Everything You Need To Begin Your Fitness Journey
We want you to be as successful as possible on your new (or revamped!) fitness journey! I also want to be one of the first people to congratulate you on making this choice to better your physical health. Our bodies carry a lot of stress every day: fighting against the pull of gravity, removing toxins from the foods we eat and the air we breath, getting us from point A (home) to point B (grocery store), and all of the mechanical movement it conducts with our daily activities. When we sleep, our body attempts to heal itself from daily stress.
The great news is, by exercising, you are literally creating a stronger body and immune system to heal from daily stress. Countless studies and reports have many times over, proven that exercise leads to improved sleep and recovery, and reduced daily stress on the body. You also get an increased dose of those feel good hormones known as endorphins!
As a gift to you, here are items to mark off your checklist that most people don’t know about when beginning their fitness journey. These items will make exercise easier, more fun, injury proof, and will help you stick to your fitness goals!
Fitness Gear. Clothes and shoes are really important when it comes to exercise. Fitness clothes are strategically designed to make exercise more pleasant on the body. Materials such as polyester, mesh, nylon, spandex, and bamboo (yes! bamboo). They are durable and some materials are wrinkle free, which means you can wash them repeatedly after workouts without the worries of harsh wear and tear on your clothes. Fitness clothes wisk away sweat from the body, helping you to feel dry, and most items are stretchy to allow for great comfort during movement.
Your shoes are very essential to your workout as well. You want to be mindful to stay away from worn shoes where the soles are uneven. This is a definite NO NO, as uneven soles increase the likelihood of exercise injuries and create imbalances in the body. The type of shoes you wear depend on the exercises you plan to engage in. For example, kick boxing requires good ankle support while also have a lightweight shoe to support the boxer’s footwork and quick movements. Some exercises don’t require shoes at all, such as yoga which invites you to move barefoot or with yoga socks.
Fitness Gear also increases your motivation to workout. If you can afford to do so, treat yourself to new athletic wear as a reward for engaging in a healthy fitness journey. I’m all for feeling and looking good while working out. You’ll sweat, get tired, fall or stumble, and even do some exercises wrong. But hey! We all do and at least you look good while doing it!
The best thing you can do for yourself as you begin your fitness journey is to research standard fitness gear for the type of exercise you plan to engage in. Like kick boxing, you may need extra gear like boxing gloves, or for weight lifting, workout gloves. Your clothes DO NOT have to be fancy or top notch, just fitting for your body and exercise type. The goal is to help you and your body feel as comfortable and as confident as possible with your new lifestyle.
Identify Likes and Dislikes. Let’s bust the myth now that exercise is boring, painful and hard. Exercise can most definitely be fun, energizing, and effective at the same time! If you’r finding that your workouts are becoming boring or dreadful, it’s possible that you are doing exercises that are unfitting for your body or personality type. For example, as a dancer, I love to incorporate dance into my exercise routine! It keeps me engaged and excited to workout. This may look like dancing on a treadmill or at home in the mirror.
One exercise I love to do with clients as we begin our fitness journey, is to have them identify what sports or activities they really enjoyed in the past, and what activities brought them the most success for any previous fitness goals. Next we identify activities that they absolutely despise. Now, we may not totally avoid these exercises, especially if they are necessary for fundamental movement and progressing towards their goals. Once we have gathered like and dislikes, we combine this list to create a comprehensive exercise program that they feel enthusiastic and confident about.
In oder to solidify exercise into your lifestyle, it has to involve something you really enjoy and can commit to for the rest of your life. You’d be surprised at what activities would be great for meeting your fitness goals. Here are some to name a few: bike riding, in-door jump zones, rock climbing, dancing, DIY projects, playing at a park with kids, and video games requiring continuous physical movement.
Good Nutrition. Exercise is the process of breaking down muscles fibers and allowing the body to fuse them, creating thicker and stronger muscle fibers. Exercise also increases the flow of blood and oxygen to muscles throughout the body. This is how your body continues to burn calories even after your workout. Due to this new energy expenditure, your body will require proper nutrition to carry out these necessary bodily functions.
With beginning a new workout journey, it is recommended to eat a good variety of fruits, vegetables, grains and supplements to assist your body with repairs. Your body will have new tasks to complete to assure that you can function properly, and just like a car, it’s important that your body has proper fuel in order to run and operate. It’s natural to have increased food cravings during the initial stages of your workout journey; this is due to your increased energy production. A way to minimize these cravings so that you are not over-consuming food and un-doing all of your hard work is eat a balanced diet, drink lots of water, and set an eating schedule to monitor your food intake.
FUN FACT: Your physical fitness goals are 80% food and nutrition!
Professional Assistance. In the 1980s, personal training began to rise on the scene as a practical career choice. Since then, much data has surfaced to support the success of physical exercise and its experts (personal trainers). Hiring a fitness professional on your exercise journey serves many purposes.
For one, they can help you understand the science and practicality of your health goals and help create the best plan to get you to that goal in a healthy and progressive way.
Fitness professionals help track your progress. They will help you see when it’s time to progress your workouts, or switch it up. Fitness professionals are also trained to work around physical limitations, ailments and illness. They can help keep you safe during workouts.
Another huge component of hiring a fitness professional is that they will teach you how to do exercises properly to prevent injury and have fun while doing it! Fitness professional love to keep their clients engaged and enthusiastic about improving their health. This external motivation is known to effectively progress individuals towards their fitness goal versus individuals who prefer to do it alone.
Form and Function. I cannot stress the importance of form and function enough. Your health goal should be a lifestyle choice, something you become happy to maintain for the rest of your life. With this in mind, try not to progress your self too fast before you are ready. All exercise should first start with proper form and function to prevent injury down the line when workouts are progressed. An injury can prevent you from continuing towards your health goal or even leave a bad taste in your mouth about exercise. A fitness professional will be your best option for applying proper form and function of physical movements.
Disclaimer: Do not copy what you see others doing in the gym. Rather, seek professional guidance on how to complete exercises safely and efficiently.
Summary. These are my favorite essentials to inform people of as they began their fitness journey. Please feel free to comment your own essential checklist you believe people will benefit from as they began their journey. Great luck and much success on your health journeys Wys Souls!
Written and Published By: Megan “Megz” Roberts
August 8th, 2021
