Exercising is one of the best things you can do for your body health wise. But, most people either do not like exercising or they are not sure where to start and how to do it properly. Exercising has many physical health benefits, but it also benefits your overall mental health and it can increase your quality of life.
For example, by exercising and reducing the amount of extra weight that you have, you can also reduce your risk of developing serious health and weight related diseases. People who do not carry around extra weight or can shed the weight that causes them to be obese will be healthier throughout the rest of their lives and so they will also benefit more from being able to get out and do things in their lives.
Research studies indicate that exercising on a daily basis can help you to improve your mood, your mental clarity, keep consistent energy levels, improve your sleep patterns, and even boost your sex drive. So not only will you benefit from losing some weight, but you will also benefit in most other areas of your life.
Once you have done some online research and talked to your friends that exercise on a regular basis, you will be able to formulate some ideas on what type of exercise might be best for you.
There are so many different types of exercises that you can literally try new ones on a daily basis to see which ones work best for you!
Popular Types Of Exercise
Let's focus on the seven different types of exercises that are the most popular and used by millions of people every day. You can also choose where you want to start depending on your current exercise level or what you want to get out of your exercise.
- Aerobics: Targets your core, usually involves some sort of dancing, swimming, or running.
- Strength: This exercise focuses on muscle growth and development by using weight lifting, plyometrics, and resistance training.
- Calisthenics: These are exercises you can use to warm up with, as well as use them to add difficulty level to your workouts. They come in the form of lunges, sit ups, pull ups, and pushups.
- Boots Camps: Very popular right now, these take and combine high intensity workouts and weight training resistance exercises and put them together into one workout.
- Balance: Many people have a hard time with their balance and posture and these exercises are great for working on them. These combine Pilates, yoga, and core strengthening exercises together to help you improve your overall balance while getting a workout at the same time.
- Flexibility: If you are an athlete and have problems with injuries new and old, flexibility exercises can be very beneficial for you. These exercises focus on muscle recovery, prevention of new injuries, and improving your range of motion through muscle-strengthening exercises.
- High-Intensity interval training: These exercises focus on short bursts of high intensity movements followed by short bursts of low intensity movements, including moments of rest.
With all of those choices there is definitely something for everyone when it comes to exercising; you just have to find the one that is right for you. You can also combine any of these exercises and create your own unique workout program.
Though if you are just starting out with exercising, it is probably best to start with one and work your way up once you have established your routine and are comfortable with what you are doing.
Before You Start
However, there are three main things that you need to keep in mind before establishing an exercise routine. These are going to keep you on track and make sure that you are not getting overwhelmed by everything that you need to do in order to establish that workout routine.
- Check Your Health: Before you begin any new exercise routine, consult with your medical doctor to make sure that you are healthy enough to begin exercising.
Your doctor will conduct an exam to make sure that you do not have any underlying health issues that should be addressed before you start exercising.
This exam is especially important to people who are over the age of 45 and not used to regular strenuous activity.
- Set Realistic Goals: Plan, plan, plan! Take some time to sit down and figure out what your exercise plan is going to look like. Before you do anything you need to decide how often you are going to be exercising— that will be your starting point.
If you don’t think you can exercise five days a week to begin with, then start with one or two days and build up from there. Additionally, you will need to set realistic goals for yourself, so nothing like losing 100 pounds in one month, but more like 20 pounds in a month.You want to be able to stick to the goals that you are setting for yourself; if you reach too high, you will only become discouraged and want to quit if you do not reach those goals. You don’t want to dive in head first and then find yourself drowning because your goals weren’t realistic.
- Create a Habit: Stick to your routine – don’t stray from it. If you set a goal to work out 5 days a week every week, then do it. The first two weeks will be the hardest that you will go through in your exercise journey.
However, if you stick to the plan and continue to push through every day and make it a habit to keep going, then you will be able to make exercise second nature. Try exercising at the same time every day, this will help with keeping your routine intact.
