How to Get into Exercising
I hope you had a great Christmas and New Year! It has come that time of the month where I share another hobby, and this time I have chosen exercising. A lot of people I know say that this year they would like to ‘get fitter’ or exercise more. Here are a few of my top tips to start exercising and doing it regularly.
- 1. Decide what you want to get out of it
Different forms of exercising will contribute to different results. Some help you move faster, some help you feel stronger and some allow you to enjoy being active outdoors. In order to get the benefit, you want out of your exercise, you need to choose what you aim to get out of it. Make sure to do some research around the areas you want to improve, so you can choose the right exercise for you. Make sure not to go too hard too early, and cause injury, and know your limits.
- 2. Choose a type of exercise you like
You need to be motivated to exercise and feel happy about what you are doing. Not every form of working out is going to please everyone, so make sure to choose one that you enjoy. Whatever you choose, make sure that it fits with what you want to get out of exercising in general. Also, make sure to keep in mind that you’ll need to do more to challenge yourself as you get used to the exercises. You can always venture out of your comfort zone and choose new activities to try, even if you think you might not like it, give it a go!
- 3. Set a goal
Now that you have decided what you wanted to get out of it, you need to choose your goal. This is a specific thing to aim for, and it could be time based (I want to run 5km in X minutes) or more general (I’m going to get active every day for a month). To help you out with this, I recommend looking at my how-to on goal setting (link here). When you have come up with a goal, make sure to not it somewhere and decide how you will track it. You could start a movement tracker in a journal, take a look at my guide to journaling (https://www.girlguidinglaser.org.uk/news/how-to-get-into-journaling )!
- 4. Put it into your schedule
Choose when is the best time to exercising in your schedule. This may be early morning, or every other evening, or maybe just 3 days a week. Whatever you decide, make sure that it is regular and fits in with your general schedule. Also, make sure that you don’t do it straight after eating, and leave yourself enough time after so that you can recover.
- 5. Get Exercising, and review!
Now all you’ve got to do is exercise! It may hurt and you may feel your muscles burning, but once you get used to it you should be okay. If you have any concerns about getting active, you can chat to your GP for medical advice. Once you have either achieved a goal or have done a certain form of exercising for a while, review it and see how it went, whether you want to try out a different type of exercising or carry on with what you have. You can always go through these steps again!
These are all of my tips! I hope that they are helpful and guide you into doing more fitness! Remember that if you have any skills that you want to share or introduce, feel free to write a blog and send it to The Hive. I would love to hear them! Here is the link: https://www.girlguidinglaser.org.uk/challenges/report-for-the-hive.
Happy Exercising! 😊