4 Tips for those Beginning their Fitness Journey

The beginning of every journey can be scary when you are starting from scratch, fitness is no exception. Here are a few tips to help make things easier if you are beginning your fitness journey.

Tip 1: Change up your Training!

When you begin your journey into fitness you may have an exciting idea in your head, the image of you in the gym or going out for a run. This may seem exciting at first but you may find that this idea becomes less EXCITING and more UNAPPEALING. Suddenly the idea of going out to train becomes dull and tiring. This is why it is important that you attempt to change up your training in any way that you can. This can be a small change such as changing the destination of your workout, trying out another gym or finding a new park to run in will do the trick. Changing your environment will give you a new boost of inspiration to train and will allow you to rediscover that initial reason you had to embark on your journey. Alternatively, a bigger change is what you may need in order to properly find your motivation. Tired of doing the same activities week in and week out, CHANGE IT UP! Instead of going to the gym, get some friends together for a game of football. Instead of going for that dreaded run each week, join a fitness class or local sports club. There is an ongoing list of different ways you can train or different sports you can take up, you'll never know how you feel about them until you give them a go!

Tip 2: Consistency over Intensity!

    One issue that you may find when you begin exercising regularly is implementing it into your daily routine. A lot of the time when you exercise it is when you have the time to do so and are free from your priorities. Working out should BECOME one of your priorities. You should not be aiming to try and make time for your training, your training should aim to get to the point where it is just as much of a priority as brushing your teeth in the morning, it should be a NECESSITY. If you find yourself in the scenario where, for example, you cant make time for the gym as you have to go out with a friend, this is not implementing it into your routine, you should have explained to your friend that you'll be unable to make it as you have to go to the gym to train, THIS is the correct attitude to have in order to make your training as consistent as possible. Another way to achieve this would be to shorten your training times and increase the number of sessions. For example, instead of going to the gym 3 times a week for an hour each, go 5 or 6 times for 30 mins at a time. This will allow you to incorporate your training into your daily routine at a more consistent rate.

Tip 3: Try new exercises you aren't familiar with!

    One fear that you may have when beginning the gym is not having a wide knowledge of exercises to do when training. If you are faced with this scenario just remember EVERYONE has been here. No one walks into the gym on their first day and knows what exercises are suited to each muscle group and how many reps and sets they should be doing. The gym can be scary when you are unaware like this. Just remember that you aren't alone, take inspiration from people who look like they know what they're doing, research different exercises and take into account any do's and dont's while performing them. Once you have found a new exercise to try, remember, start lifting LIGHT in order to correct your form and technique. This is always the safest and most effective option as you should never increase the weight when your technique is not correct, unless you are looking to injure yourself... 

Tip 4: Find Someone you can Train with!

     This tip WILL help you in terms of motivation, however, it is NOT a necessity, training by yourself can be beneficial and also more relaxing too. Given this, training with a friend or fellow gym goer will give you another reason to go to training. If you're not feeling up to it you may feel pressured to not let your partner down or disappoint them, REMEMBER you'll always feel worse not going to the gym knowing you could have went and felt fulfilled and satisfied at the end. As well as this, partnering up in the gym can help improve your technique when training or you can trade teaching points with each other. This goes for all sports or activities, communication with each other will always be beneficial to both parties.