A Beginner's Guide: How to Start Exercise, Types, Benefits, and Tips
Exercise daily is one of the best things you can do to live a healthy life. An exercise is defined as an activity that makes your muscles work and requires your body to burn calories. However, there are many types of physical activities which we’ll discuss further in this article.
Exercise makes you feel happy and active even after many hours of workouts are done. So, staying active helps multiple benefits, both physically and mentally. It may help you live longer and healthy.
Although, incorporating exercise into your daily routine takes a lot of determination, and sticking to it in the long term sum up discipline.
So, if you are considering starting exercise this beginner’s guide will assist you in how to start exercise, its importance, types, and benefits. Here’s is all you need to know about starting exercise and sticking to it.
Why Exercise is Important?
Exercise daily has been shown to improve your health significantly. Primarily, exercise helps you achieve and maintain healthy body weight and muscle mass. Moreover, it reduces your risk for chronic diseases.
Additionally, research has shown that adding exercise into your routine can lift your mood, boost your mental health, helps with better sleep, and enhance your sex life. Besides, starting exercise help you maintain a good energy level and can help improve your life as well.
Common Types of Exercise
Following are the existing types of exercise:
Aerobic: The core of any fitness program should include some form of this cardiovascular exercise that contains a form of continuous movement. Swimming, running, and dancing are prominent examples of aerobic exercise.
Calisthenics: These moves are usually made without gym equipment using a large group of muscles. Calisthenics is usually done at a medium aerobic pace. Sit-ups, lunges, pull-ups, and push-ups fall in the category of calisthenics.
Strength: These exercises help escalate muscle power and strength. Plyometrics, weightlifting, resistance training, and sprinting are the best examples of strength exercise.
Boot Camps: These are basically the time-based high-intensity circuits by combining resistance and aerobic exercises.
HIIT: High-Intensity Interval Training includes repetitions of short bursts of high-intensity exercise followed by low-intensity rest periods or exercises like boxing drills and punching bag workouts.
Flexibility: These exercises help with muscle flexibility which leads to muscle recovery, maintain range of motion, and prevent injuries. Muscle stretch movements and yoga are the best flexibility exercises.
Stability or Balancing: These types of exercise are designed to strengthen your muscles and improves body conditioning. Examples are Pilates, core-strengthening exercises, and tai-chi poses. Moreover, exercises like jumping rope help improving coordination and balancing.
What are the Key Benefits of Exercise?
• Makes you Feel Happier
• Increases your Energy Level
• Good for Your Muscles and Bones
• Helps with Skin Health
• Helps with Mental Health
• Better Sleep
• Reduces the Risk of Chronic Diseases
How to Get Started?
Considering a few things is essential before starting a new workout routine.
• Consult Your Healthcare Provider
It is crucial to consult your healthcare provider before starting a new workout routine. Get a physical medical examinationfrom your consultant before starting an exercise routine.
This is specifically vital for those new to vigorous and strenuous physical activities. Keep your health condition in check because an early check-up can detect any health problems or conditions that could put you at risk or in unfavorable conditions.
Moreover, it’ll assist you to optimize your workout, however making it easier for you and your trainer. If you choose to get coaching, your coach should know your limitations and make a training workout plan accordingly.
• Set Realistic Goals and Make Plans
Once you are totally indulged in this and start exercising regularly, try to create a plan that includes attainable steps and reachable goals.
One way to seek success is to start with a plan of easy and simple steps to follow. As your fitness level rises, you'll be able to build upon that foundation. For example, if your ultimate goal is to end a 5-kilometer run, consider building an idea that has shorter runs at the beginning.
Once you are capable to finish those short runs, increase the distance until you can run the whole 5 kilometers in one session. Take a start with small achievable goals increase your chances of success and keep you motivated throughout the way until you reach the main goal.
• Make it a Part of Your Schedule
Well, this is the most important point regarding exercise. The key factor of exercise success is to stick to your routine. Maintaining an exercise routine by doing it daily in the long term, make it a habit and becomes convenient to do it regularly.
Make it a part of your schedule. The easy way to makes it successful is by replacing an unhealthy behavior with new healthier behavior. It is an easy approach to maintain it as a habit in the long term.
Expert Tips for Beginners
Stay Hydrated
In order to maintain healthy hydration levels, it is essential to drink fluids throughout the day. Incorporating fluids in your workout arsenal is important for maintaining optimal performance, most specifically when exercising in hot temperatures.
Moreover, post-workout hydrating is crucial as well. Replenishing fluids after your workout can help you recover and get you ready for your next training session.
Proper Warm-Up
Most people get cramps and muscle injuries due to not warm-up before start working out. It is essential to warm up before your workout. Doing so may help prevent muscle injuries and improve your aesthetic performance.
However, it may also help improve your flexibility and reduce post-workout soreness. Simple start your workout with some aerobic exercises like skipping rope, jumping jack, lunges, and arm swings.
Alternatively, you might warm up by completing simple movements of the workout you'll be doing. For example, walk before you run.
Optimize Your Nutrition
What keeps your body mobilized and nourished for intensive exercises? Food is simply the answer. Though, not every food is for you if you are trying to live a healthy life. Basically, there are two types of foods, animal foods, and plant-based whole foods.
However, everyone possesses different food requirements regarding their body type. Therefore, if you want to lose weight plant-based whole foods are the best choice for you. Whole foods like fruits and vegetables are enriched with omega-3 and fibers which are important for your body to maintain its system.
Ensure a healthy and balanced diet to support your fitness program. All good foods like cereals, fruits, and vegetables are necessary to sustain healthy energy levels and get the most out of your workouts.
Moreover, carbohydrates are vital, as they fuel your muscles before exercise. Carbs are also important after a workout to replenish glycogen stores and helps with the absorption of amino acids into your muscles during recovery.
Lastly, regularly consuming healthy fats before and after the workout has been shown to help burn body fat and preserve fuel during and after workouts.
Listen to Your Body
Being a beginner, it might be difficult for you to work out regularly. However, if you have not been into exercise for a long time, be mindful of your limits. If you feel pain or discomfort while working out, stop and take a rest before continuing with the other round of sparring. Pushing through the pain is not a good idea, though it can cause injuries.
Also, remember punching out harder and faster does define your strength but also causes muscle injuries and inflammation. Take your time to progress through your boxing fitness program can help you maintain your routine in long term and make of most of it.
Moreover, providing a complete range of motion to your muscle groups is crucial as well.
Cool Down
Cooling down controls the inflammation process which is caused by high blood circulation in the body due to exercise. It aids your body return to its normal state.
Taking a couple of minutes to cool down may help restore normal breathing patterns. Moreover, reduce the chance of muscle soreness. Light walking and stretching are the common cool-down exercises to consider.
The Bottom Line
Starting a new exercise may be challenging. However, having real objectives and goals can help you maintain a fitness program in the long term.
There are numerous types of physical activities to choose from. Pick a few you find convenient, make them work for you, and make sure to vary them occasionally.
Take a small start, slowly build up your fitness level and let your body rest to help regain muscle strength and prevent soreness.
Keep track of your workout progress and take a virtual group class, for example, you can join an online boxing session for beginners. Stay motivated and keep moving by achieving small goals until you reach the ultimate one.
So, what are waiting for? Put on your boxing gloves and start exercising.