Tips For Taking Your First Steps To Improving Your Fitness
21 March 2019
Have you decided to make getting fitter your New Year's resolution for 2019? You might suddenly recall previous occasions that you have tried to follow through with that same goal only for it to... well, fall through. Where did you go wrong? Are your attempts at exercising doomed to failure? Perhaps your past failures could be attributed to trying to take on too much at once. Through following the tips below, you can ease yourself gently into regular exercise for sustainable results.
Rebrand "exercise" as simply "movement"
The mere word "exercise" could lead your heart to sink - at least if you are like Jake Tyler, the writer of this article for Red Bull. However, he claims that he "didn't look back" after replacing the term "exercise" with simply "movement", which clearly represents a broad category of physical activity.
Walking, running and leaving the bed all constitute "movement", after all - and knowing that you are already "exercising" could spur you on to do a little more... and then a little more... and so on.
Consider starting with walking
After entering an intense period of anxiety and depression, Tyler realised how much he benefitted from spending time in nature. This realisation led him to take a 3,000-mile walk from Brighton and across the British Isles as a fundraising effort for the Mental Health Foundation.
As we have previously explained, walking can constitute exercising - and, in reaching milestones even just with your walking, you will relish these "little victories" and so gain a sense of purpose.
Schedule two workouts a week and then build yourself up
Another great thing about walking is that you can easily fit it into routine occasions like travelling to and from work. However, once you are ready to set aside specific times for more strenuous exercises, how often should you aim to work out every week?
One recommendation on the SELF website is to schedule only two workouts weekly for a start. Each workout session can last just 30 minutes, too - it's all about being realistic with your early goals.
Try a "taster" or "for beginners" exercise class
With what types of workouts should you start? You could do with a bit of instruction from an expert here... and you can get that by joining an exercise class built for novices like you.
If you see a class specifically branded as a "taster" session or "for beginners", it could be worth a shot. You could even join one of our London boot camp days or weekends; they are suitable for all fitness levels and could help you to ease yourself towards boot camp fitness.
Experiment with various workout types
Another advantage of a boot camp is how it would enable you to learn lots of new workout techniques. You might find that you enjoy some more than others, so remember which ones you especially like. That way, you can edge yourself closer to a workout regime to follow back home. That would be conducive to maintaining lifelong fitness.
