If you’ve been wanting to start working out, you know that the idea of beginning is scary. There’s so much to learn, and it all feels really overwhelming, which is usually enough to stop us from ever getting started in the first place. I remember how it felt early on, so I wanted to share the tips I felt would have benefited me at that time. So here’s my top 11 tips for getting started working out:
*Disclaimer: Please consult with your physician before starting any exercise program*
1. Schedule Time For It
If you just hope to have time, you’ll never find it. We all have a million things going on in our lives that we can fill our schedule with, so the secret lies in actually carving out time.
You’re much more likely to follow through with something if you have a specific time (and location) already picked out. If you add the task of working out to your schedule at a particular time in your day, you know you have to balance everything else around it.
I understand life is incredibly chaotic, but if this is something that is truly important to you, then you have to prioritize making time for it.
When starting out, you don’t have to budget hours of your day for exercise. Start with something like 15 minutes and see how you feel with that. I’m quite confident you can find 15 minutes in your day for this.
Typically, the easiest way to start opening up some time in your day is to cut out screen time on your phone. If you want some tips on how to decrease your daily phone usage, you can check out my top 5 phone tricks that can save you hours every day. Or if you want to go all in, you can delete social media altogether; if you need some convincing, here’s the top 5 benefits I experienced from deleting social media.
2. Be Easy On Yourself
Remember, you’re not expected to be an expert, or to be able to keep up with people that have been working out for years. Be patient with yourself.
You may feel disappointed with where you’re starting from, but don’t let that discourage you. Beating yourself up won’t change anything. If you’re not happy with your physique or your strength, the only way to improve is by working on it.
As with anything, there’s going to be a learning curve in the beginning, and that’s totally normal. You may not know much when first showing up, but the skills and knowledge will come from experience. I still have a lot left to learn about fitness and nutrition, but it’s nice to look back and see how much progress has been made since first setting out on my fitness journey; you’ll have the same progression with time too.
3. Just Show Up
Something is better than nothing. You don’t have to have the perfect workout plan in place right from the get-go. You can change things up in time, but the important part is just creating the habit of showing up everyday.
People always say that showing up is half the battle, so once you’re there, you’re much more likely to follow through with getting the workout done.
Once you can stay consistent with working out everyday, that routine just becomes part of the norm. Creating the habit is the hard part, so being strict with yourself in the beginning is key.
4. Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For Help
In my experience, others have always been willing to lend a helping hand. The people that are in great shape are clearly passionate about working out, so they usually love to talk about it and help others get started. Whether you ask for advice, or ask for a spot, it’s an easy way to have a conversation with new people.
Also, if you’re in the gym, don’t be afraid to let people work-in sets with you. If they’re waiting for the machine you’re on, you can offer to let them work-in, which means you both alternate working out while the other person rests. This can be a great way to see how others do the exercise you’re currently doing, as well as just meeting new people. I’ve met some really cool people at the gym by doing this, and it can create friendships that wouldn’t exist otherwise; this can also help with encouraging you to show up everyday, because you look forward to interacting with familiar/friendly faces each time you go.
Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and interact with others.
5. Don’t Push Yourself Too Hard In The Beginning
If you go too hard in the beginning, you’ll likely start to hate working out, not to mention the risk of injury. You probably won’t know your body well enough right away, but you’ll learn your limits with time. I think the most important part is just getting in the habit of going first.
Once you’re used to the basics, then you can start making things more difficult and pushing yourself harder. Listen to your body and know when to tone things down though. You’ll have to learn the difference between pushing yourself versus simply doing more than you can handle.
Rest and recovery is also a HUGE part of fitness too. If you don’t prioritize recovery, you’ll just be damaging your body in the long run. Proper sleep is absolutely vital, so make sure to give your body time to heal and repair after workouts.
Your safety should be number one priority, so don’t compromise that.
6. Try Different Things
Off the bat, you’re not going to know what you may like. Working out can mean a lot of different things, so don’t be afraid to try them all out, if you can.
The traditional ones are Weight Lifting vs Calisthenics (body weight) vs Cardio (running/cycling/etc). You may hate one, but love another. All have their own benefits and trade offs, so find what works best for you. You can even do a mix of all/some of these.
Getting creative, you can also pick up hobbies like rock climbing, yoga, martial arts, or some other sport, which will be physically demanding, but not always feel like you’re working out.
Only you know what your goals are, so you have to make sure that your choices are catered to you. You have to pick the things that interest you, and that will make you want to keep coming back day after day.
At the end of the day, working out is about staying healthy, but it should also be enjoyable. Keep an open mind and step out of your comfort zone by trying out different things.
7. Do Your Research
There’s so much to learn, so you’ll always be a student. Watch videos online, read articles, etc. I’ve learned almost everything I know from researching things online. You can always search for beginner workout routines and have everything laid out for you.
Keep absorbing information, and you’ll eventually know what to do when showing up at the gym for the first time. You can even just people-watch between your sets and see how others do certain exercises; this is a great way to have proper form and technique demonstrated, which you can attempt yourself next time.
