce your calorie intake and fitness, so that you consume 500 more calories per day than you eat, so as to lose 0.45 kg per week. You can also change to consume 500 more calories the next day and lose 0.45 kg in 2 weeks.

• Don't force yourself to do annoying sports. You don't have to go to the gym. If you like swimming, dancing or hiking, do it! They are also great sports.

• Finding a friend to work out with you will help keep you motivated and urge you to achieve your sports goals.