How to Start Working Out?

Written by Andrew Brewer. ⚕️Reviewed and fact checked by our medical team.

If you are reading this, you have probably made your mind that enough is enough, time to start working out! Whatever is your main fuel, whether it’s a desire to lose weight, start fitness or just improve health, congratulations, you have come to the right place. Here we will answer the main question – how to start working out?

Starting a new thing may be frightening. It’s like starting a new job, at first it can be intimidating and a bit scary, but after a week or two you start feeling like in your own tracks.

Same with workouts. At first you may be scared and worried, but as you get acquainted with sport equipment and methods and develop a routine, you will see that there is actually nothing to worry about.

So here we go, below you will find some key steps you should consider following if you want to start off correctly giving yourself the highest chance to succeed.

Key Takeaways

Set a realistic and achievable goal for yourself when starting to work out. Over-setting goals may lead to failure and disappointment, which can decrease motivation.
Plan ahead and write down the days and times you want to allocate for your workouts, as a written plan increases the likelihood of sticking to it and developing exercise habits.
Start slowly and add one change at a time to avoid exhaustion and burnout. Identifying your starting point and measuring progress can help boost motivation and confidence.
It’s important to add variety to your workouts and incorporate different exercises to keep your body challenged and avoid plateauing.
Don’t let setbacks or missed workouts discourage you – every small achievement is a step in the right direction towards your fitness goals.

1. Decide What Is Your Main Goal

Answer yourself why are you willing to exchange morning sleep for a sweaty workout? What drives you?

You

have to clearly set a goal for yourself, which by no means should be unrealistic and hardly-achieved like “Lose 100 pounds in 2 months”, or “dunk a basketball when you can’t even touch a net in a week”.

Over-setting your goals usually leads to failure and disappointment, deferring the level of motivation.

So why do you want to do this? To gain weight? Great. To look build muscle? Awesome. To get faster? Amazing.

There can be many reasons. At first they will motivate you and keep going. However, motivation-backed workouts tend to burn your motivation out faster. Your main goal should consist of multiple smaller short-term goals that are palpable and easier to achieve which will keep your motivation fueled until you establish good habits.

Some years ago I had a goal to drastically increase my vertical leap (I played professional basketball in Europe). I gave myself 4 months to achieve the goal. My motivation level was through the roof, but only with a help of palpable results that came in within a few months was I able to keep it so high.

I really doubt that my level of motivation would have remained as high as it was once I started. Sure if I did not see obvious results in the middle of the program.

2. Identify Your Starting Point

After setting your goal, you have to identify your starting point. If you want to lose weight or fit in your new jeans, get on a scale and measure yourself.

If you want to increase your vertical leap, measure your vertical leap before you start your workouts.

Do all kinds of additional stuff like taking selfies, recording yourself from different angles.

This step is crucial to regularly inject yourself with a dose of self-esteem, confidence and further motivation to continue with your workouts along the way.

Quick review towards how to start working out:

1) Decide what is your main goal;

2) Identify your starting point.

…and move along…

3. Plan Ahead

So once you know your goals and your current state of mind and body, prepare for your first week in advance.

That means literally writing down the days and times you want to allocate towards your workouts, plan out your sport apparel (my main task on Sunday night), food, etc.

When people have a plan, a written plan, they are much likely to stick to it. Don’t get fooled that you will truly stick with what you promise yourself. Habits, unfortunately, are much more powerful things than our promises to ourselves.

Your mind power is probably not strong enough to force your body to be prepared for a jog at 6 a.m. every time you decided to do that. There will be days when you don’t feel like waking up, and you won’t.

Therefore, a written plan is a must. It’s like a contract you can’t and don’t want to breach, because the next day, after you missed your workout and you see it written on you calendar, your conscience will eat you up.

Therefore, plan ahead and write everything down. It will be easier down the road as it will be extremely helpful to develop sport related habits.

You see, the question of how to start exercising out is already answering itself.

4. How To Start Exercising ? Start Slowly

That means exactly what it sound like.

