How do I begin my fitness journey?

Do you want to begin your fitness journey but search online and get so much information that you feel overwhelmed and confused?

Do not worry this article will help you how to begin your journey in simple and easy steps

1. Choose a favorite exercise activity

Take a moment and reflect on any physical activity that you might have enjoyed in the past or currently enjoy. It could be either running, swimming, walking, skipping, any sports, strength training, etc. Choose any activity. It is totally up to you.

This step is important since this decides how likely are you able to push through barriers to engage in the activity and stay consistent in your goal.

2. Determine how many days you will engage in the activity

You need to decide on the number of days in a week and the time per day for which you will engage in the physical activity. I recommend 2-3 days per week for any duration less than 20 mins a day to begin your fitness journey.

It can be 15 mins a day or even 10 mins a day! Yes, any amount of time to get you started. Our goal in the first step is to increase your adherence to exercise while at the same time not making you feel that it is a burden or a chore.

After you are consistent with the initial exercise frequency and duration, increase your duration of physical activity by not more than 10% from the previous week.

For eg if you were doing 15 mins on 3 days per week, you should then increase the time to 17 mins for 3 days in a week.

Duration should be increased gradually at the rate of not more than 10% from your existing activity level duration.

After you are engaging in regular physical activity, increase your frequency of sessions as you feel comfortable to 5 days a week. Remember consistency is important and exercise duration and frequency should be progressed as you feel comfortable.

For example, when you increased your exercise duration to 17 mins, you can either decide to keep 3 days a week or increase a day to 4 days a week. It is totally up to you since you have to remain consistent in exercise participation.

I suggest you begin with an exercise duration you are comfortable with on 3 days a week and over the weeks by increasing frequency and duration reach 150 mins of exercise per week.

Research suggests 150-300 mins of physical activity in a week to attain physical benefits. This roughly translates to 30/60 mins of activity on 5 days.

3. Wait, what about intensity?

The intensity of exercise chosen should be below your first ventilatory threshold (VT1) or in simpler terms that nowhere in the exercise you should feel that your speech has become difficult and you can say a few words only before taking a break. This level of intensity is referred to as moderate-intensity exercise.

4. So, wait what is the crux of the matter?

Begin with moderate-intensity exercise for any duration you feel comfortable with at least 3 days a week. Continue to build on your exercise and increase the duration of sessions first before you increase the frequency over the weeks.

Your eventual goal is to reach 150-300 mins of physical activity per week to gain a host of benefits.

5. Get social support from family and friends

Social support is critical to help you persevere in healthy behavior change. Ask your family and friends to be supportive in your journey and maybe ask them to join you to get healthy together. You can join groups to feel connected to others and decrease your chances of dropping out. Get yourself a gym buddy so that you do not feel alone and stay motivated.

6. Self-monitor your progress

Journal and monitor your progress to keep yourself motivated or take any corrective action needed. Keeping a notebook of your workouts will help in self-awareness and help you deal with lapses after you keep on showing continued exercise adherence. Also, take your pictures and weigh yourself regularly. Observe how you fit in clothes and the kind of compliments you get from people around.

Though some physical changes may take some time but changes in mood and happiness are almost instant.

Conclusion

Lifestyle intervention can seem daunting and difficult in the beginning. Using the steps in the article above will best prepare you for your fitness journey.