Introductory fitness course for beginners

The core answer for newbies to get started with fitness is never to collect a dozen differentiated training plans, stock up a cabinet of supplements, and force yourself to go to the gym for 2 hours a day. Instead, first establish three underlying consensuses that are not against human nature, and then start with two zero-threshold actions. Positive feedback can be established in as fast as two weeks, and the probability of persistence in the first three months can be 80% higher than that of people who practice blindly.

To be honest, I encountered a big pitfall when I first started working out in 2018. At that time, I followed a fitness blogger’s five-point plan. I practiced chest on Monday, back on Tuesday, and legs on Wednesday. On the first day, the empty bar of the bench press was shaking, so I gritted my teeth and pushed 12 sets. Later, when I chatted with the team’s rehabilitation instructor, I found out that novices like me, who jump into the difficulty level at the beginning, are among the group that are most likely to give up halfway.

Let’s talk about the most common quarrel between people: “Should newbies learn standard movements first?” Most veterans in the powerlifting circle will advise you to first use light weights to feel the force. It doesn’t matter if the movements are crooked, as long as you don’t get hurt.； A coach with a background in bodybuilding will most likely ask you to hone your movement framework for half a month before touching the weight. In fact, both sides are right. If you are a person who has been sitting for several years and rarely climbs stairs, it is really cost-effective to spend two or three classes with a coach to adjust your movement frame to avoid hurting your waist and knees. ； If you can't sit still and don't have the patience for fitness, you can just use a 2kg small dumbbell to make blind gestures. As long as you don't lock your elbow joints and don't bend down to lift heavy objects, the error tolerance of your movements will not cause you to get injured casually. It's better to move first than anything else.

Don’t believe it, according to statistics released by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) in the past two years, the abandonment rate of novices in the first three months of fitness is as high as 76%. 62% of them give up not because they are tired, but because they set too high goals for themselves at the beginning - for example, forcing yourself to go to the gym 5 times a week, but then work overtime one day and fail to go. Really, practicing twice a week is better than practicing six times a week and then disappearing. Several of my friends who are programmers have decided to go to the gym every Tuesday and Thursday night for 40 minutes each time. After training, they can also stop by to eat skewers. They have been persisting for almost a year now, and their body shape changes are much better than those who started training hard for a month and then disappeared.

There is also the pitfall of diet. There is really no need to buy a food scale and count the calories in each mouthful of rice, which makes eating every meal feel like doing math problems. Competitors in the bodybuilding circle must accurately calculate macronutrients when preparing for competitions, but we, novices, have just started training. To put it bluntly, with a small amount of exercise, we usually change the frequency of drinking milk tea from one cup a day to one cup every two days, and change the frequency of eating fried chicken from four times a week to twice. The caloric gap will naturally appear. If we don't make ourselves miserable at the beginning, we will not be able to persevere.

If you really want to get started, I suggest that you don’t even need to apply for a gym membership first, but just practice two zero-threshold movements at home to find the feeling: One is to go downstairs and walk briskly for 10 minutes after dinner every day, just a little faster than your usual walking speed. No need to run.； The other is to squat quietly against the wall. Put your back against the wall and your knees should not go over your toes. Stop every time you squat until your legs are a little sore. Practice 3 groups of 30 seconds each. There is no need to learn these two movements, and there is no chance of injury. I also arranged this plan for my mother before. After practicing for two weeks, she said that she used to have to rest twice to climb the fifth floor. Now she can climb up in one breath, and she immediately has the motivation to continue practicing. It is a hundred times better than practicing deadlifts for three days when you get up.

By the way, a little reminder, don’t buy random equipment at the beginning, such as fitness belts, booster belts, and whey protein powder. The amount of training you did in the first three months can be replenished by eating two more eggs and drinking a glass of milk every day. There is no need for protein powder at all. When I first started practicing, I followed the trend and bought 5 pounds of vanilla-flavored protein powder. After drinking it for half a year, I still had half a bucket. Finally, I threw it all away when it expired, and I lost hundreds of dollars.

It’s normal to have muscle soreness after practicing at the beginning. Either you did something wrong or the muscles haven’t moved for a long time. When I went down the stairs after practicing for the first time, my legs were shaking. I held on to the railing of the unit door for a long time and was asked by the aunt walking downstairs if I had a fever. It was so embarrassing. It will be better in three or four days. Don’t give up just because of the pain.

In fact, fitness really doesn’t have so many mysterious thresholds. Don’t think of it as a KPI that must be completed. Just think of it as going out after get off work and moving around to sweat, which is better than lying at home and scrolling through your phone. As you practice, you will naturally know when to add weight and adjust your diet. Compared with a perfect training plan, taking the first step is the most important thing.