How to start gym workout for complete beginners by taking selfies
Take Some Selfies.
In order to accurately track your progress, itâs helpful to identify your starting point and then define your goal. Straws suggests taking measurements of your body and some photos so youâll be able to see how far youâve come. Throw on a sports bra and shorts (or a bathing suit or whatever you feel comfortable using), then take a video with your smart phone to capture your body from all angles. You can turn the video into still photos by taking screen shots. Do this every two to four weeks to track your progress, Straws says. You might also want use a tape measure and track measurements in your biceps, waist, hips, bust, and thigh areas so you can see youâre losing inches, even on weeks when it seems the scale hasnât budged.
Start Small.
Start Small.
So you havenât lifted a weight since the week before Halloween? Give yourself a break. âPeople want to go back to where they were with their fitness a few months ago, but they canât,â says Liz Josefsberg, CPT, a weight loss expert who worked several years as the director of brand advocacy for Weight Watchers. The first week youâre easing back into exercising, start small. Know that any movement is good movement. Commit to doing 10 minutes of an exercise video or walking for exercise three days this week. âThis will help you establish behaviours and create the habit you want to have in place,â she says.
Make One Change at a Time.
The first week you intend to exercise, look ahead at your schedule and establish modest changes to your routine. On Sunday night, commit to getting your exercise clothes out for the next day and then setting your alarm to wake up 30 minutes earlier on Monday. âSet the bar low with new behavior modifications in order to make changes thatâll last,â says Josefsberg. She doesnât even suggest exercising that first Monday. Just prep the night before and wake up earlier. Then on Tuesday morning, slip on those exercise clothes and do 10 minutes of one exercise DVD, suggests Josefsberg.
Write down five ways you are going to be healthy today, Straws says: âWritten words are powerful!â Your daily success list could include things like not drinking soda, eating more vegetables, doing 30 minutes of walking today, taking the stairs in your office once a day, and drinking more water. Keep them small and achievable so youâll be motivated by your daily victories.
Plan Out Your Mornings.
Starting a morning workout routine is just like establishing any other new habit: It requires some plain-old hard work and dedication. Try these tips from Josefsberg to make it stick: Prep your coffeemaker to go off tomorrow morning when you wake up, pack your lunch the night before or ask your partner to help out with making lunches for the family, decide which workout DVD or routine youâre going to do the next morning, lay out the work clothes youâll wear and get them ready the evening before, and consider buying dry shampoo so you can save time in the shower before you start your workday. Look at each week ahead of time and plan exercise accordingly. If you have an early-morning meeting, be realistic and understand that you probably wonât work out that day. Advance prepping and planning can eliminate decisions about your workout, clothes, or what youâre eating that dayâfreeing up time to actually exercise.
Overcome Your Fear of the Gym.
The gym can be an intimidating place for many of us, and if youâre overweight, obese, or just plain inexperienced you might be afraid that people are staring or judging you. âMost of the time, everyone at the gym is focusing on themselves, even the fittest, most attractive person youâll come across,â Straws says. Start with cardio machines to build up your comfort level, or bring some weights to a quiet area of the gym or an empty studio to start training by yourself, he suggests. You could also ask the personal trainers at the gym for help getting set up on certain equipment to make sure youâre using it properly.
Expect to Fall.
Hereâs the reality of any journey, whether itâs business, relationships, diet, or fitnessâyouâre going to make mistakes and stumble along the way. There will be times when life will get crazy and youâll temporarily be derailed, says Straws. âEveryone falls. Itâs part of the experience and you should expect it. But the difference between failing on a diet or fitness routine and succeeding is that you pick yourself up from the fall and keep going, or you use it as an excuse to quit,â he says. Just like you would if you were faced with an issue in the workplace, identify the problem and take action to make sure it doesnât happen again.
Be Ready for Week Three.
Between week three and week four is the classic time when people quit their New Yearâs resolutions, says Josefsberg. âStart this journey knowing youâre going to be tempted to drop your routine during that âred flagâ time and reward yourself so youâll be inspired to keep going,â she says. Buy a new workout outfit, begin a new fitness DVD, try a new class at your gym, download some new songs, buy new shoes, or reward yourself with a massage or mani/pedi pampering session. âGet through that scary time when your motivation starts to wane and youâll come out on the other side with your behaviours even more ingrained in those healthy habits,â Josefsberg says.
Look Beyond Weight Loss.
âI would suggest divorcing the terms âweight lossâ and âexerciseâ from one another,â says Josefsberg. Exercise for the health benefits that arenât related to weight loss, like feeling more energised, happier, calmer, and experiencing better sleep. âI think it can become punishing when you think of exercise in terms of weight loss, especially when youâre starting out,â says Josefsberg.
When you donât feel like exercising, remind yourself of how good youâll feel during or after exercise, says Sydney-based exercise physiologist Bill Sukala. âIf you can begin to associate being active with pleasure and how good you feel as a result of it, youâll be more inclined to stick to your exercise routine,â he says.
Find Something You Can Stick With.
Fitness experts and doctors alike often say the âbest exerciseâ is the one you enjoy and will keep doing. If you hate boot camp workouts or canât see yourself making a weekly commitment to yoga, move on to something youâll look forward to showing up for. That workout could be a dance class, Spinning, ballet-inspired barre workouts, or walking with friends. You want to make this experience as pleasant as possible. âTake an inventory of what needs to happen in your life to make this time that youâre starting an exercise program very, very different from the last time you tried and quit,â says Josefsberg.
Make New Habits.
If you can nail down a few fitness habitsâwhether thatâs getting up a few mornings a week or even showing up to the gym when you donât feel like itâyouâre more likely to be successful. âHabit is 75 percent of the challenge with exercise,â says Sukala. Once your mental game is on point and established, the physical aspect of following through with your intentions will be easier, he says.
Do It for Yourself.
âIf you made a promise to anyone else in your lifeâyour husband, child, boss, or friendâyou would do stick to it, but because itâs you and because you can somehow always negotiate with yourself, you might not stick to your commitment,â says Josefsberg. So if you hit snooze a few times one morning and skipped your early workout, find time to get those 30 minutes in later in the day. âWhat I see is that when someone slips up once, that becomes the excuse not to do the exercise at all,â says Josefsberg. âFigure out where youâre going to put it in the schedule⌠later in the week or that day.â This is one of the most common problems Josefsberg sees her clients make. Treat the fitness and health commitments you make for yourself like you would your job, family, and friendships. You wouldnât let important people in your life who are counting on you down, so why do it to yourself?