Fitness for Beginners

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And don’t underestimate the power of music, I use a ipod and crank up some heavy metal music if I want to up the ante. Their are specific songs I have for different parts of my walk as well, eg. for stairs, with a faster beat. it can take your mind off how far your going if you concentrate on the music.

I’m lucky their are a lot of laneways behind houses here, if I really get sick of it or it rains I can take a shortcut home, but once you get started and say “well I’m just going around the block” you can often push yourself by saying “well I’m out here now so I might as well go another block or two”

Start working up the fitness slowly, walking around the block, taking the stairs, add in some gentle exercises to your wake up routine or whatever works for you, after a while you can start to push yourself and build up to that higher fitness level. If you try and jump into something guns blazing and you feel horrible and absolutely hate it you will stop just as quickly as you started. Slow and steady.

I would honestly just start by walking around the block tbh! Or like NellAdams said swimming/strength training, but body weight first. Little things you can do at home, squats/lunges etc.

Jumping into group classes when you haven’t done anything for a while may be a bit tough depending on the class. But I know how hard it is to get going with no motivation I have that struggle that’s why I do things at home when I get a chance while watching TV or something so I feel like I’m not putting in effort or making time for it if that makes sense! LOL

Team sport? Get a group of friends or colleagues together for a game once a week and keep it fun. We had a netball team in my 20’s and we were the worst team in the league but we had fun!

My advice would be to stop looking for a workout to punish yourself for being unfit, and start looking for a workout that you enjoy doing for the sake of doing it. I know that’s easier said and done, it took me until I was 31 to find a workout that works for me, with a mentality that lasts. If I just try to “get fit”, even if I start strong, I always end up eventually losing motivation. I’ll share my workout choices just in case any of them resonate with you.

1. I only do classes that are “calm”… whether that’s yoga, body balance, pilates – it all takes strength and fitness, but I don’t feel like a pony being chased with a whip. It’s more enjoyable and it’s a relatively relaxed way to just check in with my muscles.

2. I use the YouTube channel Yoga With Adriene to do yoga when I feel like it, or to address particular problems. I know yoga is kind of a ‘buzz thing’ at the moment, but it does have a really great purpose… even if you don’t tap into it spiritually, it helps you check in with all your muscles, with particular weaknesses, core strength… it creates an even base to build up from.

3. Swimming. In a pool. It doesn’t feel like a punishing workout to me. I just set my mind to zero and hit the water for 20-30 minutes when it suits me. It’s great for both muscle strength and cardiovascular health, it’s low impact and you can go easy or hard according to how you feel.

4. Strength training… I don’t do it to get fit or lose weight – that mentality had me quit every time the results didn’t flow in. I got into it to feel strong. To feel like I could kick butt if I needed to defend myself… to lift my own furniture if it needs to be moved.

Those are the things that work for me. It took me years to figure that out. Years of occasional personal trainers putting together generic plans… taking fitness plans off the internet and trying to apply them… doing what I felt I should be doing.

I have to avoid taking classes that I don’t mentally connect to (as in: they make me feel like a hamster in a wheel) so maybe the same would work for you.

I found Body pump quite intense when I first started. Definitely try to go at your own pace and not worry about everyone else. Also start light with weights in this class.

I would try Barre, it is an enjoyable class and pretty slow paced compared to Body pump or Body attack.

Don’t get disheartened. Everyone starts at bottom and has to work their way up. Classes can be daunting in the beginning but they get better the more you go.

Lately I’ve been doing workouts that I’ve found on Youtube. I prefer dance workouts, but am just so unco that I prefer to learn the routine at home, lol.

Have you thought about buying a dvd instead of going to a class.? You can pause it if you need a break, they usually have starter workouts and progress to more advanced.