When you are full of motivation, it’s super easy to get overexcited which leads to exhaustion and fatigue.

You have to remember that your body and mind is not yet prepared for quick and drastic changes. Your muscles, ligaments, joints and heart are not ready to experience something entirely different from what they are used to. Remember that and begin slowly.

It could mean starting with an hour-long walks after work in a park nearby, or perhaps taking a bike for a ride (which is actually much lighter on your joints if you are a beginner).

Don’t feel like going outside? Wake up and do some push ups or an abs workout routine before work.

There are many different ways you can start preparing your body for drastic changes that will be brought upon it. Don’t rush, or you will end up over burnt and find yourself on the verge of quitting.

5. Add One Change At A Time

Once you complete your first week, tap yourself on a back, because that is an awesome start.

Everything has its start. But it’s only a tiny achievement in a long, but super fun and amazing journey.

You will have to bump the effort up a bit.

If you started lightly with evening walks after work, increase the number of days, or pick up the intensity the next week. Slightly of course.

There are numerous cool simple products to assist you, like step counters for example. Make 2,000 steps 4 nights a week, and add 500 the following week.

Make one change at a time, and don’t make them too often or too drastic as your habits just begin to form.

Either way, challenging yourself is the key. Your body adapts to the same exercise and intensity, making the results harder to achieve. Thus surprising your body and adding some challenge to it is a must.

Let your habits form and your body get used to a new lifestyle.

So let’s go over our first five steps of how to start working out:

1) Decide what is your main goal (lose weight, feel healthier, get stronger, etc)

2) Identify your starting point (measure yourself, take selfies, pictures from all angles, etc.)

3) Plan ahead (prepare you apparel, food, schedule, etc. at least one week ahead)

4) Start slowly (don’t overdue the first week, as it will kill the motivation)

5) Add one change at a time (increase number of reps, sets, raise the intensity, etc.)

… continue reading to begin your journey to a new self…

6. Implement Resistance Workouts

Resistance workouts can be really intimidating for people who are just getting started.

However, you must overcome that fear, as best results are achieved when you combine any weight-free routine (running, cycling, walking, yoga, etc.) with resistance workouts.

Resistance workouts are crucial to build muscle. Sport gyms are usually filled with many various machines, free-weights and even resistance bands to suit everybody’s needs.

It would be a great idea to sign up for a local gym and check out its benefits!

There are also coaches and personal trainers in the gyms who could give you guidance in how to perform an exercise correctly to prevent injuries and achieve the best results.

Sometimes it may seem that people in the gym are starring at each other and judging anyone who may be a little overweight, or doesn’t know how to perform a certain exercise.

However, it is usually not true. Most people are really concentrated within themselves trying to finish their workouts and get home.

You could start off with a bike or a treadmill for a warm up. Look around to see what is located where, get your confidence up and then begin your workout with weights or resistance bands…

… or hire a personal trainer who would show you around and give you an exact program you should follow while working out in the gym.

But we all know, not everybody can afford the luxury of a personal trainer and not everybody is up for that.

7. Expect For Slumps

Welcome to real life.

Everybody has experienced slumps in many aspects of their lives. Whether its business, relationship, work, personal mood or any other, they all have ups and downs.

When it’s on the up, everything seems easy and effortless. You could climb the Mount Everest or swim across Pacific Ocean.

However, as unfortunate as that is, we have as many bad days as good ones. The biggest difference between people who succeed and the people who fail is the ability to scramble on the bad days and get your stuff done.

There will be bad days when you are forced to skip a work out. There will be days when you end up getting junk food for lunch because you simply had no time to go somewhere better, or bring homemade dish.

That is OK. That is life. Everybody has those days.

Your child gets sick and instead of hitting the gym you have to take him to the doctor.

Your car breaks down, and you have to take it to car service.

Shit happens.

BUT! After that missed day, you must make up for it. You have to get straight back into your routine or otherwise you are setting yourself up for failure.

