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So you want to start working out and move some weight around? Great! ...but how and where do you start?
I am delighted that you chose to start your fitness journey with our 7 simple steps below.
Now let me save you from making some of the mistakes I made when starting my fitness journey off… because I made them all when I started many years ago and you can easily make them too if you aren’t careful.
Here are the 7 Simple Steps you can use to Start Your Fintess Journey in 2023.
1. Diet
My very first recommendation for anyone who asks me how to start getting into “working out” is to get your diet in order first!
Selecting the right diet plan and eating healthy is very important. It sets you up for a healthier lifestyle and will even begin to have a positive effect on your mood, which is important to help you along this journey.
If you want to achieve a certain look, your diet has to change. That said, you could find out that you aren’t eating enough food or maybe too much… or maybe not the right type of food for you.
Each person is unique and to generalize a diet, or to follow a celebrity diet such as the “The Rocks” diet plan for example, might be the wrong way to go for you.
I made the mistake of looking at those big bodybuilders and thought I need to eat exactly the same amount of food as they do, each day, every day! I soon became very big…but in the wrong way!
My very good and strong metabolism that has been my friend for years up to that point, was now quickly been pushed to the limit and I was warned by my doctor that my kidneys were dangerously close to failure!
It’s very hard to get your head around dieting… I made all the wrong choices before I started my fitness journey and during that time too.
So please trust me when I say that your diet is one of the biggest things you should look at today!
By the way…there is a place for junk food in any diet too…so you will still be able to enjoy your burgers, pizzas and sweets. You are trying to strike a balance between the good and the bad.
2. Move
Probably the simplest yet most difficult thing for most people to do is to get off our butts and start moving.
These days we are all so lazy and start our day by staring at our phones, sitting on the couch watching Netflix, or driving to the store around the corner rather than walking there…
That was me…before I started working out!
It’s simple but super effective. Get outside and go for a walk every day.
If you are planning on having a home gym, clean out the space you want to make into your gym, such as your garage or a spare room, ride the bike to work, etc., or do some simple aerobic exercises to start you off.
Even stretching will have a positive effect on your body, health and mind too.
Just do something that gets you off the couch and moving, which will have a positive effect on your mind and make the next few steps a little easier, rather than trying to jump into everything head-on, like I did...which lead to me hitting a wall because everything seemed so overwhelming at first.
3. Beginner Workout Routine
Picking the right workout routine for you is very important, especially at the beginning of your workout journey!
When I started, I wanted to get big fast and jumped into a complex workout routine that I had no idea of how to execute correctly and of course...I did everything wrong.
Needless to say, it was a big mistake and all I did was learn how to swing weight around stupidly and think I was doing a great job.
So once I became wise to the fact that I had to walk before I could run, I started learning the basic lifts and movements, which is exactly what I would advise anyone to do first.
Have a look at our simple Beginners Workout Routine (2023) that I put together for you here and take your time to learn the basics.
Lifting weight is not as simple as you think and learning the basics is as important as learning your ABC’s when you were in school all those years ago.
Only once you master the basics, go onto different movements and expand on those.
You can find a full list of those workout routines we have available for you, once you are ready here very soon too.
4. Take Your Time
Know that you won’t become Arnold in a few weeks and be ok with that…
Trying to build muscle is not simple and doesn’t happen quickly. Once you set out to change your physique, know that with time and dedication you will achieve your goal.
You just have to be patient, don’t cut corners and know that if you have the right workout routine and diet plan, you will succeed in your goal.
The amazing thing about our bodies is that we can mold them to what we want them to look like.
If you only eat a lot of junk food and don’t move at all, you will get fat and that’s a fact.
However, if you eat healthy and workout hard, you will see the results in the mirror and that’s a fact too!
So be patient and take your time, follow your workout routine (check out our “Beginner Workout Routine 2023") and stick to your diet.
5. Form…And What I Mean By That?
The best way I can explain this is by using the good old fashioned dumbbell curl as an example…
The way you curl a dumbbell to do a bicep curl, is not just by moving the dumbbell from the bottom to the top and using momentum to make that happen.
You need to be in control of the weight and smoothly move the dumbbell up towards your shoulder.
This is not as simple as you might think, as the weight is obviously working against you to make the exercise difficult for you, which makes the muscle grow.
So doing a dumbbell curl correctly is easier said than done and I have seen people, who almost threw the dumbbell around, just to get the weight up and expect to see a result of their biceps growing because of it.
…and yes…that was me too!
Weightlifting is as much about technique, as a footballer learning how to dribble the ball or score a goal.
The simple truth is that if you don’t use proper form, you will not achieve your goal and the result will most likely be that you injure yourself rather than see the desired change in your physique.
6. Buying Your Gym Equipment
Cool. So you looked at your diet, you started to move a little, have a workout plan and are going to take the time to start working out the right way.
Now you need the gym equipment to execute your plan.
If you were joining a gym, I would tell you to follow the workout plan and simply move on to other gym machines and equipment available to you in your gym, while changing and adapting to a new workout routine as you are progressing from the beginner you currently are, to someone who has mastered the basics.
However, because we are talking about a home gym setup, we don’t have the luxury of tons of space and some of us definitely don’t have the money to buy loads of equipment that we might never actually use.
We don’t really know what and how we want to train when we first start, so airing on the side of caution and just buying the most basic to start is the best option here.
If you follow our Beginner Workout Routine you will learn the basic compound lifts to start, so you will only need the bare minimum of a barbell, squat rack, bench and some weights plates.
You can always add onto your home gym with equipment you might need in the future.
Check out our list of 9 Basic Gym Equipment everyone needs right here and have a look through our other suggestions to maybe get some ideas what you want your gym to look like in the future.
7. Having Fun
I know…this sounds like some self help Guru s**t…but this one is important.
Stop stressing out over the results and try to have fun with it. If you put in the hard work, results will follow. FACT.
Stressing yourself out over not seeing your weight drop, or you don’t see your body transform the way you want quickly, is going to cause you to give up. I have been there too...!
So get stuck into preparing and making your food, download a few tunes that will motivate you in the gym and smirk while knowing that you’ll be annoying your neighbors a little with the banging and clanging.
Most of all, be proud of yourself for taking the first step and staying on this path that will see you become a better you, because it’s not easy and nothing that is worth anything in life is obtained easily!
Final Toughts
That’s it… for the start, I would highly recommend you follow those simple 7 steps because you don’t need more for now.
You are only starting off… So take your time, learn the basics and you’ll soon be off to the new and improved you in no time.
Disclosure: Some of the links in this article may be affiliate links, which can provide compensation to me at no cost to you if you decide to purchase any product or service from our affiliate partners. These are products I’ve personally used, tested and can stand behind. This site is for entertainment only. You can read our affiliate disclosure in our privacy policy.
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