If you’re starting with weights or calisthenics, my recommendation is to research the best exercises for specific muscle groups, as well as foods to help with muscle growth/repair. As long as you know enough to get started safely, you’re on the right track.
Even after learning the basics, continue to build on the knowledge you’ve gained, and then you can change your workout routines from there. Keep laying down the building blocks, and eventually there will be a day where you come to the realization that you finally know what you’re doing.
8. Don’t Be Afraid To Fail Or Be Humbled
Try to start working out with the mentality that you’re only doing it for self improvement, that way your ego won’t be in the way so much. With this, you’ll give yourself the grace of trying new things and failing sometimes.
Failure doesn’t have to be this catastrophic thing. It’s okay to fail at something, but keep trying at it. I don’t care if you can’t do a pushup for the first few months that you’re working out, I just care that you keep trying at it.
There’s humility in failure, which helps to keep you grounded. You get an honest assessment of where you’re at, and it helps you create a goal to start striving for. Personally, I feel such a great sense of satisfaction from finally being able to complete something I know I wasn’t capable of before. The satisfaction comes from knowing that the win was EARNED by a consistent daily discipline of getting just a little better each day.
It’ll be tempting to constantly compare yourself to who you see at the gym, but don’t fall into this trap. There’s always going to be someone that’s bigger, leaner, and stronger, but don’t make the mistake of feeling discouraged because you’re not where they’re at yet. All you can ask from yourself is to be better than you were yesterday. That’s the only thing you can control.
Learning to let go of your ego, not just in the gym, can be a very helpful life skill going into the future.
9. TRY Not To Care What Others Think
Believe me, I understand this is a very hard thing to do. Our brains are wired to be concerned about what others think of us, so trying to ignore that feeling can feel unnatural. I just want you to be focused on your personal development, rather than what you THINK others are thinking of you.
It’s important to remember that, just like you, everyone else is paying careful attention to themselves too. People are living their own complicated lives, and they share the same worry about what everyone else thinks of them.
I think learning to not care what others think is a great life skill anyway, but it can help you in your fitness journey too. If you’re working out solely to impress people, then you’re only going to embarrass yourself, or worse, get injured. The last thing you need to do is ego lift (attempting an exercise with higher weight than you can do with good form) and hurt yourself, only because you were afraid of what others would think about your current strength.
You can’t control other people’s thoughts, so don’t let that occupy too much head space. You shouldn’t be ashamed of your current capabilities, especially knowing that you’re working out with the intent to get better. You’re at where you’re at, and you have to be okay with that.
10. Enjoy Your Progress
This is a simple one, but you have to make sure to celebrate your successes too. Be proud of the work you’ve put in, and for the progress you see.
Find ways to reward yourself to keep motivation for the future. It can be as simple as making a deal with yourself that you get to play video games at night if you get a workout in. Or buying yourself something nice after a month of staying consistent to a new workout schedule. Or even just taking time to really think about and be grateful for the positive changes you’re seeing in yourself.
If you can be aware of, and acknowledge, the progress you make, you’re much more likely to stick with it all. By seeing the fruits of your labor, you have something to reflect on when you’re struggling to upkeep the discipline of workout out.
11. Consistency Over Intensity
Before expecting any results, you first need to establish the habit of showing up everyday. Some people think that going all out is the best way to get in shape, but sometimes it can have the opposite effect. By overexerting your body one day, you might not be able to output as much the following days.
For example, let’s say you’re able to do 100 pushups on day 1, but then you’re too sore to do any more for the rest of the week; compare that to just doing 20 pushups everyday, then you end up doing 140 push ups by day 7.
Even on the mental side of things, constantly doing high intensity workouts is harder to manage long term. Aside from the higher risk of injury, over time, you’re also much less likely to want to go workout when you think about how tired you’ll be after an overly exhaustive workout.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with having intense workouts sometimes, but I feel that consistency beats intensity in the long run. Eventually you’ll learn how to push your body each day and still be fresh enough the next day to have another good workout. Personally, I feel that making sure you’re able to workout consistently should be the main priority.
Another reminder, *Please consult with your physician before starting any exercise program*
Conclusion
Developing a routine of working out doesn’t need to be an overwhelming and complicated thing. Getting started with the basics is more than enough, and your results will compound over time.
With starting to workout, I think the doing of something is more important than the something you’re doing. In other words, you don’t have to find a perfect workout plan and make it super complex in the beginning. Just getting started with something is the key takeaway. Start with walking if you need to.
This will hopefully be a lifelong practice, so you’ll have plenty of time to improve. Just keep learning more about fitness, and add on as you go. Be humble and be safe, and you’ll start to see your results in due time.
As a bonus, if you’re big on productivity, you can even make the commute to the gym productive too. If you’d like to check out how I turn my daily drive time into something valuable, you can check out my post on turning music into productivity.