Exercise How to Exercise for Beginners

Daniel Cooper August 15, 2022

How to exercise for beginners

Are you someone looking to get stuck into an exercise program? Firstly, well done! This can be a massive step that, if you are adherent can change your life!

If you’re reading this, I’m sure you have lot’s of questions around training, health and fitness as a whole. It can be quite overwhelming especially for someone just starting off.

You may be asking yourself where do I start? what do I do?

That is exactly what this blog will entail. We will start working through some key concepts and show you how to exercise if you’re a beginner!

Where do I start?

One key area that can be overlooked is ‘Why’ you are training in the first place. Start here. Figure out your motive, your driving force, why did you initiate your endeavour to be healthier?
Is it for your family, for aesthetic reasons or because your doctor just told you that you need to lose some weight?

Whatever the case, having a clear understanding of your why and the goal you aim for will make dividends to your success.

We have written a blog for you that you can find HERE to help you get started on your goal setting.

Other key considerations you must ask yourself before you begin exercising include:

Your medical history e.g. injuries and health conditions.
Availability – do you have access to equipment / gym?
Time line – how much time do you have to reach your goals?
Support network – does your family / friends support you or are they impacting you? (This can be a huge factor that makes or breaks your ability to achieve something. Make sure you have a supportive environment).

Once these questions are answered you can now move into the actual programs.

Usually when starting off in a one on one setting I would assess you for your ability to move. This would dictate what type of training you may need e.g. in the form of mobility / strength training.

Ask yourself the following:

1. Can you touch your toes?

2. Can you reach overhead?

3. Can you squat below 90*? (lower than a chair)

4. Can you rotate left and right equally?

If you answer no to any of the above, you would need specific movements to help you move better. This is where a decent coach can help you with the specific’s you may need!

If you answered yes to all of them, you are generally going be to clear for most movements.

Once you have figured out your specific goal, your why, you need to work out the action plan, that is what you need to do!

What do I do?

Before you continue reading, it’s best to learn some of the basic principles around training. These generally govern how much you require. We wrote a quick blog on it HERE.

Welcome back… Now you have a basic understanding it’s time to develop your plan.

The physical activity guidelines currently state that you need 150 minutes of low-moderate cardiovascular exercise e.g. walking, cycling or swimming per week. This can be broken up into 5 x 30 minute sessions.

The guidelines also recommend 2-3 x strength training per week.

Now if you are a general population person looking to just get some general fitness e.g. lose weight this would be the ideal place to start.

If you have goals of gaining some decent muscle, it would be worth hitting at least 3-4 strength based sesssions a week.

Below you can find example programs for each subgroup – fatloss and muscle growth. These will require equipment.