Workout Plan for Beginners

How To Get Started Working Out

Congratulations on taking the first step towards becoming more active. By starting an exercise routine, you will see almost immediate gains in your health and vitality. You can start burning fat and gaining muscle today without even needing to spend money on expensive gym memberships. All you need is a pair of sneakers to walk in and some loose clothes you can move in.

In most cases, I talk about the importance of doing intense, full-body exercises, but when you are just beginning all you need to focus on is getting your heart rate up and sweating a bit.

I have listed several great exercises to get you started. Try to work out 3 times per week for 30 minutes at a time. Pick 3 of these exercises per session and make sure to do every one in the span of one week. In just a few short weeks of this beginners workout, you should see improvements!

Walking: The Greatest Type of Exercise

You don't need to be a sprinter or a marathon runner to get the benefits of moving your feet. In fact, walking is going to be more effective for you in the beginning than trying either of these intense exercises.

Simply walking will elevate your heart rate so that you are burning fat. In addition, walking has been shown to drastically reduce your liability for diseases of civilization such as heart attack, stroke, and diabetes.

Most people can begin walking today. The benefits of walking can also be attained by biking or any other low-intensity movements. You can walk or bike to nearby places and save your gas money. You can park further away from where you are going and walk up the stairs instead of going in the elevator. I suggest you go for a brief walk in the morning or when you get home from work.

Air Squat: The King of All Exercises

Don't think that to do squats you need to be a huge bodybuilder with a barbell full of weights, going red in the face trying to stand up. To get the benefits of squats, you don't need to use any weight at all.

A squat without weight is called an air squat, and it is one of the most important movements the human body can do. Moving your body in this way is an exercise that will be very beneficial to you.

How to do air squats:

1. Place your feet slightly wider than shoulder width.
2. Push your butt back and bend your knees.
3. If you are off balance, place your hands out in front of you.
4. Extend your legs to the starting position.

Here is a video showing this:



Push Up: The Old-School Exercise

You probably remember this one from your high school phys ed class. You may have hated them back then, but the push up is a great upper body exercise that is also completely safe.

How to do push ups:

1. Hold your body completely straight with your feet together on the ground and your hands a bit wider than shoulder width.
2. Lower yourself down until you almost touch the floor.
3. Extend your arms to return to the starting position.

You can put your knees on the ground if this is too hard for you.

Check out this video:



Planks: Better Than Crunches

The majority of people do endless crunches and sit ups to work their abs but this high-impact movement can end in neck injury. I suggest you use planks, a more effective abs exercise.

How to do planks:

1. Start out in the beginning position for push ups.
   
2. Lower down to your elbows while maintaining a straight body.
3. Hold this position for as long as you can.

Here's a video to help:



Dips: A Chair Exercise

Dips are a great upper body exercise. You'll need a sturdy chair that isn't going to move around much for this one.

Dip instructions:

1. Grasp the front seat of the chair behind you and extend your legs out in front of you. The further you extend, the more difficult the exercise.
2. Bend your arms until your upper arms are parallel to the floor.
3. Push yourself back up.

Here's a video to demonstrate:



The Pull Up

This one's more of an "extra credit" exercise because it requires a piece of equipment. You can find pull up bars for pretty cheap and they will be an excellent investment you will use for a long time. Otherwise you can find a sturdy rafter or bar somewhere and you can use that.

How to do pull ups:

1. Put your hands a bit wider than shoulder width apart on the bar.
2. Contract your arms until your chin is at the same height as the bar.
3. Relax your arms back down again.

This is a good example: