Start slow, don't push until your broken, just push enough so your body has to adapt.
If you've not been doing a lot of exercise just starting walking for 30 mins 4 times a week can be a good start.
After a couple of weeks you'll start adapting to that and feeling a lot better. Then you might want to join up at a gym.
I'd say start with something easy like the machines for a few months. The machines aren't the best way to lift but they're pretty hard to get wrong, come with instructions and get you used to going to the gym.
Limit your time at the gym. For me 40 mins and I'm out. If you feel like you have to be there for a long time it can impact the rest of your life and cause you to give up on it. Regular workouts are key to changing. Not one off insanely intense marathon sessions.
After 3 months or so you'll start noticing a little more energy and confidence. I'd say it's time to learn some barbell lifts. Deadlift, squat, bench press and overhead press. Get good at those over a year or so and you'll be amazed at the changes you see.
Starting strength is a great book to get you going on those lifts. If you can afford it a trainer is also a great way to start. https://athleanx.com/ is also something I've heard nothing but good things about.
Mobility is also huge, learn to stretch from day one. You'll feel amazing if you can get in 20 mins 3 times a week.
No one starts doing something that they have no motivation to do. You have to decide that it matters. To cringe a bit and quote Tony Robbins anyways: “burn the boats and take the island!”
I came home from college after ending a long relationship. I was broke, depressed and quickly gaining weight. I knew I was in trouble when my Mom starting telling me I was looking "puffy" around the face. As a hockey and soccer player, this was the final straw, I knew I had to do something but was so unmotivated to do anything.
I started slow. Got a on a treadmill (you can find some for free on craiglist) and did 10 minutes a day. Then I do resistance band for about 10-15 minutes and then tried as best I could to stretch out. I started at 30 minutes, and then as I improved my diet and started to lose the weight, I increased the intensity. Yeah, I was doing 10 minutes, but I was practically sprinting by the second month. I gave up the resistance bands and started doing light free weight lifting, but doing long reps (3 sets of 20-25 reps).
My advice? Basically just do anything. Go out and walk for 15 minutes. Go run for 5 minutes every day. Go out and work in your yard, get on a bike and bike for 15 minutes. Anything that gets your blood pumping and your heart rate up is beneficial. Try as best you can to eat better. Working out is useless if you don't improve your diet.
Just start somewhere and adjust as you go. My biggest bit of advice? Listen to your body. If you're sore or doing something is painful, stop. If you're sore? Don't push it, take a few days off, switch exercises and take it easy. When you get older, it takes a LOT longer to heal and get back to working out. You don't want to pull a muscle and be sitting on your couch healing for 2 months.
Figure out what matters to you personally and frame exercise in terms of a means to achieving or aiding you in that matter.
For example, if family is important to you, being strong and fit makes it easier to take care of a young family. If you're a woman I assume pregnancy goes easier if you're physically robust beforehand. Good health ensures longevity and gives you more and better quality time with your family.
If your career or work is important then you can note that being in better health puts you in a better position to achieve your professional goals - lower chances of RSI or lengthy hospital stays, easier to put in long hours without getting tired. And of course physically fit people are more attractive and, on average, attractive people do better professionally - they get paid more, are perceived as more competent etc.
If you care about the environment, becoming fitter makes it more likely you'll walk or bike instead of driving. You'll also require less healthcare in your old age, which means fewer resources are expended on you.
I could keep going - practically any personal goal could get a bit of a boost from better health.
If you have the budget, hire a personal trainer for 1-2 hours/week. It's not cheap, but having to make the appointment or lose the money you spent is a huge motivator. They'll probably work you harder than you would work alone as well as enforce good form. I got started lifting weights this way.
Then you'll be motivated to work out on your own to save money.
I’m an undergrad, and I’ve only very rarely worked out in the past. I just wanted to share how I feel about this today. I’ll be going for my second time today.
I think some important factors for this:
- It feels good
- I’m feeling sad and am looking to feel better
- I’m not feeling too physically tired. Last night I worked out, and this morning I worked out. I feel strong and as if I have enough energy to work out
- I am not distracted with stress about any obligations (when I am stressed/distracted, I tend to forget to do certain things or will badly time manage)
I think the main factors are that I am looking to feel better and I feel somewhat energetic because I worked out last night and today.
I have wondered how to solve this problem last month. I thought about how, through school and social norms, we learn to not react to our urge to move (and movement can bring pleasure). It’s important to react to our urge to move, to have a reflex. I might be developing that now, because as I wrote, I’m goingbecause I want to feel better.
Find a competent trainer - gyms that teach Olympic Weightlifting are going to have higher caliber trainers than the typical commercial gym full of 'personal trainers.'
There's a massive technical aspect to learn that puts a more scientific spin to appeal to people like us.*
Training to be better at something that you will never do for real is somehow depressing, especially if you only do it in a gym. Run or ride a bike, at least you have a chance to do something useful instead of moving a weight for the sake of moving a weight
>Training to be better at something that you will never do for real is somehow depressing
I would argue with the "never do for real" when it comes to weight lifting, and I would also argue against the entire concept.
You lift weights all the time. Every time you stand up, every step you take, every time you move any muscle, you're lifting weights. If you're helping a friend move, you're lifting weights. I bought a file cabinet the other day and the guy was amazed that I got it into my truck on my own even though it was 50+ pounds... but I think a normal person should be able to lift that much weight into the bed of a truck no problem. Need to open a pickle jar? Need to move a couch? Need to carry more groceries in from the car? That's what you're training for.
And also, people train for things they never do "for real" all the time. Every time you play a video game you train for something you'll never do for real. Every time you play guitar but you're not in a band, you're training for something you'll never do for real. Every time you make a joke if you're not a stand-up comedian, you're training for something you'll never do for real. Every time you take a picture but you're not a photographer you get the idea. You're not really training to be an olympic weightlifter, you're training to lift that weight right there in front of you. That's just as "for real" as anything else you do as a hobby.
How is running or riding a bike any more "for real" than lifting a weight? They're all things you do for exercise to be healthy. No one's running everywhere they go, running is something you do in order to run, and you run to get better at running so you can run more. You lift weights in order to lift heavier weights so you can lift more weights. Same exact thing.
No way. I love learning those lifts. I'll never compete but I'll get better. I'll have a challenge that's more than just grinding through reps. I'll get gains faster than just physiological adaptation allows for as my skill goes up. Olympic lifts can be a lot of fun.
The only olympic-style lifts I've done are deadlifts. It is very rewarding to maximally focus all your mental and physical energy into one second of effort. Using your body feels good no matter if the activity has "no purpose."
Get a gym buddy, could be any friend that wants to hit the gym too or one that already goes and doesn't mind you tagging along. Don't have to workout together, you just want someone not to disappoint and text when you want to flake.
I started going to gym at lunch time. I just eat a sandwich or a shake (Jimmy Joy) in front of my computer and then I go to the gym. It takes me a total of 50 minutes (30 minutes of actual exercising) but I could feel a real change in my body going 4 times a week.
Honestly? I'd suggest not doing so. Take walks when you want to, and consider if there's somwthing else you could do that would still benefit your life, that yoy do have motivation for.
