How To Start Your Fitness Journey
How To Start Your Fitness Journey
You know how it goes, you are ready to change your body and reach your fitness goals this year but, “Do I have to undergo all the pains?”. Did you know that most people quit the gym within the first week of starting? If you’ve ever worked out before, you’ll know that the first week is where you feel the most pain because your body and muscles have just been shocked. You are forcing your body to do something it’s technically not used to doing. This means that your body must adjust to the new demands and this can be painful.
We’re going to assess when to start, how to keep yourself going, how to set your goals, and which exercises to do when you start off.
When to start
The first thing you need to understand when it comes to when to start your fitness journey is the fact that there’s no such thing as “the perfect time.” There’s always going to be a new Netflix series to binge, your child is always going to need you for something, and you’re always going to have SOMETHING else you can do with the time you would otherwise use to go work out. With that said, start right now, while you’re reading this article you can do a sit-up or 6. Maybe schedule an alarm to wake you up 30mins earlier so that you can take a walk or a jog around the block. If you don’t want to go out you can use the 30mins to do some star jumps and then a few pushups, sit-ups, and squats to get you going. Do this as often as possible and develop a routine that works for you. You might find it’s better for you to work out later in the evening than in the morning so make sure you try different times to see which one works best for you. But most importantly, START NOW!
Establish your reason/ Why
You’ve heard that people don’t buy into what you do, they buy more into why you do it. The reason for doing something is the backbone of the things you do. You eat because you are hungry. You go to work every morning because you want a better life or because you have bills to pay at the end of the month. Whatever your reason for starting your fitness/ wellness journey, refine it and write it down so that you can look at it every time you feel like you don’t want to go to the gym. Successful people are not successful because they do what they want. They are successful because they do what needs to be done when it needs to be done, consistently, whether or not they feel like doing it. They show up every day and push themselves to the limit because they’ve learned to expect more of themselves than anyone else ever could. List all your reasons for why you want to change your health and start acting on them.
Set a Goal
This might be a difficult one to do because you might not have a full grasp of how long it may take to achieve the goal given your metabolism and body weight but don’t let this deter you. Rather set your goal, not based on time but based on results. In other words, state your goal in terms of what you want your body to achieve as opposed to when it should achieve it. Don’t say you want to look sexy by summer if this is the first time you jump into the gym, rather say you want to lose 5kg so that you can be sexy. It’s a subtle but vital difference. The time-based one may put you under unnecessary pressure to achieve the goal that you may end up employing unsustainable and dangerous methods of weight loss or training.
Conclusion
Whatever your goal is, make sure it is not time-based if you have not adopted gym as a lifestyle. This will help you ease the pressures of seeing rapid results. It will help you pace yourself to avoid harming yourself. Remember to ensure that your reasons for starting your fitness journey give you enough reason to show up consistently. The aim should be to create enough reasons/ motivation to keep you pumped for the 1st month or 2 as that is more-or-less how long it takes to establish gym as a lifestyle. Stop procrastinating and start immediately, right where you are right now. There are numerous exercises that don’t require weights or other equipment. Start by jogging, doing push-ups, sit-ups and squats. Just start and don’t stop for at least 2 months. Be sure to check out some of our home workouts that could get you started and ready to come to the gym. If you are around Rondebult, Dawnpark, Windmill Park, Vosloorus, Klippoortjie, Grooneweide, Freeway Park, Sunward Park, Elspark, Buhle Park, Graceland or Leondale, you can come in for a body assessment and we’ll help you establish a diet and workout program that will help you better achieve your goals.
With these points in mind, I am confident that you will be on your way to an unbelievable body transformation. See you soon.