#1 Take Action!
Nothing will ever be perfect. Never will it be a perfect time to start. Don’t be a gatherer of information only to think about it and do nothing. The #1 tip for beginners is to get started.
#2 Mindset.
Success starts in your head. You have to believe in yourself. The desire for change has to be greater than the want to stay the same. Ask yourself why change is important to you? Sure you may want to lose some fat and tone up, but why? To live longer? To age gracefully? To have more energy to put into your career? To see your grandkids grow-up? To attract the best partner in life? To be the best version of you? Find out what the deep motivating factor(s) is for you, believe in yourself and you are on the right path to achieving your fitness goals.
#3. Intensity levels.
Don’t be a wuss but you need to ease yourself into training especially the first 2-4/weeks, and especially if you’ve been sedentary for 5+ years. You may have a burst of motivation right now only to have it diminished by trying to do to much too soon. Don’t be a hero. I know this is hard, especially if we were in really good shape at one point. Jog before you sprint, maybe you need to do your pushups on your knees, maybe you need do bodyweight squats before you put a bar on your back. Save the heart bursting, lung burning, red line workouts once you’ve established a base. On a scale of 1-10 via the rating of perceived exertion I recommend keeping yourself in the 5-7 range in your first two weeks of training and then 7-8 in weeks 3 and 4.
#4 Technique.
You’re a beginner, good! Which means you’ve developed very few bad habits in your technique. You’re a fresh ball of clay ready to be molded. I love when I have a fresh new trainee void of years of doing things incorrectly. Take this to your advantage as a beginner and learn to do things correctly.
#5 Think long term.
Fitness is a lifestyle not a short term endeavor. No one has developed a fitness lifestyle in a matter of weeks or months. The sooner that you can understand how to create a program for long term success and do the things that come along with that, such as proper nutrition, movement prep, and passive recovery, the more successful you will be.
To give you an example of proper programming here is one of many ways it can be setup. This way you see all the major muscles are being hit and allowed 48-72 hours of recovery. One workout does not significantly Hinder another.
Mon-Repetition effort Chest, triceps, deltoids
Tues-Strength lower body
Weds-Endurance/Cardio
Thurs-Strength-Horizontal and Vertical pulling Strength
Fri-Strength Horizontal and Vertical Pushing
Sat-Endurance and/or mobility/Flexibility(We do Yin yoga at Amplified Fitness)
Sun-Rest.