Now you may be asking how much exercise your body really needs or how often you should be exercising each week. Research indicates that 150 minutes a week is the minimum you should be working out, and those minutes can be divided up any way you would like throughout the week.
The more you exercise and the better you become at your routine, the more minutes you can add on to your workouts.
It is best to remember to start out with smaller and lower intensity workouts until your body gets used to working out on a daily basis.
Once you have done that, you can gradually move up to more high intensity workouts and working out for longer periods of time. But it is important to remember that you do need periods of rest in your week, so you shouldn’t work out for more than 6 days out of 7.
If you do not allow your body to get some type of rest, then you are only doing yourself a disservice and you won’t see the results that you are looking to get. Exercising too much can actually cause you to have health problems because your body is being overworked, so make sure to get that rest.
Tips & Tricks
If you are a beginner when it comes to working out, have no fear, there are plenty of tips and tricks to help you get started and to stay motivated. There are five main tips that research studies have indicated are best for people just starting out; these are also great reminders for people who exercise on a daily basis.
You can never be too smart or too experienced with exercise not to learn a little something each day and keep on track with your reminders.
- Stay Hydrated: This is very important for beginners and for the advanced group. When you exercise, your body sweats out water and fluids that are found in your body, and it is up to you to replenish those fluids to help keep your body in top working condition.Make sure to drink plenty of water throughout your regular day and increase your water intake when you are getting ready to exercise and then once you have completed your workout for the day as well.
- Nutrition: The type of diet you have is essential to both your workout and the results you are hoping to achieve. Exercising and good diet choices go hand in hand when you are wanting to lose weight.
It is important to make sure that you are eating something from each food group throughout the day; this will ensure that you are eating a well rounded and balanced diet. Make sure you do your research and you know the difference between good and bad fats and that you are only consuming the healthy fats that your body needs.
Choose to eat your protein after you exercise, as this will help to protect your muscles from injuries and damage. People with a high protein diet are less likely to develop muscle injuries or damage than people who do not eat a lot of protein in their diets.
- Warm Up: Walk into any gym and you will see people doing stretches and breathing exercises to prepare for their workout. Now you may be thinking that you do not need to warm up before exercising, but you do.
Not warming up puts yourself at an increased risk of injuries and damage to muscles and ligaments. If you are new to exercising, warming up is especially important for you. More than likely, you will be a little sore after your first workout, but by warming up beforehand, your muscle soreness will not be as bad as it could be.
- Cool Down: Just as warming up is important before your work out, so to is cooling down an important step in finishing your workout. After you have finished your main workout, take a few minutes to do more stretches or light yoga or Pilates movements to lower your heart rate.
Giving your body the time to cool down will allow your heart rate and pulse to return to a normal resting state which can also help to reduce the amount of soreness you may have in your muscles.
- Listen to your body: Let's repeat that one. Listen to your body. Before you begin exercising make sure you have some idea of what your limitations are and then make sure you stay within those limitations.
You don’t want to overdo it and cause yourself damage. If you are hurting, feeling pain, or even discomfort while you are exercising, you need to stop immediately. While working out is certainly not easy all of the time, at no point should you ever be in pain. Slow down and take your time when you are going through your exercise routine, don’t overdo it.
The most important thing to remember when you are working out is to make sure you are being good to your body, that you are exercising properly and not opening yourself up for injuries. Find yourself overwhelmed at where to begin when it comes to exercising? Take a gym tour or hire a personal trainer to help you get started!
How To Start Exercising Review Summary
Once you have your limitations, goals, and a plan in place, you will be able to venture out on your own and do more with your workouts. There is no one clear method to exercising that is for everyone, so go with what your gut tells you and make your own plan.
Stay inside your comfort zone until you and your body are ready to venture into something else, this will help to ensure that your body does not receive injuries or damage. It will also help you to ease into the exercising world and test the waters before you completely dive into the pool.
Take the time to try out different exercises and find the right combination that works for you, then take your exercises, your plan, and go hit your goals.