While there are many different distractions and situations that could force you to adjust your day’s plans, getting right back into your routine is crucial to achieve the success you have always wanted.

8. Prepare For The Week 3

Week 3 is usually make or break for most people.

It’s classic time for people to quit their New Year’s resolutions. It’s also the time most people start expecting for some results to show.

The truth is, it’s hard to achieve some significant results within the first 3 weeks of your brand new workout routine.

So how to stay motivated and where to find that inner strength to continue?

I personally find that investing money helps to take care of this problem.

You can purchase monthly access to a local gym, or buy a new apparel, running shoes or other accessories. It will provide a sense of commitment, which is usually enough to keep you going with your new workout plan.

So, when the third week comes, give yourself a small surprise. Buy a new sports bra, a pair of new running shoes or cool socks, and continue with a long and challenging, but nonetheless awesome path to a new self.

So let’s quickly go over the first 8 steps:

1) Decide what is your main goal (lose weight, feel healthier, get stronger, etc)

2) Identify your starting point (measure yourself, take selfies, pictures from all angles, etc.)

3) Plan ahead (prepare you apparel, food, schedule, etc. at least one week ahead)

4) Start slowly (don’t overdue the first week, as it will kill the motivation)

5) Add one change at a time (increase number of reps, sets, raise the intensity, etc.)

6) Incorporate resistance workouts (resistance bands, free-weights, weight-machines, etc.)

7) Expect for slumps (make up for missed days, get right back into routine, scramble on bad days)

8) Prepare for week 3 (make or break week, buy something nice, get a gym membership, etc.)

9. Find A Workout That You Like

If you hate running, then probably it’s going to be severely difficult to run everyday before work.

I personally hate running, because to me it’s the most boring exercise I can think of, but the beauty is that everybody is so different. What is good for one, can be bad for another, and vice versa.

It’s funny, because I still do play basketball where running makes up the largest part of the game.

You need to find something that you would look forward doing. Of course, if you want to achieve certain results, like lose weight, you cannot just walk every night for 30 minutes. It’s not going to be enough. You need something more intense, perhaps a yoga or a dancing class, or group activities like “Insanity” workouts.

If you don’t like working out in groups and want to workout by yourself, think of where would you like to have your activity.

In the gym? At home? It will help you narrow down the choices of workouts.

There are numerous workouts that you need to consider.

At first, just pick whichever. Sign up for yoga class or just get on a treadmill at a local gym. Start moving and you will soon see what is working for you and what is not, what you enjoy and what you hate.

Once you get to know your body and body gets to know you, you will start achieving results quicker and more pleasantly.

10. New Habits

Your ultimate long-term goal should be to develop sport habits.

It can be as simple as waking up for an abs workout at 5 a.m. couple times a week, never skipping gym on Saturday afternoon, no matter how you feel or jumping rope at home while watching your favorite show

If you manage to develop few habits, it will significantly increase your chances of becoming successful.

I once went through a pushup routine before my work at 6 a.m. Every morning I would do pushups. During my first week I did a total of 50 pushups every morning (2 sets of 25). Then I continued adding 10 pushups per week (week 2 – 60 pushups, week 3 – 70 pushups). Went up to 250 pushups every morning.

I did not have a goal, I simply decided I am going to do that and will stop whenever. So I did. However, I developed a routine, which made it easy for me to wake up and get the blood moving, preparing me mentally and physically for my long day at work.

Thus you can start with something as simple as that, and see how your body becomes more comfortable waking up in the morning for tougher and longer workouts.

11. All On You

At the end of the day, success or failure will depend solely on you.

You can get all the help you can, hire the best specialists to give you the guidance of what to eat, when to sleep and what to do in order to achieve your goal.

However, it’s you who will have to do the eating and sleeping and lifting. You have to remember that it was your decision to adopt changes in your life (unless, of course, someone pushed you into it, which will lead to no success in a long run). You will take all the credit and all the blame.

Now let’s go over all the steps of how to start exercising out to really get them into your head: