Contents Method 1: Set clear goals 1. Consult a doctor before starting a fitness plan. 2. Choose a fitness goal and a timetable for completion. 3. Prioritize your time for fitness. Method 2: Choose a fitness method that suits you 1. If you like to combine strength training with aerobic exercise, you can go to the gym to exercise. 2. If you want low-impact exercise, try yoga. 3. Participate in group classes to increase motivation. 4. If you need one-on-one guidance, find a personal trainer. 5. If you don’t have time or money, exercise at home. 6. Focus on basic strength training. 7. Use a fitness app to track your progress. 8. Find a fitness partner to supervise each other. Method 3: Implement a feasible fitness plan 1. Decide the days and times you can exercise. 2. Start with simple exercises. 3. Make a playlist suitable for listening to while exercising. 4. Do some light exercise from time to time throughout the day. 5. Don’t exhaust yourself early in the exercise. 6. Give your body time to recover after each workout. Method 4: Develop new habits 1. As your health level improves, set appropriate new goals. 2. Try different types of exercise. 3. Increase exercise frequency. Almost everyone agrees that regular exercise or fitness is good for the body, but it is really difficult to stick to it all the time. Creating and sticking to a fitness plan isn't easy, but luckily there are a few tips that can help. Set fitness goals that are easy to achieve. Even if you don’t see results right away, don’t be discouraged and continue to exercise 2-3 times a week for 20-30 minutes each time.
Method 1: Set clear goals
1. Consult a doctor before starting a fitness plan. If you're new to fitness, it's a good idea to ask your doctor what programs might not be right for you, especially if you have a chronic disease or disability. If you are a man over 45 years old or a woman over 55 years old, do not start a fitness program without authorization, and be sure to consult a doctor first.
Your doctor may be able to recommend some safe exercises for you.
2. Choose a fitness goal and a timetable for completion. Everyone's goals are different. Maybe you want to build muscle, lose weight, or simply stay healthy. Having clear goals can give you the motivation to stick with it when you feel like slacking off. It’s best to make your goals more specific, such as running a half marathon in 6 months or doing 30 push-ups in 1 minute in 3 weeks. Think about what aspect of yourself you want to improve. Maybe you don't need to lose weight or reduce your waistline, but you want to run a 5K, and that's fine too.
Many people exercise to lose weight. Do you want to successfully lose 10 centimeters from your waistline before summer arrives? Lose 7kg in 6 months? Lose 5 body fat by next year?
Set healthy goals. Don't expect to lose a lot of weight in a short period of time. If you're not sure whether your fitness or weight loss goals are healthy, talk to your doctor.
3. Prioritize your fitness time. Free time can easily be arranged to do other activities besides fitness. To avoid this, prioritize your daily or weekly fitness time and leave the rest of the time for other non-essential activities. Put fitness first and make sure your fitness time is not compressed by monotonous and onerous obligations. For example, you can set your alarm to go off an hour earlier every morning so you have time to hit the gym before going to work. Or inform your friends that you need to work out after get off work and can’t go drinking with them.
Don’t become overly obsessed with fitness, or give up socializing for the sake of fitness. In addition to fitness, you also need to intersperse other activities in your life to help maintain motivation.
Method 2: Choose a fitness method that suits you
1. If you like to combine strength training with aerobic exercise, you can go to the gym to exercise. The great thing about a gym is that it's very convenient, with everything from cardio machines, weight machines, and free weights. If your main goal is to improve your heart rate, lose weight, or build muscle, starting in the gym is best. Don't worry about being intimidated by other exercisers. Most people just focus on doing their own thing and are very helpful.
The average gym membership fee ranges from tens to hundreds of yuan a month.
If you can't afford it, look for gyms that are offering discounts. Some gyms have less equipment but cheaper fees.
2. If you want low-impact exercise, try yoga. Yoga is great to incorporate into aerobic exercise and helps to relax the mind and body. If you want to stay focused and calm while stretching and building muscle tone, try yoga. There are yoga tutorials on many video websites. You can also join a yoga class held at a nearby gym.
3. Participate in group classes to increase motivation. It's a fun experience to have a group of people around you doing the same exercise as you. You're motivated to keep up with everyone and make new friends. You can also find your favorite sport and learn more about it. Most gyms and exercise facilities offer classes for all levels. If you want to try a new sport, like spinning or yoga, check out beginner classes.
4. If you need one-on-one guidance, you can find a personal trainer. Instructors can help you get familiar with the gym, demonstrate how to use fitness equipment, and answer fitness-related questions. Even if you don't plan on receiving one-on-one instruction long-term, just 2-3 lessons can be enough to introduce you to the different types of exercise and figure out which one you prefer. Some gyms will provide new members with a free one-on-one training session with a personal trainer.
After the free course ends, each subsequent one-on-one course will cost several hundred dollars. If you want to save money, just take group classes.
You can also ask a personal trainer to take classes at your home, which will of course be more expensive.
5. If you don’t have time or money, exercise at home. No time or money to pay for a gym membership? You can exercise easily at home! You can buy a few small dumbbells and do some simple exercises while lying on the bed, or carry a heavy object with you in your daily life. You can buy dumbbells or barbells at your local sporting goods store. If you prefer aerobic exercise, you can buy a skipping rope and jump for 15-20 minutes every day.
6. Focus on basic strength training. No one starts out curling 40kg or bench pressing 90kg. Start with simple, proven strength training exercises to build muscle effectively. Do 4-8 different exercises to exercise different muscle groups. Rather than starting with heavy weights, it's better to lift smaller weights with correct form. Good weight lifts include: Work out your lower body with squats and lunges, deadlifts, and step-ups.
Do push-ups, pull-ups, use the rowing machine, and free weights to work out your upper body.
Do planks and sit-ups to strengthen your core muscles.
Take steps to avoid muscle soreness.
7. Use a fitness app to record your progress. If you have a smartphone or tablet, download a fitness tracking app or two to record your progress and monitor your weekly progress. By recording calories, steps, sleep cycles, and other exercise and health-related information, you'll be more motivated to keep going. Try out apps like: The MyFitnessPal app allows you to track the calories of the food you eat and also counts steps.
The Sworkit app provides many fitness videos demonstrating the steps of more than 200 exercises.
The MapMyRun app helps plan multiple route options in your area based on the distance and duration you want to run.
8. Find a fitness partner to supervise each other. It’s easy to feel exhausted and lose enthusiasm when working out alone. To avoid this feeling of fatigue, find a partner to exercise with. Ask them if they would like to go to the gym with you every two weeks or go for a run every day. Having 1-2 workout partners can help push yourself and make sure you stick to the schedule you set. If a friend already has a fitness routine, ask if you can join them.
Method 3: Implement a feasible fitness plan
1. Decide the days and times you can exercise. This helps form a habit.
You need to make fitness a priority and incorporate it into your lifestyle. Set aside at least a few days a week for exercise. For example, plan to run for an hour at 7 a.m. every morning, or go to the gym every Monday night from 6 to 8 p.m. Taking the first step is always the hardest. Exercising only when you are in a good mood occasionally will not form an effective habit.
2. Start with simple exercises. If you don't have specific fitness goals, it's best to develop a comprehensive exercise plan. Once you figure out the type of exercise you enjoy, you can then create a workout plan and goals. Focus on strength training and cardio first. Try incorporating aerobic exercise into your fitness routine. Start by doing some simple aerobic exercise, such as walking or running outdoors or on a treadmill. Do it 3-5 times a week for 20 minutes each time.
Incorporate strength training into your weekly fitness routine, whether with free weights or free weights. Exercise all major muscle groups, including chest, arms, legs and core, at least 2-3 times a week.
3. Make a playlist suitable for listening to while exercising. Hearing energizing music will make you more motivated to start and keep exercising. Pick some upbeat rock, pop, or hip-hop music and create an hour-long playlist. Listening to music while exercising can make you forget about muscle soreness and inspire you to reach your greater potential. If you don’t have time to make your own playlist, you can find premade playlists on streaming music platforms such as NetEase Cloud, iTunes, and Shengpotian.
4. Do some small exercises from time to time throughout the day. You don’t have to be at the gym to exercise. During the day, whether at work or at home, you can do many short but effective small exercises. You can exercise while seated in your office or at your desk, getting in some aerobic exercise without leaving the office. For example, if you work in an office building, take a 20-minute walk during your lunch break or jog up and down the stairs for 15 minutes to increase your heart rate.
You can also rest for 10 minutes every 2 hours and do 30 push-ups and sit-ups respectively.
5. Don’t exhaust yourself in the early stages of exercise. At the beginning, you must understand your abilities and pay more attention to the signals sent by your body. If you find yourself short of breath, weak or shaky in your legs, stop running immediately. If your arms are trembling and you are worried that the dumbbell may fall on you if you don't hold it securely, stop lifting the weight immediately. If you feel pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, or nausea, stop and rest for a while. You may be pushing yourself too hard.
6. Give your body time to recover after each workout. Allow your body to rest for 1 day after each exercise session. Although you won't be able to work out the next day, it will make your fitness journey go further in the long run. Don't exercise the same muscle group 2 days in a row, because the muscles will basically tear during exercise and then need to rebuild, grow and become stronger during self-repair. After each strength training session, be sure to give your muscles 24-48 hours of rest to repair themselves. Give your muscles time to recover. If your muscles are still very sore after one day, just to be on the safe side, rest for another day.
Method 4: Develop new habits
1. As your health level improves, set appropriate new goals. When appropriate, re-evaluate your fitness level. If you've already achieved your weight loss goals, you can decide whether you want to lose more weight or develop beautiful muscles instead. If your previous goal was to bench press 110 kilograms, you can increase the goal to 125 kilograms and continue practicing. Later expansion goals don’t need to be limited to the gym. The old hiking route is getting easier and easier, with almost no challenge? Then try a more difficult route.
You can also extend your workout time. Increase exercise from 2 times a week for 20 minutes each time to 4 times a week for 30 minutes each time.
If you are satisfied with your current body shape and muscle tone, you can set a new goal to maintain your current physical fitness and appearance.
2. Try different types of exercise. Maybe your fitness regimen includes activities such as walking, biking, or rowing. If you want to try more types of exercise, don't stop here. Go hiking with your family on the weekends, or spend an evening dancing at a dance club.
As you explore more and more activities, you'll most likely develop a strong interest in some. Swing dancing is surprisingly fun? Great, schedule an extra hour a week to rock yourself!
If you run 5 kilometers at home five days a week, you might as well move to outdoor exercise. Change a new running route, run only at night, or increase it to 7 kilometers. If that's not enough, try a new sport entirely. Do you usually practice yoga? Let’s try Pilates instead this time. Always wanted to try kickboxing? Then take action!
3. Increase exercise frequency. As you slowly progress, you will find that your original exercise plan is too simple. Don't be satisfied with this, dare to break through yourself. For example, working out twice a week is a good choice in the beginning. After 6 months, increase to exercising 3 times a week. After 1 month, exercise 4-5 times a week. You can also alternate between different types of exercise. For example, hit the gym on Tuesday and Thursday and run on Monday and Wednesday.
Tips If your goal is to lose weight, know that 0.45 kilograms equals 3500 calories. You need to reduce your caloric intake and exercise so that you burn 500 more calories per day than you take in to lose 0.45 kilograms per week. You can also switch to burning 500 more calories than you eat every other day and lose 0.45kg in 2 weeks.
Don’t force yourself to do exercises you hate. You don't have to go to the gym. If you like swimming, dancing, or hiking, go for it! They are also great for exercise.
Finding a friend to work out with you can help keep you motivated and push you to reach your exercise goals.